Aboriginal author & Cree language expert.

Born February 11, 1932, Ahtahkakoop, Saskatchewan. Died April 8, 2008, Saskatchewan. As a youth Freda was forced to attend St Alban’s Residential School in St Albert, Saskatchewan, away from her family. She married Harold Greyeyes from the Muskeig Lake Cree Nation and the couple had 12 children. She returned to school in 1968 along with nine of her children to achieve her high school diploma. In 1979 she earned her Bachelor of Education from the University of Saskatchewan while teaching the Cree language. From 1976 through 1981 she was a teacher at the Saskatchewan Indian Cultural College and other Aboriginal schools in the province. In 1984 she graduated with a Master’s of Art Degree in Cree linguistics from the University of Manitoba. She became an assistant professor at the University of Saskatchewan in 1985 through 1989. She was Director of the Saskatchewan Indian Languages Institute and then took a position as professor of Native Studies at the University of Manitoba until her retirement in 1996. While teaching she wrote numerous books for children, books about the Cree language, and its importance to Cree Culture. In 1998 she was inducted as a Member of the Order of Canada and in 2005 she was inducted into the Saskatchewan Order of Merit. (2020)

Born August 18, 1845, Ceylon. Died February 1, 1937, Vancouver, British Columbia. After her father’s death his widow and three children relocated to England. In 1857 the mother married Thomas Glennie and by 1900 the family was living in British Columbia. By 1864 the father abandoned the family in Hope, British Columbia. Here Susan established the 1st school in the town. In 1868 she married John Fall Allison, one of the founders of Princeton, British Columbia. The couple had 14 children who they raised in the Similkamun Valley. Susan and her family formed close relations with the Aboriginal population of the area and she learned their stories and translated them to English. She was the 1st European to report sighting the Naitaka (Opopogo), a large serpent like legend of Lake Okanagan. In 1891 the British Association for the Advancement of Science published Susan’s paper on the peoples of Similkameen. In 1900 she published a long narrative poem, In-cow-mad-ket, a story of a local native Chief. She retired to Vancouver in 1928 publishing part of her memoirs in 1931 in the Province newspaper. Her complete memoirs were published by the University of British Columbia in 1976. This publication gives the only British Columbian woman’s account of early settlement in the area. On September 4, 2010 she was declared a National Historic Person. (2020)

SEE - Gertrude Moltke Bernard

Born January 9, 1845, La Malbaie, Lower Canada (Now Quebec). Died June 6, 1924, Quebec City, Quebec. Félicité was educated by the Ursuline nuns in Quebec where she became fluently bilingual in English and French and also learned German. While she never married she had had a suitor, Pierre-Alexis Tremblay, who would marry another woman. Félicité remained heartbroken. This was the pen name of Laure Conan, she would author of nine novels of French Canadian life. Her 1st work appeared as a short story Un amour vrai which was published in the Revue de Montréal in 1878 and 1879. She was also a contributor to Le Journal de Françoise, a bimonthly paper edited by the acclaimed Robertine Barry (1863-1910), Félicité was a witness to her time. She was the 1st French Canadian female novelist with her book Angeline de Montbrun which was first published in serial form and then as a book in 1884. All her novels centered on the three driving forces of French Canadian life, family, nation, and religion.  It was unusual at this era for a women to make a living by writing which Félicité did by contributing articles to newspapers, journals, and by writing plays.  (2020)

Indigenous author

Born 1948, Penticton Indian Reserve, British Columbia. She originally studied fine arts at Okanogan College and the University of Victoria. Her current career is being director of the En'owkin Cultural Centre, a cultural and educational organization operated by the Okanogan Nation. Her writings serve the purpose to educate young people about aboriginal history and culture. Her published works have earned the Mungo Martin Award in 1974 and the Helen Pitt Memorial Award in 1978.

Born November 18, 1939, Ottawa, Ontario. 'Peggy' is a poet, novelist, editor and critic is one of Canada's major contemporary authors. She has written novels, television scripts, short stories, children's books many of which have won awards locally, nationally and internationally. Her works have won the Governor General's Award for Literature, the Giller Prize, the Los Angeles Times Prize just to name a few! She has also edited such monumental tomes as the Oxford Book of Canadian Poetry. She has an active interest in Amnesty International. Recognition of her career have been way to numerous to list in one paragraph. The variety of awards runs from MS Magazine Woman of the Year 1986 to being a Companion in the Order of Canada. Check out the online edition for the Canadian Encyclopedia for complete listings of her works and her awards.

Born February 19, 1952, Winnipeg, Manitoba. She studied for her Bachelor of Arts at the University of Manitoba and took Law at Osgoode Hall Law School and took her masters in Law at Harvard Law School in the U.S.A. In 1984 she became professor at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario. Her legal specialty Wass women and the law. She is interested in women and the law in history and is an considered an expert in the field of gender issues and sexual harassment. Some of the books she has written are considered basic reading for women's study programs across the country. Some of the titles she has written are: The Secret oppression: Sexual harassment of working women (1979); Sexual Harassment on the Job (1981) Petticoats and Prejudice: Women and the Law in Nineteenth Century Canada (1991) and Colour Coded: a Legal History of Racism in Canada 1900-1950.

née Michener. Marilyn was an author, magazine editor, interior designer, and childhood educator. She was the author of the children's series of books Amazing Things Animals Do aw well as other series for children. She was the editor of Chickadee magazine for children. In 1965 she married A. Charles Baillie and the couple had four children. She was instrumental in the founding of the Canadian Children's Book Centre. In 2006 an annual Canadian literary award of $25,000.00 for the best illustrated picture book for children was established. In 2012 she was awarded the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal for her work in children's literature. February 1, 2019 she was invested into the Order of Canada.

née Todd. Born April 9, 1900, Carlisle, England. Died April 19, 1981 Victoria, British Columbia. In 1991 she immigrated to Canada’s west coast with her family and settled in Vancouver, British Columbia. A few years later she married an engineer, Robert Baird and the couple had two children. Like many families the depression was difficult with Robert losing his job. Irene taught at Vancouver St. George’s private school as one of the few female teachers. In 1937 she produced her 1st novel, John followed in 1939 by her 2nd novel Waste Heritage. This novel fell out of favour for a while but was rediscovered and republished in 1973 and again in 2007. Other novels were to follow. The family relocated to Victoria, British Columbia and by the early 1940’s Irene was the family breadwinner. She became a freelance journalist and wrote a column for the Vancouver Sun. In 1942 with Robert no longer in the picture, Irene was offered a job at the National Film Board and Irene and the children relocated to Ottawa, Ontario. In 1944 she married John Grierson who was Director at the National Film Board. Irene’s career covered several federal government departments including the Department of Mines and Resources, the Department of Northern Affairs and Natural Resources and the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development. Her work meant lots of travel throughout North America, Latin America and the United Kingdom. She also had numerous trips to the Canadian Arctic. When she retired in 1967 she had been the 1st woman to head an Information Division in the federal government. While working for the government she authored numerous travelogues for the publication North/Nord as well as having her short stories and poems appear in Saturday Night magazine, The Beaver (Canada’s History Magazine), the Canadian Geographical Journal and the UNESCO Currier. In 1973 Irene moved back to Victoria, British Columbia.

Born June 1, 1855, Litla Aszeirsa, Iceland. Died October 23, 1941. She came to Canada with her parents in 1873. The 1st settled in Ontario where she married Jakob Jonatonsson Lindal. The couple had two children. She had written poetry in Iceland but it was not until she came to Canada would she have any of her work published. He writings reflected her life story, writing of leaving her homeland and lamenting that in Canada women’s rights often meant women remained in a bad marriage. She became divorced in 1892. She moved to Manitoba and later to British Columbia with her second husband Skuli Arni Stefansson Freeman with whom she had another child. Skuli died in 1904. She published using the pen name Undine. Her works were published in Freyja, an early suffrage journal . While she did put her poems together in a manuscript they were not published until 1952, 11 years after her death. Sources: Herstory: A Canadian Women’s Calendar 2006. Saskatoon: Coteau Books, 2005: Writings by Western Icelandic Women by Kristen Wolf. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1997.

Born July 19, 1951, Estevan, Saskatchewan. She studied nursing at the University of Saskatchewan earning her Bachelor of Science. in 1974. She began her nursing career in Weyburn, Saskatchewan as a public health nurse. She married Kenney Frank Bannatyne-Cugnet in August 1975 and the couple have 4 sons. She began writing to teach her sons about life on a prairie farm. In 1992 she produced Prairie Alphabet which joined other picture books, A prairie Year, Heartland: a Prairie Sampler. She has also produced two novels for young readers and a picture book on new Canadians called The Day I became a Canadian: a Citizenship Scrapbook.  Jo retired from Nursing in 1994 and keeps busy writing and volunteering in her community.

née Killam. Born May 3, 1913, Woodville, Nova Scotia. Died February 2, 2012, Bridgewater, Nova Scotia. While as a youth she dreamed of being a missionary, she took the reality check of becoming a teacher. She attended the Truro Normal Collage (Teacher’s College) in 1932. She encouraged all her students, even her niece, Margaret Atwood. She often wrote short stories, poems and plays for her students to provide Canadian content and context that was missing from regular school provided textbooks. In 1942 she married Milton Joseph Barkhouse (   - 1968) and took time from her teaching and writing to raise her two children. In 1974 she published her 1st book: George Dawson: the Little Giant. In 1980 she collaborated with Margaret Atwood for the book: Anna’s Pet. Her work, The Pit Pony won the Ann Connor Brimer Award in Children’s Literature. This story went on to win a Gemini Award when produced as a CBC TV film and later was redone as a min series for TV. She was a member of the Writer’s Federation of Nova Scotia, The writer’s Union of Canada, and the Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators and performers. She was inaugurated into the Order of Nova Scotia in 2007 and the Order of Canada in 2009. (2021)

SEE - Lily Adams Beck

née Luke. Born July 7, 1934, Chelmsford, Massachusetts, U.S.A. Nancy earned her B.A. from Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts, U.S.A. She married William 'Bill' Bauer (d2010), a Canadian and moved to New Brunswick in 1945. The couple raised a family of two sons and one daughter. She was the publisher of 25 New Brunswick Chap Books. She founded the Maritime Writers Workshop. She has been writer-in-residence at the University of New Brunswick, The Cape Code Writers Conference, and Bemidji State University in Michigan, U.S.A. She writes article about craftspeople, visual artists and writers for various Canadian Maritime magazines. She has written several novels and has won the Alden Nowlan Award for Excellence in the Literary Arts in 1999. (2020)

Born October 2, 1896, Blair, Ontario. Died October 5, 1985, Hamilton, Ontario. Jewssie published her 1st poem when she was just 15years old. She continued her writing under the name, Rainbow Bright. After high school she worked in libraries in Kitchener, Ontario, Hamilton, Ontario and Buffalo, New York, U.S.A. By 1928 she had returned home to care for her aging parents. She also tutored neighboring children and obtained a special license to teach from the Province of Ontario. In 1929, and 1931 Ryerson Press published books of her poems and her 1st novel, Hill Top appeared in 1935. These early works would be followed by some 20 books, three plays and an operetta. In an attempt to raise funds for library books, Jessie wrote and produced a play that soon found her traveling throughout Ontario to help produce school plays  in various towns as a representative of the Ontario Welfare Council. From 1937-1939 she was a “House Mother” at Coronation Cottage at the Ontario Training School for Girls in Galt. World War ll found her working at the Vancouver Public Library in British Columbia. She married David Griffin and the couple settled in Hamilton, Ontario where she continued writing even though her sight was greatly weakened. In 1995 she was inducted into the City of Cambridge (Ontario) Hall of Fame. Source: Jessie Louise Beattie, City of Cambridge Hall of Fame. Online (accessed January 2013)

née Frowd. Summerside, England. Died September 14, 1871. The wife of the Rev. James Beaven, a practicing minister and professor of divinity in King's College in Toronto. Her husband was a writer and no doubt the absence of materials for young ladies prompter her to write her own book called, Devotions for School Girls [Toronto : n.d.] In the 1840's her husband would write of visits to Indian Missions in the Canadas. Perhaps she had traveled with him on these ventures.

née Shaw. Born 1818, Belfast, Ireland Died August 6, 1897. Emily and her family would sail with their sea faring father to New Brunswick in 1836. June, two years later, she married Frederick William Cadwallader Beavan, a surgeon in the militia. Three of their family of seven children would be born in Canada. She enjoyed writing and her poetry and stories appeared in the Armaranth, the 1st magazine of New Brunswick. Her works appeared with the signature style of the day as wither Mrs. B or as Emily B. In 1843 the family sailed to settle in England. However the life in the Canadian province stayed with Emily and in 1845 she published Sketches and Tales Illustrative of the Life in the Backwoods’ of New Brunswick, North America. She intended the work to be a handbook of prospective settlers. She even detailed the effect of weather on a woman’s skin. Today the work is studied by students as a valuable historic profile of her times in the colony. In 1852 the Beavan family sailed for Melbourne to finally settle in Australia. Sources: Dictionary of Canadian Biography V. VII pg 792 ; A celebration of women writers  (accessed April 2008)

Born October 25, 1956, Montreal, Quebec. As a child living in small town Quebec Andrea enjoyed the freedom of a vivid imagination and the outdoors. Her mother took the family to live in Montreal when Andrea was 11 and she was not impressed with the city. She attended Dawson College taking art and then went to Toronto to attend the Ontario College of Art. Later she would attend York University in Toronto for her Bachelor degree and the University of Toronto for her Masters degree in social Work. Although she works as a registered Clinical Consultant her imagination and love of drawing could not be shelved. She actually founded a toy business making stuffed animals like moose and beavers. It would be here that the embryo of the character for children’s stories Elliot Moose would become part of Andrea’s life. She began writing stories and when Elliot was sent to the Kids Can Press he was an instant success with the publisher and with readers. Elliot even has his own TV show! IN 2003 she was forced to rest and recuperate from two minor automobile accidents. By 2007 she was back to writing and drawing and Pierre le Poof, a poodle dog with an attitude came alive and also very popular with the young readers. Andrea has enjoyed traveling to such places as the rainforest in Australia, New Zealand, Asia, Europe England and Russia making her travels a fertile ground to be background for stores. Andrea has two sons and lives in Unionville, Ontario, just east of Toronto. Sources:: Andrea Beck by Dave Jenkinson, Canadian Magazine online (accessed January 2007).            

née Moresby. Born 1862(?) Died January 3, 1931. She traveled to Asia and the Orient but did not begin to write until 1919 and was 1st published in 1922. She wrote under several pen names and became well known under all the names she used: E. Barrington; Eliza Louisa Beck; and L (Louis) Moresby. During her career she would write almost thirty books published in Toronto, Boston, New York and London. Many of her books were set in the Orient.

SEE - Businesswomen

née Granger. Born 1891 Shorten, Dorsetshire, England. Died April 19, 1988. Ethel and her family immigrated to Canada when she was an infant. Settling in Collinwood, Ontario, young Ethel was writing for the Collingwood Bulletin while still in school. She would attend the University of Toronto. Graduating in 1915 she taught at the Ontario Ladies College in Whitby, Ontario before she married in 1919 and moved to teach in Pennsylvania. She earned her PhD at the University of Wisconsin and Lectured in French in Victoria during the 1940’s.  In the late 1950’s she published three historical novels featuring women in New France. She won the Ryerson Fiction Award in 1960 for her work Short of Glory.  She also penned stories for Children for Discovery Magazine.

née Patenaude. Born March 21,1904. Died November 24, 1987. She is best remembered as Madame Benoit. This food consultant turned to TV as a medium to explain Canadian cuisine to her home and native land.  She also published some 30 books to generate interest in her field. She studied at the Cordon Bleu and held a degree as a food chemist from the Sorbonne in France. She opened  her own cooking school in Montreal, Fumet de la Vieille France.  She also opened one of the 1st Canadian vegetarian restaurants, the Salad Bar in 1935. She became a proponent of microware cooking and was hired as salesperson for Panasonic Microwaves.  In 1973 she became an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Born June 18, 1906, Mattawa, Ontario. Died June 17, 1986, Kamloops, British Columbia. As a youth she was somewhat of a tom-boy and her friends named her ‘Pony’. At 19 the young Iroquois girl met the much older fur trapper known as Grey Owl (1888-1938) who claimed to be a half-blood Apache. They were married in a traditional ceremony even though he was already married to his 1st wife. He called Gertrude ‘Anahareo'. She would convince him to give up trapping and publish his writings for which he became famous. The couple had one daughter Shirley Dawn born in 1932. They were separated two years before his death when it was revealed that he was not a Native American but a British citizen by the name of Archie Belaney. In 1940, Anahareo wrote a book of her life with Grey Owl, Devil in Deerskin. After the death of Grey Owl (1888-1938) she married Count Eric Moltke Huitfeld and the couple had two daughters. She always remained committed to conservation and animal rights. In 1979 she was inducted into the Order of Nature of the International League of Animal rights located in Paris, France. In 1983 she was inducted as a member of the Order of Canada. She was buried beside Grey Owl and their daughter Dawn at Ajawaan Lake, Saskatchewan.

Born June 18, 1911, Preston, Ontario. Died May 1, 1993, Kitchener, Ontario. Clare became wheelchair bound after a had polio when she was only 11. She was unable to attend high school because of lack of accessibility but she educated herself by reading. At 17 she had an article published in the magazine, Girlhood Days. She would go on to write book reviews for the local newspaper the Prestonian. She wrote poems that were published in various magazines including the Ladies Home Journal and the Toronto Star Weekly. During World War ll she wrote a column for the Canadian Red Cross and was a correspondent for the Kitchener –Waterloo Record. Along with her short stories that were published she wrote two novels and a play. Miss Bernhardt wrote the lyrics for the Canadian Centennial year hymn that was provided to churches across the country in 1967. Foe 30 years she would write a column for her local paper about the world from her point of view. In 1991 she was inducted into the Order of Ontario. Source: Hall of Fame, City of Cambridge, Ontario Online (accessed March 2013)

Born November 10,1922, Montreal, Quebec. Died January 20, 2016, Bury St. Edmonds, Suffolk, United Kingdom. A novelist she produced ten lively novels about women at various stages of life who struggled to live freely trying to discover who they really were once they had thrown off restraints of husbands, fathers and society itself. . She had married Christopher Pressnell. The Book of Eve published in 1973 in several countries was adapted to a stage plan and was produced at the Stratford Festival in 1976-77. The main character in the book Eva is one of the best lover characters in Canadian literature. In 2002 a film version of the book altered the main flavor of the book and made Eva of Romanian descent rather then a Czech immigrant. Two addition works, A Population of One and The Marriage Bed were made into films by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).

Born 1884,. Streetsville, Ontario, Died October 5, 1951, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Frances Marion moved with her family to Manitoba in 1889, settling in the Hartney. district on a family farm.  Like her siblings, Beynon earned a teaching certificate. She taught near Carman before moving to Winnipeg in 1908 to work in the T. Eaton Company’s advertising department. She was an active member of the Quill Club. In 1912 she became the 1st full-time women’s editor of the Grain Growers’ Guide, holding the post until 1917. She and her sister Lillian fought for a variety of women’s issues, including suffrage, dower legislation, and homesteading rights for women, but she lost much public credibility when she began to criticize the war. She left Manitoba in 1917 for the United States, where she wrote a semi-autobiographical novel, Aleta Day, and continued her journalistic work.

née Bartlette. Born April 22, 1942, Hamiota, Manitoba. Sandra left home at 15. She studied at the University of Winnipeg and the University of Manitoba. In 1966 she relocated to Regina Saskatchewan. An award winning novelist and short story writer. Her 1st book, The Night Travelers was published when she was 40.  she has won the 1984 Gerald Lampert Award for Night Travelers. In 1990 the Missing Child won the Books in Canada First Novel Award. In 1993 she won  the Marian Engel e Award. She has also been nominated more than once for the Governor General's Award. In 2001 The Russlander took Saskatchewan Book of the year Award for  Best Saskatchewan Fiction.  She married filmmaker Jan Zarzycki and the couple have three children. In 2010 she became a member of the Order of Canada and in 2012 she was invested with the Saskatchewan Order of Merit.

