David Day is a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

 most notably known for his biographies about J. R. R. Tolkien

J. R. R. Tolkien

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...

 and his works.

Biography

After finishing school in Victoria, British Columbia

Victoria, British Columbia

Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...

, Day worked as a logger for five years on Vancouver Island

Vancouver Island

Vancouver Island is a large island in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several North American locations named after George Vancouver, the British Royal Navy officer who explored the Pacific Northwest coast of North America between 1791 and 1794...

. Subsequently he travelled to Europe, in particular to Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 where he wrote a first book of poems called The Cowichan. He has also lived in London.

Day's main focus has been the life and work of Tolkien. His books on this subject include The Tolkien Bestiary (1978), The Tolkien Companion (1993), Tolkien's Ring

Tolkien's Ring

Tolkien's Ring is a book written by David Day about the origins of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings story and the origins of Middle-earth in general.-External links:*, daviddaybooks.com*, by Andrew Wells...

(1994), The Hobbit Companion (2000), Tolkien: The Illustrated Encyclopedia (2000) and The World of Tolkien (2003).

Day has also written several children's books and nonfiction works about ecology, extinct and endangered species. In The Doomsday Book of Animals (1981) Day described several hundred extinct species; many of them were illustrated in color for the first time. This book became the basis for the 100 part animated-short TV series "Lost Animals of the 20th Century

Lost Animals of the 20th Century

Lost Animals of the 20th Century is a documentary series shown in Discovery Channel in the 1990s. It features animals that have become extinct throughout the 20th century. Animals are adjudged as such when the last specimen of the species dies sometime from 1901 to 2000...

" in 1995/1996. His book Eco Wars (1989) is about animal activists such as Dian Fossey

Dian Fossey

Dian Fossey was an American zoologist who undertook an extensive study of gorilla groups over a period of 18 years. She studied them daily in the mountain forests of Rwanda, initially encouraged to work there by famous anthropologist Louis Leakey...

 and Chico Mendes

Chico Mendes

Francisco Alves Mendes Filho, better known as Chico Mendes , was a Brazilian rubber tapper, trade union leader and environmentalist. He fought to preserve the Amazon rainforest, and advocated for the human rights of Brazilian peasants and indigenous peoples...

, who lost their lives in the fight to preserve the environment. His book The Whale War became the basis for a ITV

ITV

ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

 documentary.

Poetry

• The Cowichan (1975)
• Many Voices: An Anthology of Contemporary Canadian Indian Poetry (co-editor) (1977) ISBN 0-888-94134-X
• The Scarlet Coat Serial (1981) ISBN 0-888-78135-0
• The Animals Within (1984)
• Gothic (1986)
• The Visions and Revelations of St. Louis the Metis (1997) ISBN 1-895-44964-2
• Just Say 'No' to Family Values (1997) ISBN 1-550-96162-4

Natural history and ecology

• The Doomsday Book of Animals (1981) ISBN 0-670-27987-0
• The Whale War (1987) ISBN 0-871-56775-X
• The Eco Wars: True Tales of Environmental Madness (1989) ISBN 0-312-04418-6
• The Encyclopedia of Vanished Species (1989) (Revised edition of The Doomsday Book of Animals) ISBN 0-947-88930-2
• Noah's Choice (1990)
• Green Penguin Book Guide (1992)
• The Complete Rhinoceros (1994)

Fantasy and mythology

• The Burroughs Bestiary (1978) ISBN 0-450-03442-9
• A Tolkien Bestiary (1978) ISBN 0-345-28283-3
• Castles (1984) ISBN 0-070-37280-2
• Tolkien: The Illustrated Encyclopedia (1992) ISBN 0-025-33431-X
• A to Z of Tolkien (1993) aka The Tolkien Companion, aka Guide to Tolkien ISBN 1-571-45878-6
• Tolkien's Ring
  Tolkien's Ring
  Tolkien's Ring is a book written by David Day about the origins of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings story and the origins of Middle-earth in general.-External links:*, daviddaybooks.com*, by Andrew Wells...
  
  (1994) ISBN 0-261-10298-2
• The Quest for King Arthur (1996) ISBN 0-816-03370-6
• The Hobbit Companion (1997) ISBN 1-570-36391-9
• Tolkien's World (2002) ISBN 0-517-22317-1
• The Search for King Arthur (1995) ISBN 0-8160-3370-6

History

• History and Literature: Sound Heritage Anthology Series (editor) (1975)
• Myth and the Mountains: Sound Heritage Anthology Series (editor) (1976)
• Men of the Forest: Sound Heritage Anthology Series (editor) (1977)

Children's fiction and poetry

• The Emperor's Panda (1986) ISBN 0-396-09036-2
• The Swan Children (1989) ISBN 0-824-98461-7
• The Sleeper (1990) ISBN 0-824-98456-0
• Aska's Animals (1991) ISBN 0-385-25315-X
• The Big Lie (1991) aka The Walking Catfish ISBN 0-027-26360-6
• Aska's Birds (1992) ISBN 0-385-25388-5
• The Wolf Children (1991)
• The King of the Woods (1993) ISBN 0-027-26361-4
• Tippu (1993) ISBN 0-812-06498-4
• Aska's Sea Creatures (1994) ISBN 0-385-32107-4

Television, radio, film and theatre

• The Scarlet Coat - Theatre (1984)
• The Lost - Radio (1984)
• Gothic - Theatre (1988/2003)
• The Emperor's Panda - Theatre (1988)
• First Step - Film
• Noah's Choice - Television (1990)
• Still Life at the Penguin Cafe - Ballet (1993)
• The Whale War - Television (1993)
• Lost Animals of the 20th Century
  Lost Animals of the 20th Century
  Lost Animals of the 20th Century is a documentary series shown in Discovery Channel in the 1990s. It features animals that have become extinct throughout the 20th century. Animals are adjudged as such when the last specimen of the species dies sometime from 1901 to 2000...
  
  – 100 part television series (1995/1996)
• Just Say 'No' to Family Values - Poetry and jazz (1998)
• Arthur I & Arthur II – Ballets (2000)

External links

• David Day's official website with details of all his works and projects
• David Day biography