He attended schools in Placentia and St. John's, but dropped out in grade ten, claiming it did nothing for him. He joined the Animal Farm, a free-form style of education, devoid of desks and structured classes, founded by Harold Horwood in the 1960s, and it was here that he first began to write. His poetry first appeared in Horwoods Voices Underground in 1972, and his first solo work, Milk of Unicorns, was published in 1974. His awards include a Gemini, a New York Festival Award, Italy's Umbria Fiction Award, and Best Series at the Cannes International TV Festival, all for co-writing The Boys of St. Vincent.