Doug Underhill

1946-

John Douglas ("Doug") Underhill (writer, teacher, and producer) was born in Newcastle, New Brunswick, on 23 January 1946. He graduated from Harkins High School and completed his BA degree at St. Thomas University (STU), graduating with Honours in English literature in 1968. He received his BEd degree from STU the following year. After graduating, Underhill went on to be an English teacher at Harkins High School and Miramichi Valley High School in Newcastle. He retired from teaching in June 2000. Underhill's first published work was The Lazy Time of Day (1971). Underhill would follow this work with two other collections of poems entitled Only the Salt (1997) and River Poems (2007). He has written a humorous Miramichi Dictionary (1996), two folklore books—Miramichi Tales, Tall and True (1999) and Proud Stories From the Miramichi (2001), a sports book entitled Miramichi Baseball and Softball (2003), and a collection of fishing stories, Miramichi Fishing Stories: All True of Course! (2006). He has also written three children’s books: The Popcorn Cat and Pumpkin Moon (1985), The Popcorn Cat and the Pumpkin Moon Make Friends (1986), and Popcorn and Pumpkin Save Tommy’s Christmas (1993). Underhill has also been a freelance journalist, writing for the Moncton Times and Transcript and the Miramichi Leader among other New Brunswick newspapers. In March 2008, his popular “Fishing Report” went online. Beyond his writing, Underhill has been involved with radio, film, and television. He was featured on CBC Radio’s Basic Black reading from his Miramichi Dictionary. He has also been part of a documentary film about the Miramichi River by the Discovery Channel in its Great Canadian Rivers series. Finally, he has co-produced with Bob Gillis three videos titled The Dungarvon Whooper (1982), The Headless Nun (1983), and The Great Miramichi Fire of 1825 (1986). He was a founding member of the Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick. He was also on the founding committee for the New Brunswick Arts Alliance and is involved with the Miramichi Writers Group. He has won awards in teaching, journalism, and poetry. In 2001 he received the Miramichi Leader’s “2001 Reader’s Choice Award as the No. 1 Favorite Journalist/Columnist in the Miramichi.” In 2005, he received the Media Coverage Award by Softball New Brunswick.

Predominant New Brunswick Residences:

Newcastle