Born October 5, 1939, Quebec City, Quebec. Died November 30, 2021, Key West, Florida, U.S.A. Marie-Claire attended Laval University were friends encouraged her to become a writer. At 20 in 1959 she published her 1st novel, Labelle Bete, in English translation, the Mad Shadow. Since then there have been some 20 novels, several plays, as well as published collections of poetry. In 1963 she moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A. where she met her life partner, Artist Mary Meigs (died 2002). The couple lived in France for awhile before settling in Montreal. Her books have been translated into English, Italian and even Chinese. Her works have garnered her a multitude of awards from both Canada and abroad. In 1965 there was the Prix France, Canada followed in 1968 with the 1st of several Governor’s General Awards (1979, 1996, 2001, 2005, and 2008). There is also the W. O. Mitchell Award in 2000, the Prix Prince Pierre de Monaco and in 2006 Matt Cohen Prize. In 1972 she was inducted in to the Order of Canada and she also has been inducted into the Ordre National du Quebec. From France she is a Chevalier in the Ordre of Lettres. In 1995/96 she was the International Woman of the Year awarded by the International Biographical Centre, Cambridge, United Kingdom. Along with her nivels she is known for her plays and poetry. Source: Canadian Encyclopedia Online (accessed February 2014)  (2021)

Born April 17, 1865, Quebec City, Quebec. Died March 4, 1928, London, Ontario. Her father, Josiah Blackburn, was editor and proprietor of the London Free Press in London, Ontario. She Attended Hellmuth Ladies College, London, Ontario and then taught in the U.S.A. during the 1890's. She began her career writing for the London Free Press and by 1900 she had become the Literary and drama critic for the newspaper. From 1906 through 1910 she immersed herself in cultural affairs in Europe with her sisters. Victoria was active in London's theatre and various clubs. In 1910 she was a founding member of the local Women's Canadian Club and served as President in 1918-1919. She also served as President of the London Women's Press Club. from 1921-1923.  In 1918 she became an assistant Managing editor in London for ten years. She continued to contribute essays, travelogs and poems as well as editorials. Her works were written under the pen name of 'Fanfan.' She was a prolific poet and is also known to have produced two plays. Her only novel The Man Child, which was set in the trenches of World War l, would be published in 1930 after her death. There is an historical Plawue outside the home on Talbot St., where she lived with her sisters for 16 years. (2019)

née McKishnie Born November 4, 1862, Scotia, Lake Erie, Canada West. (now Ontario). Some sources say 1872) Died August 19, 1934. Chatham, Ontario. After high school Jean married Bassett Blewett in 1879. That same year she published her 1st novel Out of the Depths. Her poem, Spring, won her $600.00 from the Times Herald, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. She contributed articles to the Toronto Globe newspaper before joining the staff at that newspaper where she became editor of the homemaker's department in 1898.  She went on to  publish several volumes of poetry in 1897, 1906 and 1922.  She retired from journalism and writing in 1925. She wrote a booklet, Heart Stories to benefit World War l charities. She was a welcome lecturer on topics such as temperance and suffrage. She often used the name Katherine Kent for some of her works. She retired from the Globe in 1925 due to ill health and lived with her daughter in Lethbridge, Alberta for a couple of years before relocating back to Toronto in 1927.

Born 1926, Souris, Manitoba. Died 1959.  She moved to Winnipeg with her family in the 1930s and attended the University of Manitoba from 1944 to 1947. Patricia worked as a broadcaster for the CBC and later moved to Montreal and began writing professionally in 1955. Her book From Heaven with a Shout was published in 1963 and serialized in Chatelaine magazine. Her most critically acclaimed work, A Candle to Light the Sun, was published posthumously in 1960. Sources: Dictionary of Manitoba Biography by J. M. Bumsted  (University of Manitoba Press, 1999) : Memorable Manitobans Online (accessed December 2011)

Born October 20, 1945, Houston, Texas, U.S.A. Jo Ellen moved to Canada as an adult in 1975 and she began to consider a career as a writer. By the mid 1980's she had several prepared manuscripts to present to a publisher. Animals in the form a  coatimundi, and Argentine desert tortoise, and Africa Clawed frog, Alvin the chipmunk, several mice gerbils and guinea pigs have been a part of her home menagerie over the years. To write a book about a Blue Macaw was a natural stretch for this author. For her, as an author, there is sheer enjoyment in making something up and kicking the story. The next best thing is having other people enjoying what she has written as a poem or a story.

née Eedy. Born 1918, Walkerton, Ontario. Died 2007. She earned her B.A. from Victoria College, University of Toronto, in 1939. While working as a hospital social worker in Toronto and Vancouver she wrote short stories that appeared in various magazines such as: Canadian Forum, Alphabet and Exile: A Literary Quarterly. She also wrote for the Anthology series on CBC radio. After marrying Arthur Boissoneau, a specialist in forestry, Alice began writing fiction in the isolation of northern Ontario. The novel Eileen McCullough was short listed in 1977 for the W. H. Smith/Books in Canada First Novel Award, and was followed by A Sudden Brightness (1994). The memoir There Will Be Gardens was published in 1991. Sources: Yvonne McKague Hauser Collection. E. ,J. Pratt Library, University of Victoria Campus, University of Toronto. Online  (accessed July 2013.) Suggestion submitted by Jeanne Ouellette, Ottawa, Ontario.

Born July 8, 1888, St Victor de Beauce, Quebec. Died December 21 / 22, 1939, Saint Georges-de-Beauce, Quebec. Eveline studied at the Convent de la Congrégation Notre-Dame, Ottawa,  Macdonald College, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue . She also studied science and economics at Cornell University. In 1930 she began her main career  working as a translator for the Canadian Senate in Ottawa where she was the 1st woman translator for the Debates of the Senate.  She would establish herself by writing Manuel de l'Equette curante parmi la bonne société canadienne-française ( Ottawa, Queen's Printer, 1937) and Contes et dictions populaires Canadiens. (2019)

Born 1906, Fox Bay, Falkland Islands. Died 1997, Victoria, British Columbia.  When she was a child the family moved to England. and in 1926 to Ottawa. Melvina held several secretarial positions at the House of Commons in Ottawa from 1928 to 1939, most notably as personal secretary to Canada's 1st female M.P., Agnes Macphail (1890-1954), from 1928 to 1936. Melvina returned to London, where she worked until 1944 as personal assistant to the senior officer at the Canadian Military Headquarters. She also  held various positions with the American government, working in New York and Washington, D.C. Returning to Ottawa in 1946, she worked for the Canadian Geographical Society, becoming assistant editor of the Canadian Geographical Journal in 1948. She wrote of Image of Canada  (Ryerson Press, 1953). She  moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1956 to become assistant editor of the Hudson Bay Company Beaver, and then its editor from 1958 to 1972. She widened the scope of the magazine beyond its historical focus, introducing such subjects as art, nature and archaeology. Awards during her life, included the Canadian Historical Association's Order of Merit, the Alberta Historical Association Award, the Washington State Historical Society's Captain Robert Gray Medal and the American Association of State and Local History Award of Merit. In 1970, she received the Medal of Service of the Order of Canada was awarded a Manitoba Centennial Medal by the Manitoba Historical Society. She retired to Victoria, British Columbia. Sources: Archives of Manitoba. Fonds of Malvina M. Bolus. Online (Accessed December 2011) ; Memorable Manitobans Online. (accessed December 2011)

SEE  - Journalists

Born June 8, 1927, Vienna, Austria. Died May 27, 2007, Montreal, Quebec. After completing studies in France she arrived in Canada and settled in Montreal in 1948. She worked at Radio Canada International while completing her PhD at the Université de Montréal in 1953. She worked as a journalist at La Press and Le Devoir newspapers as well as being the literary critic for MacLean’s Magazine. In 1961 she published her 1st novel Un amour maladroit which won the ‘First Novel’ Award in the U.S.A. In 1962 she became a professor of French literature at Université de Montréal.  She published numerous novels, collections of short stories and collected volumes of poetry all in her beloved French language. In 1970 she earned the Governor’s General Award for French Language in Fiction for La Femme de Loth. The book was translated the following year into English under the title Lots’ Wife. In 1992 she won the Prix-Grandbois for poetry and in 1996 she earned the Prix Athanase-David.

Born July 20, 1951, Winnipeg, Manitoba. If you have read any children's stories about a shy turtle called Franklin then you are familiar with the work of Paulette Bourgeois. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Occupational Therapy in 1974 from the University of Western Ontario (Western University) London, Ontario. She worked as an psychiatric occupational therapist for three years before becoming a full time author. She went on to study journalism at Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario and worked as a reporter for the Ottawa Citizen and CBC television. For awhile she was a freelance journalist in Washington D.C., U.S.A. writing for Chatelaine, Canadian Living, Reader's Digest and MacLean's magazine. In 1983, after returning to Toronto she graduated with a Master's in Fine Art in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia in 2009. While she often takes ideas for her books from her own life experiences she admits that she never had a pet turtle! She also likes to write information books for young readers like ; The Amazing Apple Book , The Amazing Paper Book, or The Moon. In 2003 she was made a Member of the Order of Canada. In 2007 she received an Award of Merit form the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists.

Born April 13, 1949, Winnipeg, Manitoba. The family soon relocated to Victoria, British Columbia where Marilyn grew up. Marilyn earned a Master's Degree from the University of Victoria, British Columbia. A Canadian novelist and poet she has had her works nominated for the Governor General's Awards in literature. in 1977 she published Many Voices: an Anthology of Contemporary Canadian Indian Poetry. Her 1st novel was published in 1979.  Her 1987 book of poetic monologues called Anyone Can See I Love You was adapted as a radio drama. This was one of four radio productions she has written.  Between 1973 and 2015 she would publish 17 books of poetry which have won the National Magazine Award for Poetry, the Long Poem Award from the Malahat Review in 1994,  and he Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize in 1998.   In 1996 her autobiography was the winner of the Pat Lowther Award which is presented annually for the best published work of poetry by a Canadian woman. In 2005 she published In Fine Form: The Canadian Book of Form Poetry.  In 2015 Bowering worked with composer Gavin Bryars to create an libretto for an operetta about Marilyn Monroe. (2019)

Born December 16, 1936, Toronto, Ontario. Karleen was nine when she moved with her family Argentina, South America and returned to Canada to attend university.  After graduation she travelled the world for 34 years as a Foreign Service Officer. Since 1977 she has enjoyed producing some 20 books for young adult readers. She is a working mother of three children who also found time to contribute to her profession by holding positions at organizations such as the Writers Union of Canada, the Canadian Authors' Association and the Public Lending Rights Commission. Her own books have won awards such as; The Max and Greta Ebel Award 1990 ( Windward Island ) and the Young Adult Canadian Book Award of the Canadian Library Association in 1993. The titles of some of her other books include: The Nine Days Queen, The Haunting at Cliff House, There Will Be Wolves, Animal Heroes, Shadows on a Sword. Check the shelves of your local public Library for these exciting titles.

Born 1953, Trinidad. Dionne cam to Canada to study at the University of Toronto. A poet, novelist and non-fiction writer she focuses on issues relating to Black women. She is an active fighter for the rights of marginalized communities, especially blacks and women. Land to Light On won the 1997 Governor General's Award for poetry.

Born June 25, 1954, Sherbrooke, Quebec. This author is a professor of Political Sconces at Brock University in St Catherines, Ontario. She did her studies at bishop's University, York University where she received her PhD in 1984. She has written a book that won the Gelber Award in International relations and the Choice Award from the U.S. She is a working mother with three children to keep her in line at home.

Born July 13,1923, Saint Léon de Val Racine, Quebec. Died August 15, 2010 Ottawa, Ontario. The family relocated to Ontario and she grew up in Val Gagné near Timmins in Northern Ontario. Like many of her generation she turned 1st to teaching for a career earning her teaching certificate from the University of Ottawa. She returned to university in 1946 to earn her BA. After university she married Robert Nantais and the couple had five children. She taught high school and wrote as a freelance journalist for various newspapers and magazines and later she became a successful civil servant working in information services for the federal Treasury Board. Through all of this her desire to write remained strong. She has published works in both English and French. She was known for the trilogies Les chroniques du Nouvel-Ontario and The Saga of Northern Ontario and other historical novels. Her works have earned the Prix Champlain, Prix du Nouvel-Ontario and Prix du Droit. In 1983 she wrote the the TV script Les Ontariens in 1997. (2018)

née Moore. Born January 12, 1724, Claypole, Lincolnshire England. Died Jan 23, 1789, Seaford, England. She used the pseudonym Mary Singleton Spinster for her early writings and in 1755-1755 she founded a magazine she called The Old Maid which ran for 37 issues. Married in 1756 she gave up her publication. She joined her husband, the Rev. John Brooke, garrison chaplain at Quebec, from 1764 -1768. She wrote what may be described as the 1st Canadian novel The History of Emily Montague (4 vols. London 1769 reprinted in 1931) which was set in Quebec City. The work provides a vivid description of the Canadian landscape and social life including scandals of the time. Back in England she would pen additional novels but no more with a Canadian setting. She was also a playwright, essayist, librettist, and stage director. She was well known in the London literary and theatrical circles. She was one of the 1st women in the 18th century to live by her writing. Source: D C B (2020)

Born February 15, 1958, Loretteville, Quebec. Chrystine earned her BA from Université Laval. She is a well known author of historical novels and thrillers  for children, youth and adults. In 1982 her 1st novel Chère voisine was published. It was made into a film called Good Neighbours and debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2010. She is the recipient of the French Ordre de la Pléiade and the Popular Choice Award from the Salon du livre de Montréal. In 2007 she became a Member of the Order of Canada. (2019)

née Horwood. Born 1919, Rose Blanche, Newfoundland. Died 1986. She began writing as a teenager and later worked as a freelance writer of scripts and educational broadcasts for the CBC. She wrote articles for various publications, short stories and participated in radio dramatizations. In the 1950's her work received five awards through the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts and Letter Competition. From 1959-1966 she was a reporter for the Daily News and she also published and edited the magazine Newfoundland Women (1961-1964). She retired from the Daily News to work on her book Death on the Ice (1972) , a gripping account of the 1914 sealing disaster . She went on to write two additional books. Her papers have been deposited in the Centre of Newfoundland Studies.

Lois is a journalist and has worked many years in corporate communications. Lois has lived in Maputo, Mozambique as an international volunteer during the struggle against apartheid. She has travelled throughout the United Kingdom and Europe during the 1970’s and as well has experienced extended stays in Mexico and Costa Rica.  In 1992 she published :Girls of Summer: In their own League (Harper Collins). She maintains a web site with the same name as the book, which updates research concerning members of the All American Girls Professional Baseball League. She has written several novels, one of which, Murder in the Clubhouse, is set in the shadow of the early days of the All American Girls Professional Baseball League. In 2009 Lois was once again an international volunteer, this time in Northern India and Pokhara, Nepal. Source: The Girls of Summer by Lois Brown (accessed February 2014)

Born 1887, Tiverton, Ontario. Died 1978. After graduating high school in 1905 she attended Normal School (Teacher’s College) and then joined a cousin at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario. The two would graduate in 1912. Together the cousins had joined the Student Volunteers, a Christian youth movement and took extra courses in religion. They were cleared for mission work by the Women’s Missionary Society of the Methodist (now United Church of Canada) and prepared to sail for China. Margaret would return to school during furloughs. In 1928 she attended the Ontario College of Education in Toronto and in 1935 she earned a masters degree in Chinese Studies. Although she began a doctoral program at Columbia University, New York, U.S.A. she never completed her degree. In July 1913 she left Canada going to China beginning a 38 year career of serving the call to mission in China. She served in Hwaiking and was instrumental in opening the 1st full primary school for girls in the city as well as a school for young married women. During her 3rd term in China she became an editor of the Christian Literature Society and later she worked as a translator for the Canadian Commissioner of Trade. Her sill in the Chinese language even permitted her to write books in the language! During the Japanese military activities in China in the late 1930’s she worked from Hon Kong under the British Consulate and although there were intervals in China once Communism took over China foreign missionaries were not allowed on the mainland. Her personal writings and those published have left a view of Christian Mission efforts in a changing Chin., an area of history that is just being studied. She retired home to Canada in 1956. Sources: From the pages of three ladies: Canadian women missionaries in Republican China. By Deborah Shulman (MA Thesis, Concordia University, 1996) ;

née Matheson. Born November 24, 1905, St Barnabas Mission, Onion Lake Saskatchewan. Died July 6, 2009. She was the daughter of Elizabeth Scott Matheson (1866-1958) who was the 1st doctor in Saskatchewan. In 1928 she earned her BA from the University of Manitoba and began teaching in Winnipeg, Manitoba. In 1933 she married Geoffrey Buck. In 1946 she and her daughter moved to Regina, Saskatchewan. She was elected a a member of the Civic Voters Standard and served on the Regina Collegiate Board until her retirement in 1967. In 1973 she published The voices of the Plaines Cree. She wrote the biography of her mother entitled The Doctor Rode Side Saddle in 1974. The Ruth M. Buck School with the Regina School Board is named in her honour. At her death she left an unpublished manuscript The Lives of Rory McRae (1888-1977). Source: Mrs. Ruth M. Buck, Regina Board of Education. Online (accessed June 2014)

SEE  - Politicians and Civil Servants

Born March 29, 1945, Winnipeg, Manitoba. For this author who writes books for young readers, her inspiration often comes from happenings in her own life. She has lots of ides for books and stories and often wishes she was more than one person so she could put all of her ideas into her computer. She suggests that aspiring young writers keep a combination diary sketchbook to collect information and pictures which could be used for writing a book. Margaret won the Vicky Metcalf Award in 1996. This award is presented to authors who have written more than 4 books which young readers find an inspiration. Her writings have garnered numerous awards including in 1994 the Saskatchewan Book Awards Book of the Year, in 1995 the Marian Engel Award and in 1999 the Giller Prize for her work The Good House.

née Huctwith. Born January 15, 1945, Pretoria, Ontario. Died March 4, 2017, London, Ontario. Bonnie graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Western Ontario in 1967. In 1973 she married Ronald Burnard and this mother of three was a teacher and guest lecturer. The family lived in Saskatchewan for two decades before settling in London, Ontario where Bonnie served as a writer-in-residence at Western University.  She has toured South Africa, Sweden, Germany, and England. For her short stories, she has been awarded the Commonwealth Best First Book Award in 1989, Saskatchewan Book of the Year Award in 1994, the Marian Engel Award in 1994 and the Giller Award in1999. She would serve as a juror for the Giller Award for two years. Her last novel was Suddenly, published in 2009.

Born May 11,1918, Scotland. Died April 20 1984, Bucklers Hard, Hampshire, England. Sheila attended schools in Scotland, France, and Germany. In 1941 she married Dr. David Burnford and the couple had three children and three beloved family pets that inspired Sheila to write books. In 1951 the family emigrated to live in Port Arthur (Now Thunder Bay), Ontario.  As an author she is perhaps best known for her novel about animals called the Incredible Journey. The book won the Canadian Library Association Book of the Year Award and the American Library Association Aurianne Award  in 1963. Although Sheila wrote the book for adults it was marketed for children. The book became an immediate international best seller when  it became a Walt Disney movie. It is a great story about 3 friends, a bull terrier, a golden Labrador and a Siamese cat who travel over 300 km through northern Ontario wilderness to return home.  It was remade in 1993 as Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey. She also wrote about her summers in Nunavut on Baffin Island in the book, One Woman's Arctic published in 1973. (2019)

Born November 6, 1911. Died October 24, 2004. At 17 she was working at the Royal Museum as a second assistant draftsman. By 1939 she had become the museums 1st curator of textiles. She too training in Canada and studied positions in Europe to take on her new job. In 1944 she married Harold B. Burnham and the couple worked, together at times, on research together on Canadian and world textiles. In 1971 she published Keep Me Warm One Night: Early Hand weaving in Eastern Canada. Dorothy would take leave from 1949 to 1973 to raise her family and operate a private weaving business Burnham&Burnham. She returned to working at the Royal Ontario Museum in 1973 publishing Cut My Cote about basic garment construction around the world. Retiring from the ROM in 1977 she published Warp & Weft: A Dictionary of Textile Terms in 1981. She continued to work in the filed with projects at the National Gallery of Canada, the Provincial Museum of Alberta and the Canadian Museum of Civilization (now the Canadian Museum of History). In 1984 she became a Member of the Order of Canada. (2019)

Born 1947, Toronto, Ontario. Christina studied literature at the University of Toronto and went on to earn her Master's degree from Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island in 1970. Her PhD in architecture history from Laval University, Quebec City in 1983. She married and is also known by her married name Southam. She has worked with Parks Canada and has written documents and books on Canadian architecture, heritage management and world heritage. In the 1990's she worked with Heritage Canada as Director of General of National Historic Sites and Secretary of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada. In 1990 through 2008 she was appointed Head of the Canadian Delegation of the World Heritage Committee. In 2008 she received the Government of Canada's Outstanding Achievement Award which is the highest honor of excellence in the federal public service. In 2012 Cameron held the Canada Research Chair in Architectural Heritage at the University of Montreal's School of Architecture. She was also vice-president of the Canadian Commission of UNESCO.

Born March 18, 1895, Williamstown, Ontario. Died May 31, 1963, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario in 1915. Earning her teaching certificate she had a career in teaching. In 1919 she married Harvey Campbell and the couple raised three children together. She would also practice her avocation of writing. She had articles and short stories published in several Canadian magazines. Her novels, published mainly in the 1940's, included The Thorn-apple Tree (Toronto, 1942), which depicted pioneer life in Ontario. Fresh Wind Blowing (Toronto, 1947) which had a World War ll setting in Europe and The Tower in the Town (Toronto, 1950) and her last work Highland Heritage was published in 1962. (2021).

née Brooks. Born November 1, 1818, Hamilton Inlet, Labrador. Died April 1905. One of the children of an English settler and his Inuit wife, she lived her entire life in her native Labrador. As an old woman , a journalist  , Arthur Charles Waghorn, sent her a journal and asked her to write down memories of Labrador life and ways. In 1894-1895 13 installments of her writings appeared in the St John's Evening Herald in Newfoundland. Her reflections went beyond the personal and provided a first hand account to life and lore of her home territory. Lydia had married twice and was the mother of 13 children. It is thanks to her sharing her life memories and knowledge that information of nineteenth century Labrador has a written record.

