Harold Horwood was born in St. John's on November 2, 1923. As a union organizer and politician (Labrador's first MHA at the age of 26) in the late 1940s and early 1950s, Horwood supported J.R. Smallwood in the campaign that brought Newfoundland into Confederation. He then represented Labrador in the House of Assembly, from 1949 to 1951.
Horwood joined the staff of the St John's Evening Telegram in 1952 and was associated with that daily in various capacities until 1970, during which time he was often a fierce critic of Premier Smallwood's policies. Horwood relinquished his editorial responsibilities with the Telegram in 1958 and began what was to be a very successful writing career.
Horwood's fiction is best represented by two novels, Tomorrow Will Be Sunday (1966), and White Eskimo (1972). He was writer-in-residence at the University of Western Ontario (1976-77) and at the University of Waterloo (1980-83), where he was founding editor of the literary magazine The New Quarterly.
Horwood was a founding member and one-time chairman of the Writers' Union of Canada and was awarded the Order of Canada in 1980 for his contributions to Canadian literature. He has been living in Nova Scotia since 1977. He published his autobiography A Walk in the Dream Time: Growing Up in Old St John's in 1997.
Harold Horwood was inducted into the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council Hall of Honour in 1995. He passed away in April 2006 at the age of 82.