Maclennan's academic career included lecturing at Wits University and the University of Cape Town.[2] He taught in both South Africa and the United States.[3] He began teaching at Rhodes University in 1966, teaching English there for more than 40 years,[2] although he officially retired in 1994. In later years, he continued to teach at the university, giving weekly seminars for another decade.[4]
In his final years, he self-published a number of works of poetry.[4] In his last decade, Maclennan had motor-neuron disease. He suffered a stroke in January 2009, although his mind was not affected by it. He died on 9 February 2009, in Port Elizabeth.[2]
Years link to corresponding "[year] in poetry" article for poetry; for literature, to corresponding "[year] in literature" article:
Poetry
1971: In Memoriam Oskar Wolberheim, A.A. Balkema, combining Maclennan's poetry and the music of Norbert Nowotny[1]
"Maclennan, Donald (Alasdair Calum)" article, Student Encyclopedia of African Literature, by Douglas Killam, Alicia L. Kerfoot, Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007
ISBN978-0-313-33580-8, retrieved via Google Books on 13 February 2009
Loewe, Mike, "Poet and playwright Maclennan dies at 79", article, 12 February 2009, Independent Online website of the Independent newspaper, article "was originally published on page 9 of Cape Argus on February 12, 2009", according to the Web page, retrieved 13 February 2009