Born April 6,1940, near Athlone, Edmonton, Alberta.  In Edmonton she assisted in founding a halfway house for women and a women's emergency shelter. She began writing in 1973 because she was upset that so few people knew about historic and contemporary Native Cultures. Her 1st book was a memoir, Halfbreed which is used in schools across Canada continuing to inspire indigenous women. She herself is fluent in 4 languages: Cree, Michif, Saulteaux and English. Her books have been translated into German, Chinese, French and Italian. Her 1st professionally produced play, Flight, was the 1st all Aboriginal theatre production in modern CanadaShe has written screenplays and books. In 1986 she was presented with the Dora Mavor Award and the Chalmers Award for Best New Play. .In 1992 she earned the Gabriel Dumont Institute Medal of Merit She has written and/or directed films by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), including My Partners My People, which aired on CTV for 3 years. She is coordinator and member of Sage Ensemble, a community theatre group for Aboriginal elders, and is actively associated with the Saskatchewan Native Theatre Company in Saskatoon. Maria is also a volunteer, activist and advocate for Aboriginal rights and the rights of women. She sits as an Elder on the Saskatchewan Aboriginal Justice Commission and is a member of the Grandmothers for Justice Society. Her writings and her efforts for justice have been recognized in 1994 with the Saskatchewan Achievement Award and in 1996 with the National Aboriginal Achievement Award In 2006 she was honoured with the Saskatchewan Order of Merit. In 2008 she was inducted as an Officer of the Order of Canada. Over the years she has also served as Writer In Residence for the University of Alberta, Regina Public Library, Prince Albert Public Library, University of Saskatchewan and University of Winnipeg.

née Wilkins. Born 1901, London, England. Died November 23, 1986. As a toddler in 1904 Marjorie immigrated to Canada with her family settling in Qu'Appelle Valley, Saskatchewan. Marjorie began her love of writing and of history in high school. She originally worked as a freelance writer and became editor of Magazine Digest in Montreal and the women's editor of Canadian Magazine. In 1931 she married Angus Campbell. and continued her writing career. Her 1st book, The Soil is Not Enough was published. She would go on to write a total of 13 historical books by 1983. In 1959 she earned an Guggenheim Fellowship. She traveled throughout North America, England and Europe before publishing her book, No Compromise, in 1965.

SEE  - Social Activists

Born November 14, 1839 Stamford, Canada West (now Ontario). Died March 31, 1926. She was a teacher who loved history. She was a tireless worker for the Niagara-on-the-Lake Historical Society in Ontario. She wrote several local church histories in the late 1890's and is the author of History of Niagara (Toronto, 1914)

See - Artists - Painters

née Wright. Born May 19, 1863, Hull, Quebec. Died November 22, 1949, Ottawa, Ontario. In 1885 she founded the Young Women's Institute, a Bible class that would be the forerunner of the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA). Bertha wanted to bring the word of God to young working women, prostitutes, alcoholics and incarcerated women. On October 3, 1892 a meeting was held that included representatives from the YMCA in Toronto and the Mayor of Ottawa. From this meeting the YWCA was established in Ottawa. Bertha was a leader to find funding for the YWCA building fund. In 1894 a building was erected at Metcalfe and Laurier in Ottawa. The cornerstone of the building included in it a copy of Bertha's speech to the young girls of the YWCA.  In 1892 she published the book, Lights and Shades of Mission Work. or Leaves From a Workers Note Book: Being Reminiscences of Sever Years Service at the Capital 1885-1892. On June 6, 1896 she married Robert Carr-Harris, a professor at the Royal Military College and Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. The couple settled in Kingston, and raised six children. From 1898 to 1900 she was national President of the YWCA. After the death of her husband Bertha relocated to Toronto where she lived for twenty years. In 1903 she published White Chief of the Ottawa which contained history that included her ancestor Philemon Wright, the founder of Hull, Quebec. She also published The Hieroglyphics of the Heavens published in Toronto in 1933 and Love's Immensity published in Pickering, Ontario,1935.

Born September 1953, Don Mills, Ontario.  As a child she had wanted to be an actor but was much too shy. She entered the study of medicine at the University of Toronto but dropped out and headed for Israel where she lived and worked on a Kibbutz, a community farm. She married and the young couple moved to California and finally settled in Toronto. Back home she earned her BA at York University in 1975 and continued to worked to earn her Masters in education at the Ontario Institute of Education. In the 1980’s she was teaching Cree children in Northern Quebec. Her 1st novel In the Clear was about a youth with polio was published in 1984. She remarried and settled once again in Toronto and worked as a teacher-librarian. She has written numerous books, with Last Chance Boy winning the Book of the Year award from the Canadian Library Association and Under a Prairie Sky winning the Mr. Christie’s Book Award. She has also written for the series Our Canadian Girl. Source: Anne Laurel Carter official web site (Accessed November 2012.)

Born 1954, England. After secondary school, Gillian worked at various places including a bank and restaurants. By the mid 1970’s she decided to study to become a teacher and by 1980 she had earned a degree in English and Education. In 1982 she married Henry Chan and the couple had one son. She taught for 10 years prior to immigrating to Canada and settling in Dundas, Ontario. In 1991 she took a course on writing short stories. Later she met the editor of Kids Can Press where she would publish her first book Golden Girl and Other Stories. More books soon followed in 1996, 2001, , 2002, 2004 and 2005. She then took some time from writing to care for her son until he went to school. Commemorating the 100th anniversary of the War of 1812 she published I am Canada: a call to battle about the war. The book was the winner of the Ontario South Library Association White Pine Award and the Nautilus Award for Best Young Adult Book.

Lily has authored numerous books including Let’s stay to dine Chinese which has been published several times. In 1972 she did a Chinese cooking show on TV. Proceeds from her Chinese cooking book and A many –coloured South Africa: the diary of a non-person (Bonsecour Editions, 1982) have been donated to Northern Peoples of Canada, The Canadian Save the Children Fund and toward scholarships for indigenous peoples of Canada pursuing higher education. She is a member of P.E.N. International, The Canadian Authors Association and in 1985 she joined The Media Club of Canada. Lily also earned a renowned reputation as a fashion designer. In 1986 she was commissioned to design and create a Marian Papal Vestment for Pope John Paul ll. Source: Who’s Who in the Media Club of Canada 1991.

Born 1955, Terrace Bay, Ontario. Brenda graduated with her BA from Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario. She went on to earn her Bachelor of Education from Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario. She was the 1st teacher of special education in the city of Ottawa. Brenda married Ted Chapman and the couple have 2 daughters. Brenda stayed home while her girls were young. She taught part time and took courses at Carleton University in honours English.  In 1997 she left the teaching profession to became a communications advisor in the federal government. President of the Capitol Crime Writer’s in Ottawa she writes mystery stories for youth 10 years and up with 14 books to her credit by 2017.  In 2006 she was the Canadian Book Center ‘Our Choice” novel for her book Hiding in Hawkes Creek. In 2008 she earned the Audrey Jessup Award for Best Short Story ‘Evening the Score’. She has also earned two Gold Oak Awards for adult literacy and two crime Writers of Canada  Arthur Ellis Awards for novella and crime novel of the year.

Born 1915, Shawinigan Falls, Quebec. Died 1973. She was educated from 1924-in 34 at the Convent des Ursulienes de Trois-Rivieres, Quebec. She worked as a publicist with the Quebec ministry of Agriculture. She had written works appear in numerous French language magazines, journals and reviews. In began to publish books in 1939. In 1954 she was awarded the Prix Athanase-David for her work La nuit ne dort pas. In 1961 she was awarded the Prix du Grand Jury des Lettres for her book that many consider her best work, Laure Clouet. In 1981 La Société des écrivains canadiens de la langue français created Le Prix Adrienne Choquette to honor new Quebec writers. Both the cities of Shawinigan and Trois-Rivières have streets named in her honour. 

Born February 3,1866, Kingston, Ontario February 3, 1866. Died March 2, 1949. Educated at Queen's University she graduated in 1887. She became an active suffragist and was also know as a promoter of unions. She lent her support to the League of Nations. She wrote her autobiography The Stairway (Boston, 1921).

née Fowler. Born March 31, 1837, London, England. Died July 2, 1927. She came to Canada as a young child with her family and settled on Amherst Island near Kingston, Ontario. Her father was a respected landscape artist. Married and widowed while young she married a second time the the Reverend I. J. Christie and settled in the North Gower, Ontario with her second husband.  She is know for her short stories and her novels which appeared first as magazine sequels. Recognition as a poet was earned when some of her poetry was turned into songs used in "The half breed rebellions"

née MacDonald. Born October 12, 1934, Liverpool, Nova Scotia.  Joan earned her bachelor degree in 1957 from Acadia University in Nova Scotia. She worked for 20 years as a teacher in Alberta. In 1968 she published her 1st novel, Girl of the Rockies. At the University of Alberta, Edmonton, she was co-founder of the literary journal Dandelion in 1974. Joan, a founding member of the Writer's Guild of Alberta, also held the position of President. Joan moved back to the Maritimes settling in St. John's, Newfoundland. In 1988 she published The Victory of Geraldine Gull, her first book of adult fiction. This book was a finalist for the Governor General’s Award and it won The Canadian Authors Association Literary Award for fiction. In 1991 she earned the Marian Engle Award followed in 1995 with the Geoffrey Bilson Award for her work, The Dream Carvers. In 1999 she was awarded the Vicky Metcalf Award for literature for youth.  In 2001 Joan served as a member of the jury for the renowned Giller Prize for Canadian literature. In 2003 her book The Word for Home earned her a second Geoffrey Bilson Award. In 2010 she was inducted as a member of the Order of Canada.

Born April 5, 1991, Quebec. In 2006 at 14, she worked to organize a feminist conference at he the Université du Québec, Montréal and she was a member of the Youth committee of the Quebec Council on the Status of Women. Léa suffers from anorexia nervosa. She worked on a petition that was tabled in the National Assembly of Quebec that led to the Quebec Charter for a Healthy and Diverse Body image. Léa speaks at schools each year as the official spokesperson for the charted. In 2011 she was named Personnalité par Excellence by Forces Avenir. She studied in Paris, France to earn her Bachelor's degree and  went on to earn a Master's degree from Laval University in feminist studies. She worked with an internship in Burkina Faso as part of Oxfam. Her first book, La revanche des moches (English: The Revenge of the Uglies), published in 2014, examines the collective obsession with appearance and beauty. She and music artist, Mitsou, co-host a feminist documentary series and in 2017 she worked on her 1st feature-length documentary covering sexual harassment on the internet. (2019)

née Mrazik. Born November 19,1939, Montreal, Quebec. Died July 27, 1985, Montreal, Quebec.  An illustrator and author, Elizabeth was most concerned with myths and legends. She obtained several awards for her works including The Hans Christian Anderson Award in 1972, the Frances Howard-Gibbon Award in 1978 and the International Board on Books for Young People's Hans Christian Andersen Award in 1882. She was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 1974. Elizabeth earned her Master's in Fine Art from Concordia University, Montreal in 1980. In 1985 the Elizabeth Mrazik-Cleaver Canadian Picture Book Award was created. Maybe you have seen her works The Loon’s Necklace or the The Enchanted Caribou which is an Inuit legend illustrated with shadow puppets? The Library and Archives Canada hold the original illustrations for eleven of her 13 books. (2019)

Born January 24, 1970, Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia. Lynn attended Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario and worked at odd jobs in New Brunswick and began writing plays. In 1996 she was attending the University of British Columbia in Vancouver to earn her Master's degree. In 1998 she published her 1st book, Strange Heaven, which was nominated for a Governor General's Award. In 2000 her second book was a play the was a Globe and Mail Newspaper Best book. She earned the Air Canada Award for Best Writer under thirty and the Dartmouth Book and Writing Award for fiction. In 2013 she earned the Scotia Bank Giller Prize for her collection of short stories, Hellgoing. She has also written several plays and contributes stories to various Canadaian magazines and the Globe and Mail. In 2017 she was a juror for the Giller award. (2019)

Born May 29, 1922, Kamsack, Saskatchewan. Died California November 22, 2010, New York City, U.S.A.. One of her best friends in school was daughter of Japanese immigrants and Eleanor learned to enjoy origami and Japanese food. She married a U.S. Air Force officer but retained her independence. In 1949 she was the only person who applied to the Ottawa Journal newspaper to be a foreign correspondent to describe conditions in postwar Japan. Since there were no civilian ships nor planes to Japan at that time she sail on A Dutch freighter to take up her new job. She lived with a Japanese farm family in the middle of nowhere prior to moving to Hiroshima. The she was unprepared for the devastation she saw. In the 1950’s she became of mother to two sons, one born in Japan and the second in Alabama. She continued her writing while traveling to postings with her husband in California, The Philippines, and Taiwan. Returning to Hiroshima, Japan in 1963 she was enthralled and mesmerized with the beautiful Pease Park with the statue with a young girl at the top. The monies to build the park had been raised in part by selling the story of the youth on the statue, Sadako. Eventually Eleanor found the story of the youth Sadako and the book Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes was published in 1977. The book spawned web sites, lesson plans, and popularized origami. The story inspired works of music, theatre and ballet. As Eleanor entered her second marriage to Wymberly de Renne Coerr (1913-1996), the couple traveled as diplomats. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in English from American University and a Masters of Library Science from the University of Maryland. She went on to publish several dozen books for youth including biographies, easy to read adventure tales, and sensitive accounts of children from other cultures. Sources: “Eleanor Coerr…”.School Library Journal November 30, 2010 ; Ewing-Weisz, Chris “Visits to Hiroshima prompted a book promoting peace” The Globe and Mail  October 21, 2011 Page R 9 . Suggestion submitted by June Coxon, Ottawa (2021)

Born March 12, 1969, Calgary, Alberta. As a teen of 17 Karen was working in a Thai Village on a Rotary Club exchange scholarship beginning her love of travel. At 19 she was living in Spain and supporting herself by teaching English as a second language. In 1991 she was in France to learn French. She was off to Greece next and this country quickly became a Favourite place to revisit. In 1993 she was the youngest person to ever win a Governor General's Award in literature for her book Touch the Dragon: A Thai Journal. Her 1st book of poetry; The Small Words in My Body won the Pat Lowther Award in 1990. She has been writer in residence at the University of New Brunswick and Okanagan College in Penticton, British Columbia. Since 1997 to 2018 she has produced 11 books of poetry, fiction and creative non-fiction. She has enjoyed fundraising for PEN Canada and worked with Syrian newcomers to Canada. (2019)

Born May 4, 1918. In 1940 she earned a scholarship to attend the University of Toronto. She continued her studies with post graduate work in Library Science at the University of Toronto. In 1946 she used her grandmother’s name Margaret Culverhouse to publish a poem in the June 1946 issue of the Canadian Poetry Magazine. She worked at eh Toronto Public Library for a year an then joined the RCAF – Women’s Division in the Meteorological Service for three years. She also organized a library at the Military base in Trenton, Ontario. She served as the 1st Children’s Librarian at the Sudbury Public Library. Her 1st book, Bells on Finland Street appeared after the World War II and she became one of the first writer for children to be published after the war. Her books, written for the youth market, took place in Canadian places and often told the story of the Canadian multicultural scene. It has been said that she literarily developed the prototype of the hyphenated Canadian ( i.e. Finnish-Canadian) While in Sudbury she developed a ½ hour CBC radio show  A Doorway to Fairland” and was a regular asset to CBC Radio in the 1940’s and 1950’s with the show also being picked up in the U.S.A. She created the Radio show Sounds Fun and wrote plots for Uncle Chichimus puppet show. Moving to Scarborough, Ontario in the 1960 she told stories at the Bendale Branch of the local Library. In 1965 she wrote the Brownie’s Handbook for Girl Guides of Canada. As a Canadian Centennial project in 1967 she adapted her book Samantha’s Secret Room for National School telecast as a Television series. Among the many awards accumulated by her more than 12 books was the 1978 Vicky Metcalf Award for contribution to Children’s Literature. . Sources: “Lyn Cook” by Ruth Maydan in Profiles, Canadian Library Association, 1971. ; Creating the National Mosaic. Multiculturalism in Canadian Children’s Literature 1950-1994 by Miriam Verena Rihter.

née Chouinard. Born September 6, 1927, Québec City, Quebec. Died June 24, 1976, Québec City, Quebec. Monique attended the University of Toronto in 1946 and Université Laval in 1948 earning her BA in 1950. She would return to Laval for additional studies in 1969 and 1974. Married Monique married Bernard Corriveau and became the mother of 10 children. She wrote and dedicated a book for young readers to each of her children. More of her books were published posthumously in 1980 and 1985. In 1958 and again in 1966 she won the Prix de l’A.C.E.L.F.( Association canadienne des éducateurs de langue française.) In 1966 she earned the Prix Marie Rollet, Médaille de l’Association de bibliothèquaires du Canada and from the same association in 1976 Prix Alvine-Bélisle. In 1967 she received the Canadian Centennial Commission Award/Prix de la Commission du centenaire du Canada. In 1971 she was presented with the Prix Michelle-Le Normand of the Société des écrivains canadiens.  The library of Eglise Saint Denys-du-plateau is named in her honour as is the Public Library in Sainte Foy Québec. Source: “Monique Corriveau”: Profiles, Canadian Library Association, 1971.

née Bruce. Born August 25, 1901, Stouffville, Ontario. Died March 6, 1996. She was a teacher in a rural Ontario School from 1920-21. In 1924-1926 she attended Victoria College at the University of Toronto. In 1926 she married Donald Creighton (1902-1977) She enjoyed writing novels and romances and was well known for her work High Bright Buggy Wheels (McClelland & Stewart, 1951) which drew from Mennonite history in the Markham area of Ontario. 6 additional works followed each drawing on settings in Canadian History. She was supported in her writing by her husband, Donald Creighton,(1902-1979) a well known and respected Canadian Historian who died in 1979. Source: Canadian Women of Note (Toronto, Canadian Women’s Press Club/York University, 1994) no. 193 page 201.

Born September 29, 1930, Ameliasburg, Ontario. She attended Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario on writing scholarships for her BA and completed graduated studies at Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois, U.S.A. She then studied for her diploma in education from the University of Toronto in 1955. She married the Reverend F. Reginald Brown and the couple had two daughters. Constance resumed her teaching career upon the death of her husband. She remarried a second time to Albert W. Cook. She taught English and Latin for 30 years in high schools throughout Ontario. She also was a teacher of developmental reading and English as a second language. When she retired for teaching she finally had time to devote to her writing. She enjoys writing novels with Canadian historical settings for young readers. Many of her stories are based on her own family history. This retired teacher and grandmother is perhaps best known by her pen name: Connie Brummel Crook. She has written Laura's Choice (1993), Nellie L (1994) and Meyers Creek (1995) to name a few of her works. She has earned the Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People and the Canadian Children’s Book Center Choice designation in 1995. In 1998 she earned the Storytelling World Award Honours Title for Tellable Stories for Ages 13-17 and the Canadian Children’s Book Center Choice designation for Maple Moon, her 1st child’s picture book. On July 15, 2000, Connie was one of the honourable inductees for the year into Peterborough’s Pathway of Fame.  In 2002 she earned the Word Guild Novel Award for The Hungry Year and in 2004 was co-recipient of the Word Guild Award for The Perilous Year. Some of her writings have been translated into Braille and have been adapted as sound recordings. On June 11, 2008, Connie received the Leslie K. Tarr Award for Outstanding Career Achievement. Source: Connie Brummel Cook website Online (accessed September 2012)

née Armitage. Born  December 9, 1865, Birkkby, England. Died January 12, 1938. She would immigrate to Canada with her husband in 1904. She began publishing her works in 1910 and publish some 8 volumes through to 1935. She was well known and respected as a novelist in her own era spanning some thirty years.

Born April 6, 1919, (Sometimes recorded as April 5), Quebec. Paule took Social Services courses at Soeur du bonne conseil. She began working at C K A C Radio station and it was not long until she was editing radio broadcasts. In 1944 she married André Daveluy and the couple would have 6 children. In 1957 she wrote a collection of short stories for youth readers Les Guinoes and continues to write in her beloved French language for young teens. In 1958 she  earned the Concours Littéaire from the Association canadienne des éducateurs de langue français. In 1972 she received the Prix Michelle-Le Normand of the Société des écrivains canadiens.  In 1980 Her works were recognized with a certificate of honor from L ‘Union international pour les livres de jeunesse (International Union for youth books) In 1985 she received the Prix Claude-Aubrey and in 1987 Prix Fleury Mesplet pour l’esemble de son oeuvre de traduction. In 1999 she was inducted into the Order of Quebec/Ordre national du Québec. Source: Paule Clouthier by Marguerite Polnicky in Profiles (Canadian Library (association, 1971)

née Scott. Born December 12, 1863, Quebec City, Quebec. Died November 19, 1927. She used two successful pen names as a journalist, Amaryllis and the Marchioness. She wrote at the turn of the 1900 for Saturday Night Magazine and she turned "gossip " to pure entertainment and became the toast of the town of Ottawa newspapers and kept readers clamouring for more "intel". . She was a social advocate for welfare children and aboriginals with a keen interest in feminism, all the signs of "the new woman". She married the well to do William P. Davis an gave up her daily journalism, writing only the occasional articles for the Women's Historical Society. After the death of her husband in 1916, she and her two daughters were dependant on family for support and eventually moved to France for less expensive life style. From France she contributed a scattering of writings for the Montréal Star.

Born January 15, 1897, Newmarket, Ontario. Died July 12, 1961.  While studying at the Ontario College of Art in 1902 she would publish her first short story in Munsey's Magazine.  She would go on the write for the Atlantic Monthly, the Canadian Magazine and the Women's home Companion. In 1923 she would publish her first novel followed in 1925 with an one act play. In 1927 she won a $10,000.00 award for her novel Jalna.  This novel would be the first of 16 novels about the Whiteoak family. Even the adoption of two children in 1931 did not deter her writing. In 1954-55 the novels were adopted for television by the British Broadcasting Corporation. There was a renewed interest when the CBC TV produced a Jalna series.  However in current times the novels are not on popular reading lists.

née Ryder. Born July 22, 1927, Saint John, New Brunswick. She began writing as a youth and published a collection of poems in 1950. She is perhaps the 1st city editor for a newspaper in Canada when she worked at the Saint John Times Globe. She went on to write and edit for the Saint John’s Telegraph – Journal and the Evening Times-Globe. She also edited the King’s County Record and the Saint John Citizen. As a freelance journalist she has contributed articles to numerous publications including the Atlantic Advocate and the Financial Post. She served as the host of a panel TV show called Check and Double Check for CSJH television. She also has a keen interest in politics which has seen her run twice for a federal seat in Parliament from Fundy Royal Riding and she also ran for a seat in the provincial legislature. Although unsuccessful in her political aspirations she is a successful author having published numerous books devoted to local ghost stories, murders and UFO experiences. Her works are both fiction and nonfiction. She also enjoys writing for youth. She has worked with the Canadian Mental Health Association to establish the 1st school for mentally challenged in Saint John. Dorothy is married to Fred R. Dearborn and the couple have 4 adult children with grandchildren who no doubt will be excited with grandma’s story telling. Source. Fairley, Amanda. ‘Dorothy Dearborn’ in the New Brunswick Literary Encyclopedia. Online (accessed September 2014)

Born Deep River, Ontario. Her writings have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. She has produced two novels up to 2005, Water Wings (Toronto, 2001) and The Perpetual Ending (Toronto, 2003). She currently lives in Toronto but frequently returns to her beloved Ottawa Valley to re-energize.

Born September 29, 1946. This writer drew from her own experiences publishing stories of pilgrimages. She has made walking pilgrimages in France, Spain, Italy and six other countries. All her walking efforts have raised over 200,000 dollars for medical research. She has been the Honourary Director of the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada. In 1993 she received the Confederation Medal to honour her achievements.

Born July 22, 1942, Winnipeg Manitoba.  Kady is an illustrator and author of books who took the advice of her first editor who told her to have fun! To this day she has 'fun' with her profession. She does take her work very seriously and puts in many hours labouring over each illustration. In 1998 her book, A Child's Treasury of Nursery Rhymes won three top awards including the Governor General's Award.

Born Kehewin First Nation, Alberta. Madeleine studied nursing at Edmonton General Hospital graduating in 1968. She returned to studies at the University of Lethbridge, Alberta for a Bachelor in Nursing in 1982 as one of the 1st Indigenous women to graduated nursing at university. In 1993 she earned her Master’s degree in international affairs at Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario. In 1983 she was a special advisor for the Canadian Minister of Health and Welfare. By 1985 she became directory of the Indian and Inuit Health Careers Programme. From 1989-1993 she served as director of the Centre for Aboriginal Education, Research, and Culture, Carleton University. She has served as president of the Aboriginal Nurses Association of Canada and was a member of the National Forum on Health and Vice-Chair of the Mental Health Commission of Canada board of directors. She has established her own company, Dion Stout Reflections Inc. and speaks throughout North American and Europe on Indigenous health, reconciliation and healing. She has also established herself as a report writer.  She has received the Assiniwkimaik Award from the Aboriginal Nurses Association of Canada, the University of Lethbridge Distinguished Alumnus Award and the Centennial Award from the Canadian Nurses Association in 2008. In 2015 she was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada 

Born April 16, 1939, St. John's, Newfoundland. This writer, biographer and educator studied at Memorial University in Newfoundland and the University of British Columbia. Dr. Djwa settled to a position of Professor of English at Simon Fraser University in 1980. She had published numerous articles, edited several works, including books of poetry by Canadian poet, E. J. Pratt and has written several biographies of Canadian authors. She is currently working on a biography of a Victorian poet, novelist and artist P. M. Page.

SEE - Academics

Born April 16, 1858, Montreal, Quebec. Died October 9, 1923. She visited England and in 1900 decided to make it her permanent residence. However, as a novelist and religious writer she set the background for 4 of her novels in her home country of Canada. Her works are carefully structured. She used humor and lively dialog to describe her unusual plots and twists.

Ann Douglas is an award-winning journalist and the author of some 30 books, many of which have been about baby and child care including: The Mother of All Pregnancy Books, The Mother of All Toddler Books, The Mother of All Parenting Books. She also has an interest in Canadian women’s history and has written Canuck Chicks and Maple Leaf Mamma’s to help others learn more of our women’s heritage.  A parent, educator, lecturer, and mother of four, Ann is currently serving as the honorary Chair of the National Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies 9-Month Club and as a member of the expert advisory group for Invest in Kids.  She recently served as national spokesperson for Sunlight's National Play Day Program and has been featured on a Cheerios cereal box as part of a special "Read the Box" campaign of 2002 and 2005. As past president of the Periodical Writers Association of Canada (P W A C) and  a teacher of  writing courses through Trent University she mentors emerging and established authors.

née Hunter. Born February 12, 1934, Alton, Illinois, U.S.A.  Her Canadian parents moved back to Canada where Mary Alice grew up and graduated from the University of Toronto. While studying she spent much of her time at The Varsity newspaper. In 1959 she married and returned to the U.S.A. to live. It was here that she worked producing films, plays and book reviews. With her young family of two young daughters she moved to Kingston, Ontario, Canada where she still resided today. She has written over a dozen books for young Canadian readers and created the Northern Lights series and the Kids Canada Series. She has won awards from the Canada Council, the Ontario Arts Council and Ontario Heritage, the Laidlaw Foundation, and the Canadian Children's Book Centre "Our Choice" awards for various books.

Born 1984, Cochrane, Ontario. Having been born with cameral Palsy and living life from a wheel chair has never held Lyne back from doing what she always wanted to do.  It seems Lyne was destined to become a writer. At an early age she was writing short stories, poems, and essays, In September 1998 she told her personal story and her first short story to the local newspaper the Cochrane Times Post.  At 18 in 2002 Lyne moved with her family to Goderich, Ontario. She penned her 1st novel in 2013: A Disabled Heart. Having read many books about disabled people Lyne found that the writers focused on the negative aspects of disabled life or about people with disabilities as the result of an accident. Disabilities from birth were virtually never the focus for writers. Her 1st novel is about a young woman who has cerebral palsy and her desire to live a life as herself like others do. Lyne is now working on additional writings.

Born Meaford, Ontario. Died March 31, 1935. She would become a Kindergarten teacher in Toronto in 1888 and showed her love of teaching by remaining in the position for some 25 years. During her retirement from teaching she would write "A Cargo of stories for children" Toronto 1931).

Born September 27, 1894, St. John's, Newfoundland. Died March 22, 1968, Newfoundland. In 1911 she travelled with her family to England to attend a wedding of an aunt. While there Margaret attended elocution and drama courses at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. With the on slot of World War 1 she returned to Canada. During the war she worked with the Women’s Patriotic Association while her 3 brothers served overseas. During this time she wrote a short story : Mother Boggan about islander’s war efforts. In the 1920’s she was a member of the Women’s Franchise League working towards gaining voting rights for women which were granted in March 1925 to women over 25 years of age. During World War ll she worked with the Women’s Patriotic League and the St John’s Ambulance Corp. Later she did public relations work for the Red Cross writing for newspapers and providing radio interviews. In 1952 she was in England to cover the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth ll. She completed 4 novels and additional short stories all set in Newfoundland. By 1959 Parkinson’s Disease prevented her from continuing to write. Near the entrance to the Memorial University Library and at her former home in St. John’s historic plaques have been erected. In 2007 she was declared a National Historic Person. Source: Margaret Iris Duley Backgrounder. Parks Canada online. (accessed July 2014)

Born East Orange, New Jersey, United States. Died April 22, 1957. Married to the renowned Canadian author Huh MacLennan ( married 1936) she was a reputed author on her own. She would publish some four works including "Bluenose : a portrait of Nova Scotia (New York, 1942).

Born August 6, 1969, Kingsville, Ontario. As a child being a novelist was one of the choice careers that was right up there with being a detective or a spy. She always loved reading and studied English at McGill University, Montreal and then went to the University of Guelph for her Master’s degree. It was while at Guelph that she stated to have an interest in children’s literature. Moving to Toronto she decided that she did not want to study for her PhD. She worked and continued taking a variety of courses from tap dancing to writing books for children. She has published three books for young readers: Missing Mathew (2003); Mosh Pit (2004) and Big Big Sky in 2008 all with Red Deer Press. Kristyn also performs creeptastic art as Miss Kitty Galore and plays bass in the all-female metal band Heavy Filth. Source: Profile by Dave Jenkinson. CM Magazine Online (Accessed 2007) ; Kristyn Dunnion web site (accessed January 2011)

Born 1870, Toronto, Ontario. Died December 5, 1900. She studied for her B.A. at the University of Toronto in 1896. Her written work Elise Le Beau: a dramatic idyll and lyrics and sonnets was published in Toronto in 1921 by her sister Laura.

Born 1867. Died April 7, 1914. She studied for her B.A. at the University of Toronto in 1896. Her written work Elise Le Beau: a Dramatic Idyll and Lyrics and Sonnets was published in Toronto in 1921 by her sister Laura.

Onoto Watanna

Born 1875, Montreal, Quebec. Died April 8, 1954. She was the 8th child of 14 children of a British silk merchant and a Chinese mother, Grace, who had lived with missionaries. Both she and her older sister would take to the art of writing. Winnifred was a writer in many arenas from newspaper articles, magazines and journals, short stories, successful novels ( some of which became plays and movies) cookbooks, and movie scripts. She was 14 when she had her first newspaper article published. At seventeen she left home to wander to Jamaica and New York City. Although she was of Chinese she choose a Japanese pen name Onoto Watanna since Japanese novels were more popular. She married Bernard Babcock but the marriage was short lived. In 1917 she married Frances (Frank) Fournier Reeve and moved to settle to a ranch in Calgary Alberta for a couple of years before she once again had wanderlust ending up in Hollywood and New York once again. In 1932 she returned to her husband in Calgary to basically settle. She took an interest and founded the Little Theatre.  She was the first known writer oa Asian descent to be published in America. Her first novel, Mrs. Nomé of Japan was published in Chicago in 1899 and was republished in 1999. Her granddaughter Diane Birchall wrote Onoto Watanna, a biography in 2001.

Born 1925, England. After attending school in Wales, England, Ontario and Nova Scotia Dorothy graduated from the University of Toronto. In 1968 while working as a reporter she took her 1st Arctic trip to Cape Dorset. A second trip resulted in a book with drawings and prints of the graphic artist Pitseolak Ashoona. She traveled to the far north over and over conducting interviews of the people resulting in more books and films and tapes of oral history. Many of her works were published in English and Inuktitut, the Inuit native language. . Her visits and works have done much to preserve the history of the Inuit people. One of her interviews in Nova Scotia provided fodder for her book Genius at Work: Images of Alexander Graham Bell published in 1982. She was appointed to the Order of Canada on October 21, 1999.

née Ridout. Born September 29, 1844, Toronto, Ontario. Died September 29, 1910, London, England. She was more than likely educated at home. On September 5, 1865 she married James David Edgar, (1841-1899) a lawyer and author. The couple would raise 9 children. Much of her early marriage was spend dedicated to bringing up their large family. When she was in her 40’s she had her first work published, Ten years of Upper Canada in Peace and War (Toronto: Briggs, 1890). This work , a compilation of information from family correspondence was well received. In 1898 with honors bestowed upon her husband she became Lady Edgar. In 1904 her second book was a biography of Sir Isaac Brock, the British hero of the war of 1812. She was also a philanthropist supporting the Infants’ Home  in Toronto and the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire. She was also active in the Woman’s Art Association of Canada where she served as President in 1899. She was a life member of the National Council of Women and served as President in 1909. Source: D C Bvol. Xlll. Online (accessed March 2014)

Born 1978, Calgary, Alberta. She studied creative writing at the University of Victoria in British Columbia and went on to earn a Master's Degree from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A. In 2004 she published her 1st novel The Second Life of Samuel Tyne which won the Hurston-Wright Legacy Award. For a time she was the Writer-in-residence in Stuttgart, Germany prior to publishing her 2nd novel Half-Blood Blues. This book won the Walter Scott Award for Historical Fiction and the Anisfield-Wolf Book award as well as the prestigious Giller Prize. In 2014 Esi published her 1st non-fiction book, Dreaming of Elsewhere; Observations on Home. This was followed with her being Writer-in-residence in 2016 at Athabasca University, Edmonton, Alberta. In 2018 she third novel Washington Black garnered her a second Giller Prize. Esi is Esi married Steven Price and the couple have 2 children. (2019)

Born August 7, 1960, Cochrane, Ontario.  A self declared loner, Deborah started writing at 10 or 11 years old.  Her writings have won the Ruth Swartz Award, Sweden’s Peter Pan Prize,  the University of California’s Middle East Book Award, the Jane Addams Peace Award and the Vicky Metcalf Award. In 1997 she travelled to Pakistan to interview refugees at an Afghan refugee camp. Through her books she give western readers a glimpse into the plight of children in today’s developing countries. As a teen in high school she joined the peace movement and is also a long time feminist. A philanthropist, she pledged the earnings from her Breadwinner Trilogy, published around the world in seventeen languages, more two million dollars, to Street Kids International and to Women for Women, an organization for Afghan girls in refugee camps in Pakistan. Book proceeds have also been shared with UNICEF. In 2000 she published Looking for X which follows a young girl in her day-to-day life in a poor area of Toronto. The Breadwinner, published in 2001 was made into a movie in 2017 and  book earned the Governor General's Literary Award. In 2006 she was inducted into the Order of Ontario.  In December 2016 Deborah was named a Member of the Order of Canada. In 2020 she published 'The Greats with a storyline set in Guyana.

Born May 19,1952, Vancouver, British Columbia. She wrote novels when she was 12 years old! She too time out to go to school and become a librarian but at 30 found herself on leave from her job to write books again. By 2001 she had published some 10 books. Pic-Up Sticks was the 1991 winner of the Governor Genera's Award. Out of the Blue, 1994 won Mr. Christie's Book Award. She loves to write in her little office in the attic of her house.

née Passmore. Born May 24, 1933, Toronto, Ontario. Died February 16, 1985, Toronto, Ontario. She earned her B.A. in Language Studies from McMaster University in 1955. She then moved to Montreal to earn her Master’s degree from McGill University. She taught at McGill for a short while and then at the University of Montana in the U.S.A. In 1960/61 she earned a Rotary Foundation Scholarship to the Université d’Aix-Marseille, France. In 1962 she married radio producer Howard Engle and the couple rasied twins until the marriage ended in divorce in 1975. Her first novel, No Clouds of Glory appeared in 1968. In 1973 she was the 1st chair of the Writer’s Union of Canada. In 1976 she won the Governor General’s Award in Literature for her work Bear. She served as writer in residence a the University of Alberta in 1977 and at the University of Toronto from 1980-1982. In 1981she won the City of Toronto Book Award for Lunatic Villas. In 1982 she was inducted into the Order of Canada. In 1984 she was the  Toronto YWCA Woman of Distinction. The Marion Engle Award is present annually in her honour to a woman writer in mid-career. She was an avid journal keeper and in 1999 her journals were published as Marion Engel’s Notebook. Marion Engel Park is located in Toronto. Source: The Canadian Encyclopedia. Online (accessed February 2014) 

Born  March 15, 1888, Montreal Quebec. Died ????.  She studied art and music in London, England with private lessons. She enjoyed writing short stories and stories in serial format for popular magazines. She would, during her career, that stretched from the early 1930's through to the 1970's, produce some 125 romance novels both under her own name and the nom de plume of Mairi O'Nair. She was not as lucky finding a life long romance as some of her book hero were. She never married although engaged three times. one of her suitors was killed, a second died from old war wounds and a third died of heart failure. She eventually adopted three daughters.

née Montreuil. Born April 18, 1914, Quebec. Died June 18, 2014, Quebec. Using the surname Martin, Claire worked as a secretary and then a host on CKCV Radio in Québec and Radio Canada in Montréal. In 1945 she married Roland Faucher and the couple settled in Ottawa where Claire became a full time writer. In 1958 Claire won the: Prix du Cercle du livre de France for her work Avec ou sans amour. By 1966 she earned the Governor General’s Award in Literature and the Prix Conecours littéraire du Québec for Dans un gant de fer. This book also won the Prix Jean-Hamelin. In 1967 she became a member of the Royal society of Canada. In 1984 she was inducted as a Member of the Order of Canada and became a Companion of the Order of Canada in 2001. In 1999 she won a medal from the  l'Académie des lettres du Québec. In 2007 she was inducted as an Officer of the National Order of Québec. In 2009 she became a member of the Académie des Grands Québécois followed and in 2010 she became an Officer in the Order of Arts and Letters.

Born September 25, 1943, Huntington, New York, U.S.A.  Eugenie began her career as an illustrator by working for a greeting card company. She illustrated cheap books where she says she learned to become a better artist. She enjoys illustrating books for young readers and has also written some of her own books. Some of her titles are : Waves in the Bathtub ( 1993), Ordinary Amos and the Amazing Fish (2000).

Born September 4, 1969, Huntington, New York, U.S.A. In high school she learned to sculpt  and found that three dimensional art was just how she could best express herself! Kim's Mom, Eugenie, is an illustrator and author of books for youth. Kim was encouraged to use her clay illustrations and write books to accompany her art. She attended the Ontario College of Art in Toronto and developed skills that lead her to a career of full time illustrator and part time author. She stores her fimo ( type of clay) illustrations in pizza boxes! She is a strong believer of 'visualization" ( seeing the completed work in her mind) before she begins working.

Died 2010, Hamilton, Ontario. A Hamiltonian for 58-years, Pat Filer committed her life to serving others. A 25-year association with The Girl Guides of Canada included serving as Hamilton Area District Commissioner and Deputy Chief Commissioner of Canada. During that time she revised the national Girl Guide program and oversaw the production of a new guiding handbook. In 1969 she was awarded the Guides’ highest service award – The Beaver Medal. Pat was a writer/editor on the Dictionary of Hamilton Biography, authored Mohawk College’s history and edited the autobiography of winemaker Andrew Peller. She served as chair of the Hamilton Gallery of Distinction and was inducted into the Gallery in 2015.

Born June 18, 1851, Belleville, Canada East (now Ontario). Died May 17, 1915. Some might say that as the grand daughter of the famous Susanna Moodie she came by her desire to write naturally. She wrote thee books including "A trip to Manitoba" (London 1880) and Historic Days (Toronto 1898). She had an avid interest in Canadian history and in 1894 she founded the Canadian Women's Historical Society of Toronto.

née Rae. Born 1788, Aberdeen, Scotland. Died March 15, 1860. She married James Innis Knight July 3, 1810 and later as a young widow married James Fleming May 8, 1820 in Canada. In 1815 and 1816 she published two books called Home and a book of poems entitled A year in Canada and other poems.  Once settled in Canada she became a teacher concerned that the school books being used in her Canadian school house had very little Canadian content. She developed school books specifically for her young students. Her works may have been the first books for Canadian children. Her published works contained views of Canadian scenery and the book The Prompter was subtitled: Progressive exercises on English Language. She wanted to provide interesting lessons for her students and continued to “Canadianize” early textbooks. Source: Dictionary of Canadian Biography Vol. lll pg. 734-35

née Early. Born November 15, 1840, Saint John, New Brunswick. Died March 24, 1880, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A. May Agnes was an avid writer even as a school child at the Saint John Convent of the Sacred Heart. While still in school she sold her 1st story to the New York Mercury.  She enjoyed writing romance and mystery novels but as was the fashion of the time her novels would appear as serials (chapter by chapter in newspapers) under the pen name of Cousin May Carleton before being published as 21 full books. In 1865 she married an engineer, John W. Fleming and the couple with their four children eventually settled in New York where her 1st novel Ermine had been published in 1863. Her serials were published in New York and London, England! She also used the pen name M. A. Earlie. She often paid tribute to her Canadian heritage by introducing Canadian episodes and characters into her novels. It is not really known exactly how many stories she wrote as some were not written by her but were attributed to her by her publisher after her death because of her popularity.

Born  New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.A.  Barbara was first published at the age of nine in Humpty Dumpty Magazine, and then  in Jack and Jill, winning a National Scholastic Magazine regional short story award when she was 14. With her B.A. degree from Columbia University she taught English, speech and drama in New York and Chicago and worked in public relations before moving to Canada in 1967. A popular speaker for local, national and international organizations, she has taught courses in writing, speaking and media training. The author of three books, including the 20th anniversary edition of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing and a revised edition of Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity. Her alter-ego, Simon Teakettle, owns the company, Simon Teakettle Ink, and this cat has his own credits as a writer. Barbara and Simon collaborated Mewsings/musings, a collection of their best humor writing. Together, Barbara and Simon have contributed to 29 anthologies in six countries. (2020)

Born Toronto, Ontario. Died October 12, 1953. While she entered her studies at the University of Toronto she did not graduate. This however did not stop her determination to write. She would produce four novels. The third novel was published under the pen name of Paul de Mar. (2020)

Nelly Arcan
 

née Fulton. Born April 30, 1913, Lumsdon, Saskatchewan. Died March 28, 1996, Toronto, Ontario. Edith attended the University of Saskatchewan. and in 1938 she married Frank Folk who encouraged her search for folk music. Working for the Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC) she hosed the radio program Folk Song Time from 1950 through 1963. This folklorist, collector, writer, and teacher was interested in Canadian folklore. She would publish some 15 books including Folk Songs of Canada  and More Folk Songs of Canada and released recordings of many of these songs. She was a founding member of the Canadian Folk Music Society and editor of the society's journal. She was also a founder of the famous Mariposa Folk Festival. She is included in the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame and was inducted into the Order of Canada. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada she was the 2000 recipient of the Folk Alliance International Lifetime Achievement Award. (2020)

Born March 14, 1820, Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia. Died November 17, 1904, Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia. Eliza attended J. S. Thompson's Private School for Ladies, Halifax, Nova Scotia and took early training at Normal School (Teacher's College) teaching in Nova Scotia. She contributed to the Halifax Herald newspaper, the Presbyterian Witness, Message and other journals of the day. She was know to present papers to the Historical Societies of Massachusetts and Nova Scotia. She enjoyed writing and produced two books: Descriptive Sketches of Nova Scotia (Halifax, 1864) and The Twilight of Faith (Boston, 1891). Source: D C B

Born 1936, Cape Home Island, James Bay. Mini studied at Ste. Therese School and became a nurse in Fort George (now Chisasibi) Quebec. Moving to Ottawa in 1957 she began working for the government as a translator of Inuktitut. In 1978 she published her memoirs: Live Among the Qallunaat which provides insight into life in Inuit communities in the 1940’s and 1950’s. The Department of Indian and Northern Affairs suppressed distribution of the book by hiding copies in the basement of their offices. The book was republished by the University of Manitoba Press and finally too off. It was the 1st book in the First Voices, First Texts series which published lost or underappreciated texts by indigenous writers. The book has been translated into French, German and Greenlandic. The book won the Mary Scorer Award for Best Book by a Manitoba Publisher, Manitoba Book Awards in 2016. Mini has also created a play Survival in the South. This was the 1st drama ever written by an Inuk and is an authentic attempt to come to aesthetic, as well as emotions terms with her journey of self-discovery in the Canadian south. In 1994 Mini and Odette Leroux and Marion E. Jackson wrote Inuit Women Artists: Voices from Cape Dorset published in Seattle by the University of Washington Press.

Born September 18, 1960, Chilliwack, British Columbia. After high school Gayle took a year to attend a Bible School in Sweden and to see Europe. Back home in Canada she worked at a bank to pay off her European trip. She married and shortly after her 1986 graduation from the University of British Columbia her first child was born. She now has two children. In 1998 she published her 1st novel for young adult readers called Janey’s Girl. The book garnered attention and won the Red Maple Reading Award and the Canadian Library Associations’ Young Adult Book Award. It has been translated into several languages. She has written an additional 5 books of which the Isabel Factor, published in 2005 received the 2007/2008 Stellar Award from the British Columbia’s Teacher’s Choice Award. Source: Gayle Friesen by Dave Jenkinson. University of Manitoba CM Magazine online (accessed January 2007)

née Johnson. Born Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A. In 1963 she moved to Canada to study at McGill University, Montreal, Quebec where she earned her B.A. and Masters in the French Language. She married for a brief time but she kept her surname as her professional name. She has worked as a freelance journalist for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), Radio Canada and the Montreal Gazette, pursued a career in Canadian and Quebec theatre and, in the 2000s, served as the founding director of the Banff International Literary Translation Centre. Her translations have won the Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award, the two Governor General’s Awards for French to English translation and in 2014 the Lambda Literary Award for Drama. In 2015 she was inducted into the Order of Canada. She married two additional times to Nick Auf der Maur, with who she had a son and to author Herve de Fontenay with whom she also had a son. (2017)

née de Trafford Young. Born August 11, 1922. Died February 18, 2014, Paris, France. As a youngster she told stories to her paper dolls to keep herself quietly entertained. A 4 years of age she was sent to boarding school. Her father died when she was 10 and her mother remarried and left for New York without her daughter who would attend a multitude of different schools. She settled in her late teens in Montreal. Here she married Johnny Gallant an Acadian might club entertainer who was soon a soldier in Europe. She was a working “Girl” at the National Film Board and an reporter at the Montreal Standard newspaper reluctantly hired to replace the men who were off fighting the war. She refused to write “girly” columns and was soon a feature writer for the paper. Her marriage disintegrated after the war and by 1951 she was submitting stories to the New Yorker and off to Live in Paris. Her early years in Europe had her living  in many short-term situations in the south of France, Switzerland and Spain, and eventually settled in the Montparnasse district of Paris, France. This  was the home of Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus in the 1950s, and the site of many student demonstrations in 1968 and during the labour and student strikes about the job laws in 2006. She chronicled the uprisings, initially for her personal notebooks, but eventually agreed to let The New Yorker publish them. (They appeared in Paris Notebooks.) She received the Governor’s General Award in 1981  for her work Home Truths: Selected Canadian Stories. She  would receive numerous honorary degrees, the Molson Prize from the Canada Council, the Canada-Australia Literary Prize, a tribute at the International Festival of Authors at Harbourfront in Toronto, the Blue Metropolis Literary Prize, the Inaugural Matt Cohen Prize, and the Pen Nabokov Award for career achievement. In 1981 she was made an officer of the Order of Canada and in 1993 this was upgraded to Companion of the Order of Canada. In 1983-1984 she returned to Canada as Writer-in-residence at the University of Toronto. She was preoccupied with the past in her last years as she  prepared her diaries  covering the years from 1952 through 1969 for publication. The diaries are to be published in Toronto and New York in 2015.In her last  decade she was plagued by ill health and poverty. but  close friends rallied to support her ‘valiant spirit, her coruscating wit and her generous capacity for friendship.’  Source:  Sandra Martin. Writer Mavis Gallant dies at age 91, In the Globe and Mail February 18, 2014 ; The Canadian encyclopedia. Online (Accessed June 2002)

Born February 11, 1900, Fredericton, New Brunswick. Died January 3, 1975, Fredericton, New Brunswick. Mary was a delightful child with a  marvellous wit. She loved the stories her grandparents told and enjoyed even more sharing her own stories with her students where she taught school. In 1935 Mary began to tell her stories on C F N B, Fredericton Radio. Her Just Mary and Maggie Muggins stories soon were available on books for children to enjoy over and over again. The CBC soon came to call and offer Mary a Toronto position as head of the CBC Children’s broadcasting. In 1954 her characters made their TV debut with national exposure. By the time she had retired and moved back to her beloved Maritimes in 1962 she had written over 30 books and over 4,000 scripts for children’s programs. In 1947 the CBC presented Mary Gannan with the Beaver Award and in 1951 she was made an honorary member of the Mark Twain Society. Source: Marilyn Brinell, Memories of Mary Online (Accessed November 2012) ; Andrea Bell, “Mary Gannon”, New Brunswick Literary Encyclopedia Online (accessed November 2012)

Born 1953, New Delhi, India. Rachna loved to read. Her favorites books growing up were Anne of Green Gables and Little Women. In 1967, as a teenager, she immigrated to London, England with her family. She thought of entering medicine and earned her BSc with honour from King’s College, London. Finding that medicine was not really her calling she traveled and in the late 1970’s she moved to Prince Edward Island where she married. The couple would have 4 daughters. Rachna earned her Bachelor of Education at the University of Prince Edward Island. She had always thought she would like to write and was constantly jotting notes in a scribbler but she never got around to writing anything from her notes. In 1989 she 1st picture book was accepted by a publisher was entitled: My Mother is Weird. In 1990 the family relocated to Ottawa, Ontario. In 1991 using the pseudonym Rachna Mara she published a collection of short stories. In the 1990’s she battled breast cancer but soon returned to writing. In 1999 she earned the Governor General’s Award for children’s book: A Screaming Kind of Day. In  2006 she won the I.O.D.E Violet Downey Book Award for The Sower of Tales. Her book the Trouble with Dilly was a Girl Guide Club pick and Resource Links Best Fiction (grades 3-8). She plans on writing more books letting her imagination lead her to more interesting characters. Rachna's books have been translated into several languages, including French, German, Danish, Spanish, Catalan, and , Korean She has given readings, writing workshops, and conference presentations to students, teachers, and aspiring writer across the country, as well as internationally.  Source: Dave Jenkinson, ‘Rachna Gilmore’ CM Magazine, 2001. Online. (Accessed May 2014.) (2020)

As a youngster growing up she worked helping her mother who was director at the Toronto Children’s Players. After high school she earned a music degree and a degree in classical ballet. She attended Toronto Normal School (Teacher’s College) and started teaching in a regular classroom but soon she round the larger appeal of the radio classroom. She scripted fairy tale plays and went on to storytelling. She was soon noticed by CBC Radio and for 9 years from 1948 through 1957 she did Kindergarten of the Air on CBC. It was during this time that DJ married Bill Needles and the couple had five children. She began writing her stories and her first book Margaret told the story of a Irish immigrant girl bringing history alive for young readers. She taught summer school drama for the Toronto Board of Education and continued to write and produce for CBC’s school broadcasting division. She has published songs, books, almost 100 plays, a history of Toronto, an historical novel and drama guides for teachers. After she retired she moved to her farm in Dufferin County, Ontario and began working with seniors as well as working with youth in drama. She also enjoys her online publishing. Sources: Dorothy-Jane Goulding: Profiles. Canadian Library Association, 1971 ; Needles Publishing. Biography. Online (Accessed April 2014)

Born June 25, 1950, Windsor, Ontario. In 1954 the family relocated to Toronto for their father's new job. Barbara was an avid reader and a regular visitor to the local Bookmobile when it arrived in her area in Don Mills. Barbara attempted to go to University but lack of finances and a being discouraged by the long bus ride to campus she quickly dropped out. She went on to work and become a certified licensed broker. She eventually settled for being a secretary.  In 1972 she married her high-school sweetheart but the marriage did not last long. Working for a publishing firm she became an editor and decided she could probable write as well as some of the authors she was editing. Her short stories were accepted by some literary magazines. It was at this time she met and fell in love and married anther editor. She wrote her 1st novel but it failed as did her marriage. In 1989 she wrote Falling Angels which would be made into a film of the same name in 2002. In 1992 she published a collection of short stories one of which became an independent film. Her book Helpless won the Trillium Book Award from the Ontario government. and the Marian Engle Award.  Not always the winner her books have been nominated for numerous awards and was a three time finalist for the Governor General's Award in Literature.   In 2006 she was appointed to the Order of Canada. For the next decade she fought depression and severe pain and even considered suicide. She turned to writing again and produced her next best seller Little Sister. In 2012 she won a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship for her work.

Born February 21, 1963. Rebecca studied to be a geological engineer at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in 1985. She soon found that her interest in animals could be the base for a new career. She is now an experienced photographer of natural history and has created books to share her love for readers of all ages. She began writing in 1994 and is an acclaimed and award winning author of 25 books. In 2004 she won the Canadian Science Writers Association’s Science in Society Award and the Animal Behavior Society’s Outstanding Children’s Book Award for Lupe: a wolf pup’s first year. She gets in touch with nature through her gardening and designs intricate needlework patters based on her nature photographs taken around the world. Rebecca is married and has opened her home to menagerie of rescued pets. Check out her web site “Wild Threads” Sources: Wild Threads on line; Herstory: a Canadian Woman’s Calendar 2012.

née Robinson. Born Toronto, Ontario. Died November 2, 1923. As the daughter of John Beverly Robinson she was from one of the big families of Toronto and was married in 1842. She enjoyed writing and published a book, Scenes in Hawaii in 1888. Later she became interested in history and turned her writing talents to producing series of articles for the Canadian magazine entitled Bygone Days which were published in 1914.

née Hayr. Born January 1, 1839, Northampton, England. Died February 15, 1912, Chateauguay, Quebec. She was Canada’s 1st professional woman garden writer. Annie moved to Troy, New York, U.S.A. and attended Troy Female Seminary. She married a Scottish born fruit farmer, Robert Jack (died 1900) and the couple settled on his farm in Chateauguay, Quebec. Here the couple would raise 11 children. When she moved to Canada, she used her gardening skills to experiment and make a profit. She developed one acre to horticulture of her choice and wrote a column in The Rural New Yorker called A Woman's Acre. She also wrote a column on flowers in the Montreal Daily Witness and contributed to the Canadian Horticulturalist. Her skills became known throughout North America. While she wrote and published short stories and poems, it is her horticultural articles for which she is remembered. Her book The Canadian Gardener: A pocket Help of the Amateur  was published in 1903 and set the gardening standard for all of pre World War 1 Canada. (2020)  

née Schroder. Born 1930, The Netherlands. After World War ll Maria and her husband Peter Moens immigrated to Canada settling in Toronto. They had five children. After graduating with her degree in 1975 from York University, Toronto she studied for her Master’s Degree and began writing poetry. She founded a poetry reading series called Axle-Tree Coffee House and edited a number of publications for Poetry Toronto magazine. She also took part time work magazine a scientific journal a position she held for 18 years. And Marie would continue on after Heather retired in 2000.In 1983 along with Heather Cadsby founded Wolsak and Wynn Publishers Ltd. hoping to publish works by women poets. They encouraged women poets, they published works by women and ran an all women business.  In 1984 she joined the League of Canadian Poets and became part of the feminist caucus. In 1990 she was president of the League.  (2017)

née Murphy. Born Dublin, Ireland 1794. Died March 17, 1860. At four years of age her family migrated to England and settled in London. At 16 she was working as a governess and in 1821 she became engaged to lawyer Robert Jameson. However, the engagement was broken off and Anna went to Italy as a companion to a young student. She wrote a book hoping to earn enough money to purchase a guitar. The book was well received but the Diary of an Ennuyee, published in 1826, became somewhat scandalous when her identity was discovered. She later decided to marry Robert Jameson but in 1829 she left for a position in Dominica and never sent for her to be with him. That year she wrote the Loves of the Poets. In 1832 she published Characteristics of a woman which analyzed heroines of Shakespeare.  Her Husband summoned her to Canada in 1836 who now resided in Upper Canada (now Ontario). After landing in New York, U.S.A. she had to find her won way to Toronto in the middle of winter. She penned a travelogue of her journey, Winter Studies and Summer Rambles in Canada published in 1838. She also traveled into Indian settlements while in Canada and explored the settlements along Lake Huron.  A well known author by the time she came to Canada to join her husband she chronicled her 8 month stay in her book “Winter Studies and Summer Rambles in Canada”  published in 1838. She returned to England in 1838 where she continued to be a successful writer and researcher. (2019)

née Moore. Born Dundas, Ontario. Died November 6,1932. As a career journalist she contributed occasional papers on rural life to the Toronto Mail and Empire. She also wrote three books; The Hickory stick: a romance of the school in the cedars (Toronto, 1921) ; The cattle in the stall; sketches and poems (Toronto, 1932)

Born Halifax, Nova Scotia. Died 1895 Montreal, Quebec. Amelia grew up in Halifax. In 1854 she published Linden Rhymes named after her childhood home. S wrote Letters from Linden HILL as a serial in the  Halifax Monthly Magazine from 1852-1853. She penned a poetic series on Nova Scotia wildflowers published in The Provincial.  Her poem Autumn in Nova Scotia won a prize at the Nova Scotia Industrial Exhibition in 1854. About 1875 she lived in Montreal for ten years. The 1883 she is credited with a volume of verse North Mountair by ‘Mileta’. It is also thought that she used the pen names Maude.  She published her poem Sable Island in the Dominion Illustrated in June 1889 and continued a column for some years in this publication. She is a good example of a host of Canadian writers of her era.

Born 1941. Julie grew up in Smiths Falls, Ontario. Even as a teen she loved to write stories. She attended the University of Toronto to earn her BA. Hero of Lesser Causes was her 1st published novel for young readers. It earned the Governor General’s Award for English Language Children’s Literature. In 1993 she earned the I O D E Violet Downey Book Award.  Julie is married with four daughters. In 1994 she published Adam and Eve and Pinch-me which won the Governor General’s Award for English Language Children’s Literature, the Canadian Library Association’s Young Adult Book Award in 1995 and the Ruth Schwartz Children’s Book Award in 1995.  In 2003 she earned the Vicky Metcalf Award for Children’s Literature recognizing her contribution to Canadian Children’s Literature. In 2005 she published As If By Accident her 1st book for adults.(2017)

née Sullivan.  Born 1870  Toronto, Ontario. Died April 1, 1945. As a writer she often used the pen name of Susanne or Suzanne Marny. She is credited with tow books: The Canadian book of months (Toronto, 1908) and Tales of old Toronto (Toronto, 1909)

née Johnson. Born February 26, 1963, Winnipeg, Manitoba. As a young girl growing up Canadian winters were a way of life and she started at 6 to compete in speed skating. She would win 12 national speed skating titles and would represent Canada on the national team that trained in Germany.  While she always liked to write and sketch her 1st year at the University of Manitoba was spent in labs for chemistry, physics and biology. However she soon found English courses easier and much more fun. After the death of her father she cared for her mother. After her mother’s death she relocated to Toronto where she met author Nicholas Shakespeare a writer on tour. In 1999 the couple married and settled in Tasmania with some time spent each year in Oxford, England. The couple have two sons. Gillian writes and illustrates her own books for children . Some 30 titles had been published and translated into 10 different languages by 2014. She has also illustrated works by author colleagues including noted children’s poet Dennis Lee. Source: Gillian Johnson by Dave Jenkinson in CM Magazine, University of Manitoba Online (accessed January 2007)

Born August 26, 1853, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Died February 27, 1933, Menton, Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur, France.. This author developed the “new woman” theme in her novels.  She also wrote shot stories and travel articles for magazines.  She used the pen name of 'Alix John' for one of her novels.  In 1903 she was described as one of Canada’s leading women novelists. Her works included : The Night Hawk (Toronto & New York 1901); Bubbles we buy (Toronto, 1903) Gabriel Praed's Castle (Boston, 1904) ; Marcus Holbrach's Daughter (New York, 1912) and Flame of Frost (1918). She served as chatelaine for her father, Alfred Gilpin Jones (1824-1906), during his term as the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia. After her father's term of office she moved to live in France. (2020)

née Field. Born June 1, 1804, Lambeth (now London) England. Died August 17, 1890, Brantford, Ontario. In 1820, after the death of her mother Eliza left boarding school to care for her younger siblings. In 1831 she met a handsome Ojibwa gentlemen who was touring England to raise funding for Ojibwa missionary work in Canada. Eliza married her handsome Peter Jones (died 1856) on September 8, 1833 in New York City, U.S.A. The couple settled on the Credit River Indian Reserve Upper Canada. They would have four sons who survived infancy. From In 1838 Eliza published the story of the death of her niece: Memoir of Elizabeth Jones, a Little Indian Girl. 1841-1849 they served at the Muncey Mission near London, Canada West. Eliza was given the Ojibwa name Kecheahgahmequa which meant lady from beyond the blue waters. In 1854 she won awards for her works in miniature and watercolour painting at the Canada Provincial Exhibition. After Peter’s Death she married John Carey, a farmer from New York State, U.S.A. but the marriage only lasted a couple of years. In 1860 she published Ojibwa: life and journals and the following year published History of the Ojebway Indians. She also did a sketch of Chief Joseph Brant which was featured in the New Dominion Monthly in 1872. Eliza taught painting until she became blind in 1880.

Born February 13 1938, London, England. Sonia attended University of Madrid, Spain from 1958-59 and then the Sorbonne, in France in 1959-1960. She earned her BA from Bennington College in 1961 and went to the University of California, Berkley, U.S.A. for her Masters Degree in 1963. From there she attended Harvard University where she earned he PhD in 1971. She married Gordon Jones on May 28, 1970 and the couple had two children. She had been a teaching Assistance and instructor in Berkeley d a teaching fellow at Harvard. She has also been an instructor at Turfs University and in 1972-1973 she was an Assistant Professor at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia. From has also worked at Acadia University. She is a co-founder and co-owner with her husband of Peninsula Farm Ltd manufacturing yogurt and other dairy products. She has served on the executive Council for International Business Studies at Dalhousie University and has been Chair of the Executive Council Cultural Activities from 1976-1982. In 1987 she earned a Certificate of Merit for Business Excellence and the following year she earned Successors Award for Entrepreneurship from Canadian Business Magazine. She has written Spanish language textbooks and the book It All began with Daisy which was condensed by Reader’s Digest and translated into 15 languages. (2017)

Born March 30, 1969, Ponka, Alberta. She would attend fashion design school in Toronto, Ontario but somehow it did not work out for her. Instead she began a degree in English literature at the University of Toronto but returned west to the University of British Columbia to complete the degree. She took a job as an editor at a self help book publishing company  and continued her formal education with a Masters degree in publishing. When she began writing she would write on the bus and she migrated to a coffee ship. Her 1st novel Alice I think appeared in 2000. She has also produced a series of books about a teen girl who does not quite fit into her world, the Alice MacLeod series. The books have become the basis for  television series. She also teaches creative writing at the Vancouver Island University and at the University of British Columbia. Source: Susan Juby by Dave Jenkinson  CM magazine online (accessed January 2007).

Born March 13, 1962, Lahore, Pakistan. Rejection of her first storybook by publishers encouraged Rukhana to put away her writing. She got married and started a family leaving her writing alone. Coming across her old rejection slips she found that publishers had actually been encouraging her and made suggestions to improve her writing. She decided to give it a try again. A local librarian encouraged her to learn more about writing from the Canadian Children's book Centre. By the end of 2000 she had penned some five books including an in depth novel. Not a bad accomplishment for someone who thought she could not become a writer because of her ethnic background!

Born June 7, 1948. Welwyn is married to journalist Doug Bale and the couple has one daughter. In 1987 she earned an International Children’s Fiction Contest for her novel for youth called False Face and the Third Magic won the Governor General’s Award for English Language youth literature. In 1994 she earned the Vicky Metcalf Award for her publication for young readers, Wichery Hill. (2017)

SEE - Jean Blewett

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née Marcia Schonfeld.  Born April 17, 1943, Queen’s, New York, U.S.A.  Died July 1989, Vancouver, British Columbia. Dayal attended the Arts Students League 1964-1965 and graduated from City College of New York.  In 1970 she moved to Canada with her partner Brian Grison and stayed in Canada when their relationship ended. In 1974 she settled in Millbrook, Ontario to live on a farm. The following year she was in Toronto and joined a women’s health collective. In time she adopted the Sikh lifestyle and received her new name meaning princess of kindness and purity. She began promoting the Ashram she lived in which led to interest with a graphic design studio. In the 1980’s she relocated to Montreal, Quebec. In 1982 she brought illustrations to show Tundra Books who liked the strong colour sense. She first worked on board books for babies and this was followed by books for older children. In 1986 she made the New York Times Notable Children’s Book list and New York Public Library Award for Best Children’s Book for Tales of a Gambling Grandma. The following year she was awarded the Canada Council Children’s Literature Prize Honorable Mention for Illustration and was a finalist for the Amelia Frances Howard Gibbon Illustrator’s Award. In 1988 she won the Governor General’s Award for Book Illustration for Sleepers. This book also wan the Parent’s Choice Award for Illustration in 1988. 

Born  August 2, 1934, Montreal, Quebec. Val completed degrees from Smith College, Northampton, Massacheutts, U.S.A., McGill University, Montreal, and Carleton University, Ottawa. This former history teacher and, now free lance writer, has been successful in writing for newspapers, magazines, and federal government departments. She has authored some a dozen books. She uses her historical studies and archives background to develop her contribution to historical writings of Canada. Her book, Strangers at Our Gates,  2nd edition (1997) provided the only writing to give a complete overview of the history of Canadian immigration.  She has established herself as a biographer of note with her book, Cairine Wilson, Canada's First Woman in the Senate was published in 1988, The award winning book Telegrapher to Titan the life of William C. Van Horne was published in 2004 and a collection of profiles of famous and obscure figures of Ottawa have appeared in three volumes called Capital Lives. She has also written a history of the Zonta Club of Ottawa. Val and her husband Dave live in Ottawa. (2020)

Born June 6, 1935, Vancouver, British Columbia. After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour in 1941 the Canadian government placed 1st general in internment camps. Joy's family was sent to Slocan, British Columbia. After World War ll the family settled in Coaldale, Alberta. Joy graduated from the University of Alberta, the Anglican Women's Training College, and the Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto, Ontario. Back in Vancouver she married David Kogawa in 1957. The couple divorced in 1968 and Joy attended the University of Saskatchewan before moving to Toronto in 1979. In 1973 this busy single mother of two worked as a writer in the Prime Minister's Office. Her 1st book of poetry was published in 1968. In 1981 she published, Obasan and won The First Novel Award. This book would later be adapted as a 45 minute opera which toured elementary schools in British Columbia. In 1982 she won the the Bork of the Year Award  and an American Book Award. Her 1st children's book Naomi's Road appeared in 1985. She is known for her novels, children's books, poetry and essays, which have been published in Canada and in Japan. She is also an activist who was instrumental in influencing the Canadian government in their settlement with Japanese Canadians for loss of liberty and property in Canada during World War ll. In 1986 she became a member of the Order of Canada. November 5, 2005 the City of Vancouver declared Obasan Cherry Tree Day and planted a graft of the Cherry tree from the Kogawa home at the city hall. The Kogawa house was saved from demolition and has been renovated to its 1940 appearance. In 2006 she was inducted into the Order of British Columbia where she lives some of the time. In 2010 she was honored with the Order of the Rising Sun by Japan for her contribution to the understanding and preservation of Japanese Canadian history. In 2012-13 she was Writer in Residence at the University of Toronto.

Born September 2, 1944, Edmonton, Alberta. Myrna graduated from the University of Alberta, Edmonton and went on to study at the University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, U.S.A. and the University of Toronto. Myrna published her 1st book, All of Baba' Children in 1977. In 1985 she earned a Silver Citation in the National Magazine Awards. In 1988, her book, No Kidding: Inside the World of Teenage Girls, received the Alberta Culture and Writers' Guild of Alberta prizes for Best Non-Fiction. That same year she received the Alberta Achievement Award. She won the award again in 1994 for her book Bloodline: A journey into Eastern Europe which was one of the ten best books of the year according to Maclean's magazine.  She is a founding member of the Periodical Writer's Association of Canada and the Writers' Guild of Alberta where she has served as President in 1989-1990. In 2002 she was presented with the Queen Elizabeth ll Jubilee Aware which was followed in 2005 with an Alberta Centennial Medal.  In 2006, Reading the River: A Traveller’s Companion to the North Saskatchewan was a prize winner at the Saskatchewan Book Awards. In 2006 she earned the Golden Pen Lifetime Achievement Award from the Writers' Guild of Alberta. She is also a founding member of the Creative Nonfiction Collective serving as President from 2006 through 2009. In 2006, Reading the River: A Traveller’s Companion to the North Saskatchewan was a prize winner at the Saskatchewan Book Awards. By 2016 she had published 11 books in all. She has also written numerous contributions for books, for film, stage, and radio. Myrna has bee Writer-in-Residence in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario and the Whyte Museum in Banff. Alberta.(2019)

SEE - Poets

née Katzmann Born Dartmouth, Nova Scotia 1828. Died 1890. She married William Lawson shortly before her death. Perhaps it was his dedication that got her books published posthumously. There was a book of poetry published in 1893 and The History of the Townships of Dartmouth, Preston and Lawrencetown, Halifax Country, Nova Scotia (Halifax, 1893)

Born 1947, Victoria, British Columbia. Julie trained as a teacher at the University of Victoria . After she graduated she spent a year in France and traveling Europe. Back home again she taught at elementary school in British Columbia. It was not until she was forty that she decided to take writing seriously. In 1990 she published The Sand Sifter.  Many of her works have historical backdrops. No Safe Harbour takes place during the great Halifax explosion of 1917. This book won the Hackmatack Award and is one of 5 books she has written for the Dear Canada series. In 2016 her novel Whit Jade Tiger, inspired by a trip to China, won the Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Prize. (2018)

Born June 11, 1842, Leslie's Corners, Upper Canada (Ontario). Died March 1, 1920, Toronto, Ontario. Like many of the well to do pre-Confederation  families in Canada, she was educated at home before her family sent her to Europe to tour. She traveled with her mother as her chaperone While she was in Holland she continued her studies in art. Returning home to Guelph, Ontario she taught art and began writing. Her writings that would be her legacy. She would publish  three books including The Cromaboo Mail Carrier in 1878 under the name of James Thomas Jones. This book was banned in nearby Erin, Ontario  because its outspokeness offended some of the local citizens. She would also use the pen name J. T. J. The following year David Jones's Locker appeared in serial form in the Clifford Arrow which also published in 1881, Absolutely Her Own Mistress.  She had hoped the Ontario Department of Education would use her two volumes of poetry but this did not happen. She also penned The Kings and Queens of England in 1896 and Historical Sketches of Scotland in 1905. Book sales were not that successful either and she lost her house and moved to Rockwood to live with her sister. After her sisters death she moved to Fergus, Ontario and wintered in Toronto. She died in poverty.

Born Eskilstuna, Sweden. Loris immigrated to Canada with her family as a child. She kept notes in journals which she illustrated on every topic. She loved to write and draw she even wrote poetry. After a formal university education proved be be not what she wanted she took a job at a printing company and was exposed properly to graphic arts. She is totally self-taught as an illustrator  and has worked as a freelance designer. She continued her writing as she had always loved it. It was only after attending a story makers conference in 1991 that she gained confidence to do something with her scribbling. She formed a relationship with Annick Publishing and has not looked back. “Nothing beats a Pizza was a Mr. Christie’s Award honour book. Her works include Boy Soup, Catmagic, Night school and many more. Check out your Public Library for more of her books. Source: Loris Lesynski by Dave Jenkinson CM Magazine

Born 1953, Edmonton, Alberta. Shar graduated from the University of Alberta. She began graduated studies but would you believe she hated writing and did not complete her thesis! She began her working career working first for the City of Calgary and then worked for a major trade union in British Columbia. Not liking her job she quite and became an entrepreneur opening a toy  store, Einstein's the Science Centre, Ltd. in 1887. The store won an international award from Playthings Magazine for store design. She told a book representative that she could do better than most of the books on the market. She never looked back. Shar is known as the Science Lady when she does presentations at schools and writer's festivals or library conventions. She was also the author of a column Business in Vancouver which worked into a local TV segment. In 1993 she earned the Our Choice Award from the Canadian Children's Book Centre and the next year she earned the National Parenting Publication Award. !995, 1997, 1998, & 2001 saw more Our Choice Awards. In 2006 she and her co-author Leslie Johnstone were recipients of the Eve Savory Award for Science Communications from the British Columbia Innovation Award for the book Backyard Science.  In 2011 , 2012, 2013, 2014 the Canadian Children's Book Centre gave her Best Book Awards. In 2014 she was the winner of Science in Society Youth Book Award. In 2015 the University of Alberta presented her with the Alumni of Honour Award. In 2016 she was inducted into the Order of Canada for her over 70 children's books encouraging science studies for children. (2019)

Born 1928, Toronto, Ontario. Norma would spend her childhood on Manitoulin Island, and teenage years in Muskoka, Ontario.  Linder is the author of 5 novels, 13 collections of poetry, a memoir of Manitoulin Island, a children’s book, a collection or short stories, and a biography of Pauline McGibbon entitled: Pauline with the 1st edition 1979.  She was on the faculty of Lambton College in Sarnia, teaching English and Creative Writing. Her poems and short stories have appeared in a multitude of contemporary Canadian Magazines including Chatelaine and  Our Canada. For 7 years she wrote a monthly column for the Sarnia Observer, and she is a regular contributor to “Daytripping in Southern Ontario”. She is Past President of the Sarnia Branch of the Canadian Authors Assoc. She is married and has three children.

Born January 2, 1932, Formosa (Taiwan) China. When her doctor parents realized that baby Jean had severe site problems they moved to Canada. Although legally blind she completed her BA at the University of Toronto and trained as a special education teacher. Jean  always knew she would be a writer but she also felt that she had to work at a real job to make a living. She soon gave up being a teacher to be a full time writer.  She has written some 25 children’s books and two autobiographies Little by Little (1987) and Stars Come Out within (1990). Jean Little's first book, Mine for Keeps, won the Little Brown Children's Book Award in 1962 and was republished by Viking Penguin in 1995. She has won a number of additional awards, including a Canadian Library Association (CLA) Book of the Year Medal , the Vicky Metcalf Award,  a Canada Council Children's Literature Award , The Ruth Schwartz Award and the Mr. Christie’s Book Award. . Her books have attracted an international readership and have been translated into several different languages including Korean. Jean lives with her talking computer, her seeing  eye dog, several collected family members and a menagerie of pets including dogs, cats, birds and turtles. Her advice to young people of the world “ Always remember that  the best place for your nose is inside a book.”

Born 1928, Toronto, Ontario. Norma would spend her childhood on Manitoulin Island, and teenage years in Muskoka, Ontario.  Linder is the author of 5 novels, 13 collections of poetry, a memoir of Manitoulin Island, a children’s book, a collection or short stories, and a biography of Pauline McGibbon entitled: Pauline with the 1st edition 1979.  She was on the faculty of Lambton College in Sarnia, teaching English and Creative Writing. Her poems and short stories have appeared in a multitude of contemporary Canadian Magazines including Chatelaine and  Our Canada. For 7 years she wrote a monthly column for the Sarnia Observer, and she is a regular contributor to “Daytripping in Southern Ontario”. She is Past President of the Sarnia Branch of the Canadian Authors Assoc. She is married and has three children.

Born Stratford, Ontario. Died August 26, 1918. She is some times referred to by her married name of Smith. She and her sister Kathleen co-authored several historical works including In the days of the Canada Company (Toronto, 1896).

Born Stratford, Ontario.  Died April 20, 1931. Kathleen was educated in Toronto and also studied in Scotland. With her sister, Robina she wrote several books including In the Days of the Canada Company (Toronto, 1896). She also published on her own a historical work, The Valley of the Humber (Toronto, 1913.)

Born December 24, 1914, Midland, Ontario. Died January 29, 2011, Hawkestone, Ontario. Loreen was a survivor right from the get go! She survived the influenza epidemic of 1918, falling through the ice on Little Lake, The Great depression, Hurricane Hazel, and the fire that took the family livelihood. She raised eight children and cared for her elderly parents in the family home. She was one of the first women in Ontario to obtain her Real Estate Broker’s License and her insurance agent’s license. She was a lifelong volunteer giving her time to many projects and organizations such as the Oro Historical Society, the Simcoe County Museum, and she worked tirelessly with others to make sure swimming lessons were available to the local children. Loreen shared her life experiences in publications such as the Orillia Packet Times and the Curious Daytripper. At the age of 80 she learned to use a computer and subsequently wrote and illustrated six  books based upon recollections from her life. In 1992 she received the 125th Anniversary of Confederation of Canada Medal, followed in 1993 with being the Citizen of the Year in Oro Township. In 2005 she was woman of the year of the Orillia Business Women’s Association. Sources: The Orillia Packet.

Born May 25,1971. It was not until the summer between grades seven and eight that she read Guide to Fiction writing and began to take her writing seriously.  She began a regimen of writing regularly, one hour per day that grew to three hours each evening. She pounded out eleven books in four years, two are now in print. One is a great ghost story that may be borrowed through your own library.

Born December 28, 1928, Dallas, Texas, U.S.A.  An author of books of historical fiction for young readers her writings have won the Canada Council Prize (1979 and 1988), the CLA Book of the Year for Children (1981 & 1988), the Ruth Schwartz Award ( 1988), the Information Book Award ( 1995), the Mr. Christie's Book Award ( 1995) and the Governor General's Award ( 1998) For all her efforts she received the Vicky Metcalf Award in 1982 which recognizes authors who have inspired youth. She has the ability to transform avid research into a real time machine for young readers. She assures her readers that she does have a ghost in her house and his story is written up in her book "The Root Cellar" (1981).

née Lesek.  Born  1910, Winnipeg, Manitoba Died 1995. Educated at the University of Manitoba she worked as a nurse, a school teacher and a Journalist at various times in her varied career. She sometimes used the name Luba Novak for her writings. Her work tended to confound standard critical categories and has therefore been much neglected as Canadian writer.

Born 1878, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Died September 20, 1965. She had married at 15 and was a widow in her 20's with two young sons. She turned to writing to support her small family. She was one of the first travel writers and she constantly had a notebook in her hands and she wrote about everything she saw. . She would have to her career credit some 20 novels, two autobiographies, biographies. travel books and hundreds of magazine and newspaper articles. She also enjoyed radio writing and by 1938 she had written several radio plays, one with 24 episodes! She believed in supporting her profession and was a popular and willing speaker at many events. She was also a president of the Ottawa Branch of the Canadian Women's Press Club.

née Roberts. Born February 17, 1864, Westcock, New Brunswick. Died November 8, 1922. The sister of the famous author Sir Charles C.D. Roberts she moved west and finally settled in Ottawa, Ontario. She wrote "Our Little Canadian Cousin" (Boston, 1904) and "Dream Verses and other" (Boston, 1906) She co-authored with family members "Northland Lyrics (Boston, 1897)

Born 1853. Died November 24, 1924. She was educated in Toronto, Ontario. She wrote several stories for magazines such as the Popular Science Monthly.  She published a novel Diane of Ville Marie; A Romance of French Canada published in Toronto, 1898. (2019)

Born January 23, 1837, Kingston, Canada West (Ontario). Died January 24, 1927, Kingston, Ontario. Educated in Kingston she would show her skills as a writer under the pen names 'Fidelis', 'Miss Machar', and "A Lady of Ontario'. She would published novels, historical works as well as collections of prose and poetry. For her early work Katie Johnston's Cross (Toronto, 1870) she would receive a prize for the best children's Sunday School Fiction. Among her several works were The Story of Old Kingston (Toronto, 1908) and Stories of the British Empire (Toronto,1913).  In 1873 she wrote with her mother, Memoirs of the Rev. John Machar (Toronto, 1873) Her writings did not masque her views as a Christian, a nationalist, a feminist and a social crusader. (2020)

née Bacchus Born December 21, 1930. Died August 11, 2013. At the age of 8 she started her own community newspaper. She won scholarships and earned her BA in Political Sciences at the University of Toronto. She married Jackson Mackay and the couple have three sons. She wrote her 1st book Mini Bike Hero for her son and on a whim submitted it in a contest run by Scholastic Books. She had a great since of humor combined with the ability to be a true wordsmith. She had a love for dictionaries and would always find the right word to spice up her writing. He would write 11 children’s and young adult fiction and non fiction books. Her writing garnered her the Vicky Metcalf Award for her body of work and the Ruth Schwartz Award for One Proud Summer. She was a co-founder of the Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators and Performers. She felt strongly about encouraging young authors and she wrote fan letters to authors publishing their 1st book for young readers. Source: “Children’s Author CANSCAIP Co-founder Claire Mackey Dies” by Sue Carter Flin, Quill& Quire, August 13, 2013 ; Obituary, Globe and Mail, August 17m, 2013.

née Macpherson. Born November 21, 1875 Woodstock, Ontario. Died August 15, 1928. In 1895 she married Peter J. MacKay and in 1909 the couple moved to Vancouver, British Columbia. As a poet she would published some three volumes of verse, including a volume for children. She published short stories and some seven novels. She was a prominent worker with the Canadian Women's Press Club. As a playwright she wrote a number of plays which have been produced in Canada and the United States.

Born May 2, 1881, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Died August 6, 1929, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. Her family settled in Butte Montana, U.S.A.. In 1902 she penned an autobiography The Story of Mary MacLane which sold across North America but was banned in Boston. She attempted to attend Radcliffe College, Boston but did not have any scholarships and was refused entry to the college. She settled in New York City, U.S.A. returning home to Montana when she had scarlet fever in 1911. Here she wrote her last novel I Mary MacLane published in 1917. It was during this time that she was invited to become a Hollywood screenwriter and an actor. She was accused of stealing some expensive wardrobe dresses and never recovered trying to pay for the  costumes. She died destitute and being cared for by her companion Harriet Williams. Source: Women Film Pioneers Project (2019).

Author & historian

Born October 21, 1958, Thornhill, Ontario. Elizabeth attended the University of Toronto where she studies sciences. After university she backpacked through Europe for a year and returned to work at the Ontario Ministry of the Environment. One summer she attended the Banff School Publishing Workshop in Alberta. Returning home she had a contact from the course approach her to work at Owl Magazine, the Canadian publication for young children. To supplement her Owl income she wrote for the text book publishing company, Grolier as well as the Owl book publishing group. Leaving Owl in 1989 she worked for a software company which taught her that she would rather be publishing books. Working with Kids Can Press she has written biographies of famous people as well as the Kids Book of Great Canadians published in 2004. That same year her work on Helen Keller won the Society of School Librarian International Honour Book designation. She has also published in 2006 the Kids Book of Great Canadian Women. Since Elizabeth also enjoys being in the kitchen she has used her love of baking to produce several books for youth  including Bake and Make Amazing Cakes and Gifts to Make and Eat. Sources: Elizabeth MacLeod by Dave Jenkinson CM Magazine, University of Manitoba, 2006 Online (accessed January 2007)

Born 1859, Hamilton, Canada West (Ontario). Died November 17, 1938. A prolific writer for her day, many of her works were meant to provide information and biographical data for her readers. The making of Mary (New York, 1895) was followed with A Book About Shakespeare (New York, 1898) and Canada (New York, 1899) She would also write Sir Frederick Haldimand (Toronto, 1904) among others.

Born January 29, 1954, Montreal, Quebec. As a child books were her constant companions during summer vacation in the Laurentians. After the family home was sold when she was 13 she would spend her summers in Belfast, Northern Ireland. While at Dawson College in Quebec she met and married David McKay. The couple have two sons. She attended Bishop’s University in Lennexville, Quebec and switched to York University, Toronto. She wrote articles on parenting for a local newspaper and built up her portfolio of work. She used this to gain a writing position at the Toronto Star newspaper. Her 1st book was Streetproofing Gently and Creatively but she feels it was ‘horrible’ In 1993 she went to a publisher asking about enlarging chalk and published Chalk Around the Block. This was followed by several activity books, all of which were tested before publishing by her husband’s cub and scout groups. In 2001 she was writing for Penquin publishing series for Canadian Girls with Penelope: Terror in the Harbour. Other historical novels for young readers followed. Ester, the story of a Jewish girl in New France was published in 2004. In 2009 she was named as a Canadian War Artist. This institution goes back to World War l and has honored many noted artists. Sharon is the 1st young adult writer to have this title. She traveled to Afghanistan in 2009 and was inspired to write Thunder of Kandahar, published in 2010. In 2013 War Brothers: the Graphic Novel tells the story of child soldiers in northern Uganda. Living with her family in Israel she was able to research her book End of the Line a novel for middle grade readers about Nazi occupation of Holland in World War ll published in 2014.

Born June 9, 1929, Montreal, Quebec. Died February 5, 2015. Louise studied music at the Conservatoire de musique et d'art dramatique du Quebec and then from 52 to 1954 she studied in Paris, France. In 1959 she began to concentrate on writing.  In 1963 her 1st novel was awarded the Prix du Cercle du livre de France.  She wrote of the then critical theme of lesbianism. She continued to write novels and branched out to short stories and scripts for films for TV. In 1974 she was named writer-in-residence at the University of Ottawa. In 1985 she was named to the Royal Society of Canada and in 1986 she was inducted into the Order of Canada. (2018)

Born June 7, 1921, Montreal, Quebec. Died December 3, 1995. She enjoyed writing and embraced it at the age of 11. From 1943 through 1952 she had a career as a journalist. From 1952 through to 1960 she was director of the magazine Amérique français and a columnist for the Petit journal. She became the founder of the French Canadian chapter of PEN Club. She married Lloyd Hobden. In 1966 she ran unsuccessfully as a candidate for provincial election in Quebec for the Rassemblement pour l’independence Nationals in the Westmount area of Montreal. In 1974 she was named to the Académie des lettres du Québec and in 1978 she was inducted into the Order of Canada.  In 1990 she earned the Prix Athanase-David. The following year she became a Grand Officer in the National Order of Quebec. She would publish a total of 7 works consisting of collections of poems, short stories and 4 novels.

Born May 10, 1929, Bouctouche, New Brunswick. In 1950 she earned her Bachelor of Arts from the College Notre-Dame d'Acadie. She continued her education by earning her Master's degree from the Université de Moncton, New Brunswick in 1959. From 1954 through 1960 she taught literature and folklore at the college and then she taught for two years at the University of Moncton. She also taught at the College de Jésuites de Québec, the Université Laval, and the University of Montreal  She began writing while still a Master's student publishing her 1st work Pointe-aux-Coques in 1958.  By 1971 she had earned her PhD in literature from the Université Laval, Quebec City. She worked for Radio Canada in Moncton as a scriptwriter and host. A storyteller supreme, this novelist is most famous for her French language work La Sagouine which is rich in Acadian heritage. This novel has been made into a very popular one-person play. Linda Evangelista.   In 1976 she was inducted as an Officer into the Order of Canada and was promoted to a Companion of the Order in 1981.In 1979 her work Pélagie-la-Charrette won the Prix Goncourt for the best and most imaginative prose work of the year, making her the 1st non-European recipient. In 1980 the Royal Society of Canada presented her with the Lorne Pierce Medal. Five years later she was made an Officier des arts et des lettres de France. In 1992 she became a member of the Queen's Privy Council allowing her the right to use the prefix 'The Honourable'.  From 1989 to 2000 she served as chancellor of the Université de Moncton. In 2005 she received the Order of New Brunswick. (2019)

Born 1968, Kampala, Uganda. Irshad grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia.  in a violent household and was inquisitive. But when she asked questions at her Islamic school she was expelled at 14 and went on to study Islam on her own.   Irshad graduated from the University of British Columbia. Working with TV shows QT; Queer Television she won a Gemini Award for the Best Talk Show of 2001.She speaks, writes and teaches not only about Islam, but also about moral courage. She stands up for the human right to question, free from fear.  Her life partner is Laura J. Albano. Irshad is a well known critic of traditional mainstream Islam. She is the executive producer of a you tube charnel called Moral Courage TV.  called She is an advocate of reformist interpretation of Islam. She has written The Trouble with Islam Today in 2004 which has been translated into 30 languages  and Allah, Liberty and Love and The courage to Reconcile Faith and Freedom.

Adventurer

Born in the U.S.A. A college professor from Kansas she married T. Joseph Mandy a mines engineer and amateur photographer. The couple loved the western Canadian northland. Madge would write of their experiences trekking across the area in the 1930’s and with reprints in the 1990’s the books effects are still being felt. The book was : Our Trail led Northwest: true trail romance and adventure in British Columbia. (Reprinted Surrey, B.C.: Heritage House 1992.) Madge Lake, Madge Mountain were both named for this adventurer. The town of Burnaby , British Columbia boasts of Madge Ave., named in her honour. Source: Herstory: The Canadian Women’s Calendar 2000. (Silver Anniversary Edition) Coteau Books, 1999. Page 12.

April 24, 1918, Munich, Germany. Died February 8, 2002 St Morita, Switzerland. From 1959 through 1961 she published 6 books of fiction. Elisabeth was an internationally recognized expert on maritime law and policy and the protection of the environment who organized the 1st conference on the law and the sea in Malta in 1970. From 1973 to 1982 she was part of an expert group of the Austrian delegation during the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. In 1970 she published the Drama of the Oceans. In 1977 Dalhousie University, Halifax invited her to be a Professor of Political Science. She published Seafarm: the Story of Aquaculture in 1980. She published in 1998 the Oceanic Circle. She continued teaching at Dalhousie until she was 80.  She was on a ski vacation in Switzerland when she died. (2019)

SEE -  Mabel Annesley Johnston.

née Parkin. Born Fredericton, New Brunswick  Died July 29, 1950. The wife of Canada's 1st Canadian Born Governor General, kept her busy with an extremely active social life that was required of the family she had married into. She did have an interest in women's roles in modern society and was author of Occupations for trained women in Canada (London, 1920)

Born November 14, 1949, Winnipeg, Manitoba. She went to theatre school and acted in Toronto before discovering her talent for writing children's books. She enjoys writing fantasy. She also has taken what she considered an important story about the treatment of Jews in World War ll and written a book so that Canadian youth would know what happened. Her books have won the Geoffrey Bilson Award ( 1987), the Silver Birch Award (1993) and the Red Maple Award( 1996).

Born September 29, 1948, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Died July 30, 2005, Toronto, Ontario. Liz attended Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario and earned a Master’s Degree in Education from the University of Toronto.  She taught high School in Fenelon Falls, Ontario where she lived with her 1st husband Jim Webster and the couple had three children.  She later married Mike Trusz and became stepmother to his three children. In 1992 she received a liver transplant which allowed her an additional thirteen years with her family. She participated in the 1997 transplant games in Australia earning a Silver Medal. She travelled to the Greek Islands, France and throughout North America. It was at this time she began writing. She also was a will speaker on behalf of the organ donor program. Her book: Stories and Memoirs from her journey was published friends in her writing club and proceeds from the sale of the book support liver transplants.

Born (1826 (?) Died 1898. As a writer she was known to have used the pen name "Nora" or Norah" One larger work that was published was "The letters of "Norah" on her tour through Ireland. She also published "Verses and Rhymes by the Way" (Pembroke, 1880) and The Day of a Life (Almonte, 1883)

Born 1859, Hamilton, Canada West (Ontario) 1859. Died November 17, 1938. A prolific writer for her day, many of her works were meant to provide information and biographical data for her readers. The making of Mary (New York, 1895) was followed with A Book About Shakespeare (New York, 1898) and Canada (New York, 1899) She would also write Sir Frederick Haldimand (Toronto, 1904) among others.

Born  December 8, 1904, Wellington County, Ontario. After leaving high school, she attended the Toronto Normal School and then taught successively in the continuation schools at Aberfoyle and Wroxeter. She graduated from Queen's University in 1930 with honours in English and History, after which she obtained a library science degree from the University of Toronto. She worked as a reference librarian in the Toronto Public Library until 1943 when she became editor and research director for National Farm Radio Forum, responsible for the study bulletin Farm Forum Guide. In 1954 she joined the Citizenship Branch of the Department of Citizenship and Immigration where she edited the bimonthly periodical Citizen. After an early retirement, Ruth McKenzie began her career as a freelance writer, editor and researcher. Her articles appeared in the Canadian Geographic Journal, Chatelaine, the Ottawa Citizen newspaper, the Canadian Encyclopedia and the Dictionary of Canadian Biography. She has written the following books: Leeds and Grenville, Their First Two Hundred Years, 1967; Laura Secord, the Legend and the Lady, 1971; James FitzGibbon, Defender of Upper Canada, 1983; and she edited The St. Lawrence Survey Journals of Henry Wolsey Bayfield, two volumes, (Champlain Society,1984 and 1986. )

Born 1953, Toronto, Ontario. Janet always remembers loving to write producing stories from the time she was 11 years old. Janet studied at the York University, Toronto earning her BA in 1973. By 1983 she had earned a Master’s Degree from Memorial University in Newfoundland followed in 1989 with a PhD in folklore from Memorial. She married professor Michael Wallack and the couple had one daughter. After her university studies she wrote for magazines, usually articles on gardening and the environment. She then took over a weekly newspaper column reviewing children’s books and then reviewed books for magazines. Her 1st book Catch Me once Catch Me Twice was published in 1994. Her second book To Dance at the Palais Royal would win three awards. Janet is an active member with the Writers’ Union of Canada, the Writers’ Alliance of Newfoundland where she served for a time as president and Labrador and the Canadian Book Centre. (2018)

Born September 30, 1954, Ajax, Ontario. She put herself through Concordia University with night classes while working in  cash management for a large paper company. After university she married Bob McNicoll and the couple have three children. She attempted to write short stories and had household hint articles published in the local newspaper in Burlington, Ontario. She took a children’s writing course at Sheridan College and wrote her 1st novel Blueberries and Whipped Cream in class. After publishing nine books at her own she returned to Sheridan College as a teacher. For eight years she edited Today’s Parent magazine from Toronto. She has served as a Director on the Board for Access Copyright. She has also spent time writing profiles of authors for the Canadian Children’s Book Centre. Her book Dying to Go Viral was a great hit in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Germany before it came to Canada. Her book What the Dog Says is also available in foreign languages. Her works have won several awards including the Silver Birch and Manitoba Young Reader’s Choice Award in 1996, the Explora-toy Best Novel for Caught in a Lie in 2000, The Hamilton Arts Multimedia Award in 2007 and the 2011 Arts Hamilton Award.

Born Cowessess First Nations Reserve, Saskatchewan. After school Gloria became a teacher and taught public school in the Regina, Saskatchewan area from 1962 to 1983. She is a staunch supporter of libraries and has served as a Trustee on her local library Board, She has also served as a Director of Aboriginal Education. She is the author of Gifted to Learn: a Memoir in 2004. In 2005 she was the recipient of the Saskatchewan Centennial Medal. She has also published stories in her book Adam's Tree. She retired to Nanoose Bay, British Columbia. \

Born June 13, 1853, Guelph, Ontario. Died June 2, 1939, Toronto, Ontario. The family relocated from Guelph to Toronto. Not much is recorded on her early life. She was active in supporting her church, St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church as well as the Hillcrest Convalescent Hospital in Toronto. Her avocation was local history. She worked with the Pioneer and Historical Society of the Province of Ontario which as a meeting when she was the only woman in attendance she suggested be renamed the Ontario Historical Society. She was immersed in the Women’s Canadian Historical Society serving from 1897 through 1930 on the executive committee including serving some 15 years as President. She wrote papers for the WCHC and was in demand as a gifted speaker. In 1899 she worked with a group to set up a successful historic exhibition at Victoria University. She also poured her energies over the years into saving the site of Fort York from being devoured by urban commercial takeover. Another Conservation project close to her heart was the restoration of Colborne Lodge the 1837 home of artist-architect John George Howard, located near High Park. Source: Dictionary of Canadian Biography vol. XV Online (accessed March 2014 .

Born July 8 1889, Topsail, Newfoundland. Died May 18, 1979, Topsail, Newfoundland. In 1907 Florence completed school and began working as a government telegraph operator a position she held until she retired in 1942. In 1920 she won 1st prize in Dr. Chase’s Almanac Great Diary Contest sponsored by Edamson Bates and Company. In 1921 and again in 1924 she tied for 1st place in this annual competition. For over 25 years she submitted verses to American greeting card companies such as Rust Craft Cards. She published one book of poems and had her poems appear in the Evening Telegram, the Newfound Quarterly and additional publications. In 1929 she Published In Caribou Land (Toronto: Ryerson) with a forward by the acclaimed Canadian poet E. J. Pratt. Florence was also an avid letter writer to family and friends who had moved away.  Source: The Gazette January 26, 1995. Suggestion submitted by Nora Phillips.

née Sturm. Born 1915, Kitchener, Ontario. Died March 26, 1994. She married Kenneth Miller when she was a student studying the classics at the University of Toronto in 1938. In 1941 she penned her first novel The Invisible worm" She would write some 6 novels in her early career all of which had a Canadian setting. After 1950 her mysteries were mainly set in California where she had settled with her family. She even did the Hollywood 'thing' after world war ll when she was a screenwriter for Warner Brothers Studios. She and her husband, had a mutual enjoyment of nature and helped found a chapter of the National Audubon Society. in 1965 she was the Los Angeles Times Woman of the Year. Her numerous writings are often overshadowed by the works of her husband who became a well known mystery writer under the pen name of Ross Macdonald.

See - Entertainers - Miscellaneous

née Montgomery. Born November 30, 1874, Clifton, Prince Edward Island. Died April 24, 1942, Toronto, Ontario.  It is no surprise to know that she was born in Prince Edward Island.  She would use the stories and lessons of growing up in her world famous novels about a young orphan named Anne. The Book Anne of Green Gables was 1st published in June 1908 and by November 1909 the book had already been through six printings.  the book is still enormously popular today. Later there was also Emily and Jane, new characters L.M. Montgomery would share share with the world. There have been movies, TV shows and a stage musical all produced based on the book. Actually Lucy Maude went on to publish 20 novels, over 500 short stories, 500 poems and 30 essays. Her works made Prince Edward Island a literary landmark destined to become a popular tourist site. In 1911 Lucy married a Presbyterian minister Ewen/Ewan Macdonald (1870-1943) and the couple moved to Ontario. Their home in Leaskdale is now a Museum. The couple would have three sons two of whom would live to adulthood. She was a staunch supporter of the home war effort during World War 1 (1914-1918) and lent her celebrity to recruiting Canadian soldiers. Her diaries showed that she felt tortured by the war itself. Both Ewen and Lucy would suffer from severe bouts of depression during their lives. She continued to write until 1940 when her last book, The Blythes Are Quoted was delivered to the publisher on the day she died. Her writing was a saving grace for Lucy.   She was made an officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1935. In 1943 she was designated a Person of National Historic Significance.  Her diaries and papers are held in the Archives of the University of Guelph.  In 1975 the Canadian Post Office issued a stamp honouring Anne of Green Gables and in 2008 a stamp was issued making the centennial of the publication. On November 30, 2015 Google honoured Lucy Maud Montgomery with a Google Doodle that was published in 12 countries.  Have you ever read "Anne of Green Gables?"  In which of the 14 languages the book is translated did you read the book.                                            

née Strickland. Born December 6, 1803, Bungay, England. Died April 8, 1885 Toronto, Ontario.  Susanna wrote her 1st children's book in 1822 and went on to publish other children's stories in London, England. On April 4, 1831 she married a retired military officer John Moodie. In 1832 Susanna, John and their daughter immigrated to Upper Canada settling just outside of Lakefield.  Susanna lived the difficult life of a settler in Upper Canada and she wrote about her adventures in a famous book called Roughing it in the Bush. By 1853, living in Belleville, Upper Canada she wrote Life in the Clearings Versus the Bush. She was also an early Canadian journalist writing for the best of the Canadian literary journals of the day. She was very suspicious of the “Yankee” (American) influence on early Canada. Her sister, Catherine Parr Trail (1802-1899) was also a famous Canadian author. September  8 2003 Canada Post issued as special commemorative series for the 50th anniversary of the National Library of Canada which featured Susanna and her sister.

Born June 27, 1816, Died 1849. It is rumored that she stuck a pencil in her ear and caused some brain damage when she was only seven years old. As a young adult she ran off to the U.S.A. where she claimed to have been a Nun who had been sexually exploited. The newspapers and magazines picked up on her stories and in 1936 a book was published under the title of The awful disclosures of Maria Monk or the hidden secrets of a Nun. The book fuelled the anti-Catholic sentiment of the era and was popular reading. A sequel to the popular first volume soon followed. Investigations into the truth of the works also followed. These later investigations would show that the premises of the books were false but the harm had been done to strengthen religious dissention. Marie herself simply drifted off to live a life that would end in an almshouse at Blackwell’s Island in New York. Source: Online Dictionary of Canadian Biography (accessed May 2008)

Born 1957, Ireland. Shani was raised in Trinidad, the home of her parents. As a youth she showed talents in drawing and painting and at ten she decided she would be an artist. She earned her Bachelor degree in Fine Arts at the University of Western Ontario in 1980. She would return to study for her Master's at the University of Guelph graduating in 2010. She is a multi media artist who has lived in Vancouver, British Columbia  and from 1994-1999 in New York City, New York, U.S.A. Her art has bee exhibited internationally including a showing at the New York Museum of Modern Art. Her 1st book was a collection of short stories called Out on Main Street published in 1993. She followed this in 1996 with the publication of her 1st novel, Cereus Blooms at Night. which was short listed for several awards and won the New England Book Sellers Award in 1998. Her 1st collection of poetry was published in 2002. In 2005, 2008 and again in 2014 more novels were published. She has been Writer-in-residence at the University of Alberta, the University of Guelph and the University of the West Indies in Cave Hill, Barbados. She has also written, directed and films numerous videos. She teaches creative writing at the University of Toronto. (2019)

SEE - Lily Adams Beck

February 8, 1935, St John's Newfoundland. She worked in public relations at Memorial University of Newfoundland and with the Newfoundland Teacher's association. She produced several short stories that appeared in small magazines and school textbooks. In 1992 she published her 1st novel Random Passage and followed up with a sequel in 1994 which won the Canadian Authors Association Literary Award in 1994 and the Thomas Head Raddall Award in 1995 and the Newfoundland Artist of the Year from the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council. The books follow the struggles of an outport family from the early 1800's to the Cod Moratorium. These books were picked up in 2002  becoming a four-part mini series for TV that was picked up by the CBC and was also shown in Ireland. It took until 2007 for her third novel to be published. Bernice has three children. In 2012 she became a Member of the Order of Canada. (2019)

Born July 1930, Athens, Ontario. Died June 1, 2014, Winnipeg, Manitoba. In 1952 she earned her BA in Political Science from the University of Toronto. While at university she wrote a collective biography which included Catherine Parr Trail and Susanna Moodie. Her work originally appeared in installments in Chatelaine magazine prior to being published as a separate book in 1968 under the title Gentle Pioneers: fifteen nineteenth century  Canadians.. Audrey worked as a civil servant in Ottawa at various positions including as a speech writer. Re locating to Winnipeg she worked as a consultant in her own business, Morris Associates doing career consulting. She also wrote a business section column in the Winnipeg Free Press. Source: Obituary, Toronto Globe and Mail July 19, 2014. Suggestion submitted by June Coxon of Ottawa.

Maud is best known for her work This Canada of Ours. This was originally a comic strip series which appeared in various Canadian publications between May 1925 and May 1929. The illustrations in the publications were done my Maud’s Brother John Stewart Morrison. J.S. Morrison is given 1st place on the published book which appeared in a boxed publication in 1929. This volume covered up to the time of Count Frontenac and was to be followed by a second volume. In 1937 an much less fancy edition that covered Canadian history up to world war l was published. It was revised and much expanded. There is no indication why after 1929 Maud did not bring out her second volume of her original work. Maud may have married Ernest Stone on December 31, 1907.

Born Edmonton Alberta. Died February 8, 2013, Petrolia, Ontario. She married Dan Cameron and in 1960 the couple settled in Sarnia , Ontario. Hope  earned a bachelor of arts in English from the University of Western Ontario and did post graduate work in Irish literature at the University of Dublin. She authored several works of fiction, including "Nahanni," a book she co-authored with Norma West Linder (1928-   ). Her works received many awards over the years, including first place in a writing competition sponsored by the Banff School of Fine Arts (now the Banff Centre), which earned her a writing scholarship. She taught creative writing at Lambton College and launched a creative writing program for gifted students. Hope was  a member of The Writers’ Union of Canada and a member of WIT (Writers in Transition) in Sarnia. Source: “Hope Morritt, local author and friend of writers, has died” By JD Booth  online (accessed February 9, 2013 )

née Rogers Born Manitoulin Island, Ontario. While still a teenager she was teaching in a local primary school. She eventually moved to Toronto to attend formal teacher training. She began working as a director of an arts and literary society. In 1933 while on tor of Asia doing an educational survey she met and married a British army doctor. In 1940 the couple were posted in Singapore. While volunteering as an aide worker with the Australian Red Cross she became a prisoner after the Japanese invasion on December 8, 1941 and was sent with 1300 other women to Changi prison. She kept the women busy holding imaginary tea parties where the ladies pretended to be finely dressed and dining on sumptuous dishes. This exercise stimulated salvia glands helping stave off hunger pains. She also had the women quilting and hiding notes in quilt squares that went to Prisoner of War camps where many husbands where prisoners. Back in Canada after the war she completed an 800 page recipe cook book highlighting the war time tea party recipes that was sold to raise funds for British Prisoner of War hospital patients. The cookbook was republished in 2013 by the Manitoulin Historical Society. Source: Lorraine Malinder.” Ether Roger Mulvany” in Canada’s History Magazine August-September 2016.

Born July 10, 1931, Wingham, Ontario. Alice's short stories appear in magazines such as the New Yorker and The Atlantic.  She has collected her stories and published numerous books of stories. A novel, Lives of girls and women, grew from her short stories.  She has received 3 Governor General’s awards for her works.  She also has won the Canada-Australia Literary Prize and the Marion Engel Award and the W. H. Smith Award from Great Britain.

Born May 24, 1918, Carisbrooke, England. Died July 27,1894. She emigrated to Canada in 1844 with her family and they became pioneers on Wolfe Island near Kingston, Ontario. She taught school as a young woman. She began to write with the encouragement of a neighbors. With the endorsement of Susanna Moodie her work Fauna, or the red flower of leafy Hollow appeared in the Literary Garland magazine in 1851 in serial format. She persevered publishing perils and loss of work to become the major Canadian prose writer of the 1870's. She also published a small number of poems.

Born 1931, Kangiqusujuaq, Quebec. Died 2007. An esteemed story teller whose stories and legends have been broadcast for years on the CBC radio she draws on her traditional upbringing. She had her feet firmly planted in both the traditions of her people and the modern worlds. As an author she is the 1st author to write a novel in the Inuktitul language, Sanaaq. The book was not published until 1984 and the French edition was published in 2002 and an English edition was published in 2014. She has translated the Roman Catholic Book of Prayer into Inuktitut so that her people my learn in their own language. She has compiled an encyclopedia of traditional Inuit knowledge, legends and natural history so that the traditional spoken knowledge may be passed to all who seek knowledge of the unique culture of her people. In 1999 she received an National Aboriginal Achievement Award for her contributions to heritage and spirituality. In 2004 she was named a Member of the Order of Canada. (2019)

Born September 6, 1900, Bergen, Norway. Died 1963. She was educated in a Winnipeg high school and the University of Manitoba. While she taught school she worked on her 1st novel,” Wild Geese” (1925). She spent time as a reporter, and a social worker but still found room for her writings.  She would complete another novel.

Born June 4, 1958, Kapuskasing, Ontario. Jeannine attended the bilingual University of Ottawa were she earned a B.A. in Psychology followed by a Masters Degree in education. While at University she worked as a movie reviewer for the campus radio on Ellspace, a program for women on campus. On December 22, 1979 she married Guy Théroux of Kapuskasing and the couple settled in Ottawa. She was a contributed  to the national women’s magazine Femmes d’action from the Fédération nationale des femmes Canadiennes-francaises for the years. She is the co-founder of the Action Group Against Violence Against Women in Northern Ontario. She Supervised the production of TFO’s series on children who grow up in violent homes, S.O.S. Géneration en détresse and co-wrote the teacher’s guide which accompanied the television series. She has published a book on women’s learning with the University of Ottawa Press, Les femmes en milieu universitarie: liberté d’apprendre outrement. in 2000 the book won the Laura Jamieson Prize from the Canadian Institute for the Advancement of research on Women for the best feminist book by a Canadian author. She was the host of the Télèvision Rogers cable program D’hier à aujourd’hui on local Ottawa television. The program combined her interest in history and enjoyment in teaching people about their past. In 2008 she began a blog highlighting the accomplishments of milestones and mentoring women of Ottawa throughout it’s history. Embracing further the medium of the internet Jeanne has also begun in 2012 a blog highlighting the women of Northern Ontario along highway 11: Les femmes de la route 11: Elles du Nord. Source: Personal contact with Jeannine Ouellette, Ottawa, Ontario. (2020)

Laura holds a bachelor of journalism from Carleton University, Ottawa. She worked for a few years as a business reporter and as a junior magazine editor prior to becoming a freelance writer. Years ago she heard that National Geographic magazine did not hire travel writers but writers who travel and she  thought why not. I love to travel. She has not only written about traveling but she has also written about a scientist who studies the sleeping habits of lemurs and a non-profit group that trains at-risk young people to work in restaurants. She has written for more than 80 publications and websites in Canada and elsewhere. Her article have appeared not only in National Geographic Traveler but also in enRoute, Trivago, The Huffington Post, Dreamscapes, Forbes, and newspapers like the Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, the Ottawa Citizen, and the Washington Post. Laura has also spoken about travel and other topics on TVOntario, CBC Radio's Cross Country Checkup, and CTV Morning Live. the She has written or co-authored 13 books including Wanderlust: A Social History of Travel and The Environment in Contemporary Africa.

Born Madras, India. As a child she enjoyed reading. As a youth she read and studied the Greek classic plays. Winninag Smith-Mundt Fulbright Scholarship she studied literature at Indiana University earning her master’s degree in creative writing. She moved to Winnipeg Manitoba in 1966 and continued her university studies at the Michigan State University receiving her PhD in 1972. She is married and has one daughter and the family has settled in with Dr. Uma working as a professor at the University of Winnipeg. She began her professional writing career in 1962 producing an historical drama. In 1967 her writings won the Lady Eaton Award. In 1980 her work was awarded the Caribe Playwriting Completion first prize. Her collection of short stories What Was Always Hers won both the New Muse Award and the Jubilee Award. During her work, writing career and family responsibilities she has also found time to return service to the writers world by working with several boards and committees including the Status of Women Writers Committee, the Board of Immigrant Women’s Association of Manitoba and as president of the Manitoba’s Writers Guild. Obviously she enjoys nothing more than being creatively busy. Suggested sources; Uma Parameswaran web site at the University of Winnipeg. (accessed May 2008)

Born December 7, 1927, Irma, Alberta. When she was a child the family relocated to Edmonton, Alberta. In 1946 Jean married for the 1st time to Clarence Lovig. In 1959 they relocated to Vermilion, Alberta where the couple owned and operated an auction house. The couple had two children and became divorced in the mid 1960's. She opened a small cafe in Vermilion to support her family. She married her second husband Larry Paré and became step mother to his three children. She worked as a caterer and people began to request her recipes which led her to publish her 1st cook book in 1981. She co-founded Company's Coming Publishing Ltd. and she has authored more than 200 cookbooks in her own down to earth style. As her brand grew the company test kitchen and office moved to Edmonton.  After selling 30,000,000 cookbooks she retired in February 2011. Jean was also a principal shareholder of C O M A C Food Group which owned Company's Coming Cafes, Grabbajabba Specialty Coffee, Pastels Cafes and the Canadian rights to Domino's Pizza franchise. She would donated her personal collection of 6,700 cookbooks, amassed while traveling the world, were donated to the University of Guelph in Ontario. The cookbooks represented local church, ladies auxiliary, and organization fund raising cookbooks which were the backbone of homemaking. In 2004 she was inducted into the Order of Canada. (2019)

Born Toronto Ontario. Ema earned her BA from the University of Toronto in 1960. After graduation she left and traveled to France to continue studies at the Sorbonne in Paris. She began her career as a journalist writing for magazines. She earned a feature writing award from the Media Club of Canada in 1970 and 1974  and  for radio documentary work in 1973 and 1974. In 1981 she was recognized for Best book in 1981 and again twenty years later. April 26, 1981 she married Thomas More Robinson and the couple have two children.  In 1983 she won the Gold Medal from the National Magazine Awards. In 1990 she won Best Canadian Essay from Fifth House Press for her work The Boat People. In 1996 she was recognized three times by the Canadian Jewish Book Awards. In 2000 she earned Best Book acclaim from the Globe and Mail newspaper and in 2001 she earned the Pearson Writer'sTrust Non-fiction Prize, the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing, the Dorothy Shoichet Prize for History, the Christian Science Monitor Best Books, and the New Statesman Best books. In 2002 she was a Visiting Fellow with the International Affairs Program at the University of Colorado, Boulder Colorado, U.S.A. Her multi prize winning book Long Shadows: Truth, Lies and History was listed with the Literary Review of Canada in the 100 Most Important Books Ever Written up to 2004. In 2008 and 2009 she was Vic Chair of tf the Writer's Union of Canada and Chair in 2009 . 2010. In 2009 she was appointed Honorary Council of the Canadian Centre for International Justice, Ottawa. She earned the Canada World Peace Award from the World Federalist Movement-Canada. In 2015 she was appointed as a Member of the Order of Canada. (2019)

Nanci is a professional genealogist who, while searching her family story found a relative who came to Canada and was involved in a murder trial. This discovery sent her off on a writing spree. Nanci has taken the creative writing program from Calgary University and holds a Professional Learning Certificate in Genealogy. She is a member of the Crime Writers of Canada and the Writing Community of York Region. Her books as set in Toronto in the Victoria era of 1874-1899 and are all based on actual events. Her 1st novel in 2014 was Body in the Harbour and by 208 there were six move books such as Corpses for Christmas and Death on Duchess Street. (2019)

Born April 30, 1947, Edmonton, Alberta. Kit family relocated to Vancouver, British Columbia where she grew up. She earned her BA from the University of Alberta, Edmonton and returned to attend the University of British Columbia to earn her post graduate degree in Library Science. She began her library career in Ontario. She went on to earn a second Master's at Simmons College Centre for the Study of Children's Literature, Boston, Massacheutts, U.S.A. Back in Vancouver she published her 1st novel, The Daring Game in 1986. Her book Awake and Dreaming won the Governor General's Award in Literature. Her books have also been recognized with the Vicky Metcalf Award, Mr. Christie's Book Award, The Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for two of her books and the Children's Book of the Year Award, which she had earned three times. in 2019 her 15th book was published, Be my love. Kit lives with her life partner in Victoria, British Columbia. (2019)

Born April 25, 1957. This author has written 14 novels for young adults and several novels for adults. In 1988 she was awarded the "Grand Prix de la science-fiction du fantastique Quebecoise" for her work, La petite fille de silence, also the same year she was awarded the "Prix Boreal" for the work, les temps de migrations. 

Born 1958, Toronto, Ontario. Growing up Louise was an avid reader who was encouraged to read by her mother. Louise grew particularly fond of mysteries both fiction and real. Louise earned he Bachelor of Applied Arts from Ryerson Polytechnical Institute (now Ryerson University) in 1979. She began her career as a radio host and journalist with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). Traveling for her work she felt alone and isolated and turned to alcohol to cope. At 35 she was able to admit she had a problem and began a life of sobriety. She Married Michael Whitehead on a blind date. In the late 1990's Penny left the CBC and wrote a historical novel. It was not long before she began writing mystery novels. Her 1st novel called Still Live came second in a field of 800 entries in a British writing competition and went on to win the New Blood Dagger un England and the Canadian Arthur Ellis Award for Best 1st Crime Novel, the Dulys Award, the Anthony Award and the Barry Award for Best 1st Novel in the United States. Her novels with Chief Inspector Armand Gamache are set in Quebec. In 2007, 2008 2010, 2012, and 2013, the Inspector helped her earn an Agatha Award. Her books have also earned Edgar Awards, Macavity Awards, Anthony Awards, and Arthur Ellis Awards. In 2009, Penny helped to launch a new award for aspiring Canadian mystery writers, the Unhanged Arthur for Best Unpublished 1st Novel. In 2013 she was inducted into the order of Canada in part for shining the spotlight on her home area in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. Her 1st two novels have become made for TV movies. By 2019 16 novels have featured the Inspector. (2020)

SEE - Poets

SEE - Poets 

Born June 9, 1887, Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A.  Died September 6, 1967, New York City, New York, U.S.A. In 1909 Katherine graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) from the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee and for a time had a career as a social worker. On March 24, 1911 she married a writer , Robert E. Pinkerton and the couple settled in a cabin in the wilderness of Northern Ontario. They learned to live in the wildernes surviving with the closest town eith miles away accessible by canoe in the summer or by dogsled in the winter. They wrote of their lives and sent article to wilderness magazines. It was in northern Ontario that their only child, a daughter, was born. In 1917 the family were in Colorado and then California before settling to life on a houseboat off the shores of British Columbia. In 1922 Katherine had begun to concentrate on writing short stories and novels. In 1939 she published Wilderness Wife based on their lives in Northern Ontario. The next year she published A Crew of Three and for the third year in a row she published another book Two Ends to Our Shoestring. In all she would publish 11 books between 1939 and 1962. (2018)

Born April 19, 1936, Fredericton, New Brunswick. Her birth name was Mary Sharon Chalmers. Her first published play , A compulsory Option, won the 1971 Alberta Playwriting Competition. After teaching at several western Canadian institutions she became, in 1984, the first woman artistic director of a major western Canadian theatre.  She has written several plays of children as well as TV and radio scripts. Her play DOC earned her the 1984 Governor General's Award.  In 1988 she was awarded the Canada-Australia Literary Prize.

née Wright. Born May 7, 1930, St. John’s, Newfoundland. Helen attended the Prince of Wales, St John's, Newfoundland and worked as a typist with the provincial Department of Justice.  In 1953 she married John Porter and the couple had four children. She began her writing career in 1962 and devoted herself full time to writing in 1973. She began her writing career by publishing short stories, article, reviews and poetry in various magazines such as MacLean's, Chatelaine, the Star Weekly and Saturday Night.  In  1977 she collaborated with Bernice Morgan and Geraldine Rubia on writing From this Place, an anthology from women writers of Newfoundland and Labrador. Between 1975 and 1985 she too an interest in politics and ran for election with the New Democratic Party four times. Her 1st novel, January, February, June of July was published in 1988 and won the Young Adult Book Award from the Canadian Library Association in 1989. She taught at Memorial University in Newfoundland from 1979 through 1991. She worked with the Visiting Arts' Program  where she would visit schools throughout the province to impart a sense of literature to school children. She also worked with projects that put poetry inside public transit busses not only in Newfoundland but also in Alberta. She is a founding member of the Newfoundland Status of Women Council.  She received the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993. In 2003 the New Democratic Party of Newfoundland set up the Helen Fogwill Porter Fund to aid women seeking to run as an NDP representative. In 2015 she was inducted in the Order of Canada.

née Elliott. Born 1839, England. Died 1928. She emigrated to Canada in 1871. She married William Portlock. It was not until after the death of her husband in 1893 that she began to consider publishing her works which were mainly autobiographical in nature. The Head Keeper (Toronto, 1898) and 25 years of Canadian Life (Toronto, 1901).

SEE - Jessie Louise Beattie  

Born 1946, Toronto, Ontario.  In 1966 she married Dr. David Seager in 1966. The couple had three children. In 1967 she earned  a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Toronto.. She married Douglas Donegani in 1980, they had a daughter and became  divorced in 2003. In 2003 she married Fernando Miranda Arregui. She has been Associate Editor of Tamarack Review (1970- 82), Editor of Ethos (1983-86), Playwright-in-Residence (1974-75), and Writer-in-Residence at several Ontario libraries (1987 -1991). She also worked as a literary and television editor, and as an instructor at the University of Toronto. Her writings have garnered several awards including:  the New York Art Directors Club Award of Merit in 1983, the American Institute of Graphic Arts Certificate of Excellence in 1983, the American Poetry Association Award in 1986, a Canada Council Arts Award in 1991, a Toronto Arts Council Award in 1990 and 1992, and an Ontario Arts Council Work-in-Progress Grant in 1995. Her articles have been published in Canadian magazines and newspapers, and her writing has been anthologized in four languages. Source: Janice Rapport Collection, E.J.Pratt Library, University of Victoria Campus, University of Toronto. Online (Accessed July 2013).Submitted by Jeanne Ouellette, Ottawa, Ontario.

Born July 7, 1948, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. In 1968 she married Paul Reichs and the couple have two daughters. Kathy earned her Bachelor of Arts in anthropology from American University, Washington D. C., U.S.A. in 1971 and by 1972 she had completed her Master's degree at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, U.S.A. followed by achieving a PhD from Northwestern in 1975. An adjunct professor of anthropology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte she is on indefinite leave since 2016. She has also taught at Northwestern, Northern Illinois University, University of Pittsburgh in the U.S. and in Canada at Concordia and McGill University. She is certified by the American Board of Forensic Anthropology and on the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. She is affiliated with the Laboratoire des sciences judiciaires et de Médecine Légale  in the province of Quebec. She was a member of the Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team which assisted at the World Trade Centre disaster 9/11/2001. She is well known as an author not only of scientific papers and books but of of forensic novels and was a producer for the TV series Bones which featured the character Temperance Brennan who was loosely based on her popular novels. Her 1st novel Déjà Dead won the Author Ellis Award for Best First Novel in 1997. Her books are set in the background of the province of Quebec. By 2019 she had published 21 novels often based on her own experiences which have been translated into 30 languages. She has also written youn adult novels in a series called Virals.  Kathy Reichs is a Member of the Order of Canada.(2020)

Born October 20, 1921, Budapest, Hungary. Died February 1, 2010, Toronto, Ontario. Kati was the part of the weekly CIAO Radio show  The Hungarian Show and was the arts commentator for Chin Radio. As a print journalist she was  a columnist for Kaleidoscope Magazine and a contributor for the Performing Arts and Entertainment Magazine. She served as the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Writers Union of Canada and Vice President of the Canadian Ethnic Media Association.  She served on numerous board including the Toronto International Exchange, the Canadian Scene Multi-language News Service and the Hungarian Canadian Chamber of Commerce. She was the author of travel books for children that introduced young readers not only about Canadian cities but also to European countries through the  of for animals. Her works garnered her numerous awards including being a Knight in the Order of St. Ladislaus, the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary for her contribution to the development of Canadian-Hungarian Cultural Relations. In 1993 she was appointed to the Order of Canada.

née Phares. Born August 13, 1910, Anatone, Washington U.S.A.  Died May 24, 1984. In 1941 she received the Governor General's Award for outstanding service to Canadian drama. She was the first Canadian playwright to publish a volume of collected plays in 1982.

Born 1943? New York City, New York, U.S.A. Died October 2008 Toronto, Ontario. She attended Smith College, Tulane University and the University of North Carolina where she earned a PhD. While at university she met her husband Leon Rook. They married in 1969 and the couple had one son. Relocating to British Columbia she taught English and edited the Malahat Review at the University of Victoria. In 1979 she initiated the women’s study program at the university and went on to become academic Vice-president. In 1988 she joined the staff of the English Department at the University of Guelph in Ontario. She was the founding director of the Master of fine arts program in creative writing at the university and went on to become associate vice-president in 1994. In 1989 the couple founded the Eden Mills Writer’s Festival. The Festival is held the first weekend after Labour Day each year. That year she published Fear of the Open Heart: Essays on Contemporary Canadian Writing.  In 1999 she became president and vice-chancellor of the University of Winnipeg in Manitoba. In 2002 the family moved to Toronto. From 2005 through 2007 she served as president of PEN Canada where she created fundraisers for the writer’s organization dedicated to freedom of expression. In 2005 she earned the Gemini Prize for her short stories.

née McGregor. Born Banff, Scotland. Died 1892. She emigrated to Canada with her second husband. When let a widow by the death of her husband she turned to writing to support herself. She had numerous articles and stories published in various Canadian and American magazines. She als published some 4 books between 1868 and 1878. . These included: Violet Keith (Toronto, 1868) ; Wreck of the White Bear (Montreal, 1871) ; A Legend of the Grand Gordons ( Montreal, 1873) and Legend of the Holy Stones ( Montreal, 1878)

Born July 5, 1845 Middlesex County, Canada West (now Ontario). Died February 9, 1935. She is chiefly remembered for her biography of her brother who was premier of the province of Ontario from 1898-1904.  The book was called. Sir George W. Ross: A Biographical Study (Toronto, 1923)

Born March 22, 1909, Saint Boniface, Manitoba. Died July 13, 1983. After high school she attended Winnipeg Norma School (teacher's College) and taught in rural schools before she was appointed to Provencher School in Saint Boniface.  Just prior to world war ll she traveled in Europe before the war forced her to return home. Settling in Quebec she earned her living as a sketch artist finding time to write while working. Her 1st novel Bonheur d'occasion appeared in 1945 and won for her the Prix Femina in 1947. The book was translated and published in English as the Tin Flute winning the 1st of three Governor General's Award in Literature. The book also won the Lorne Pierce Medal from the Royal Society of Canada. Wish to avoid the publicity of her successful book Gabrielle returned to Manitoba. In August 1947 she married a Saint Boniface doctor, Marcel Carbotte.  A 3 time winner of the Governor General’s Award in Literature as well as international award holder, she is one of the most important Canadian writers of the Post World War II Era in Canada. Some of her works have been translated into 15 different languages. In 1967 she became a Companion of the Order of Canada.  Her autobiography, La Détresse et l'enchantement was published posthumously and translated in 1984. The movie Tramp at the Door is dedicated to her and supposedly depicts her childhood. On September 29, 2004, the Bank of Canada issued a $20 bank note in the Canadian Journey Series which included a quotation from her 1961 book The Hidden Mountain (La Montagne secrète), and its English translation by Harry Binsse: Could we ever know each other in the slightest without the arts?

née Vance. Born March 28, 1931, Plainfield, New Jersey, U.S.A. Died November 27, 2007, Galiano Island, British Columbia. During the Second World War her family moved around various army basis before finally settling in San Francisco. Jane attended Mills College, Oakland, California  and earned her B.A. While teaching at Concord Academy in Massachusetts in 1954 she met her lifelong partner, author and educator Helen Sonthoff. The couple moved to Vancouver in 1956 and soon received their Canadian citizenship. She taught periodically at the University of British Columbia while writing. Her 1st novel, Desert of the Heard was published in 1964. In 1976 the couple settled on Galiano Island off the west coast of British Columbia. Desert Hearts became a movie in 1985 and was a ground breaking topic. In all she wrote a dozen book including three short story collections as well as writing for various high profile publications. For the gay liberationist newspaper the Body Politic a regular column from 1979-1985. In 1998 she received the Order of British Columbia and was inducted as a Member of the Order of Canada in 2007. (2020)

Born February. 23, 1887, Vancouver, British Columbia. Died October 12, 1953, Vancouver, British Columbia. She attended the University of British Columbia when it was connected to McGill University, Montreal. She left teaching to marry Frederick James Rolston in 1909 and raised a family of three children. Tilly worked closely with many associations and clubs including being  a director of the Vancouver-based Pacific National Exhibition, an Honorary President of the Women's Canadian Club, president of the Oratorio Society, Quota Club, and the Travel Women's Club. She was also the founding chairman of the Theatre Under the Stars, board member of the YWCA auxiliary and of the Vancouver Symphony Society. While a homemaker she continued her interest in politics and actually entered politics as an elected Progressive Conservative Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in1941. In 1951 she sat as an Independent for the remainder of the session. She became a supporter of W.A.C. Bennett and in the 1952 B.C. election in Vancouver-Port Grey, she was elected as a Social Credit candidate and named education minister. She was the second woman in British Columbia to be appointed to the cabinet and the first woman in all of Canada to hold a specific portfolio. She was a staunch advocate education for every child

Born November 28, 1932, Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. Ann earned her BA from the University of Saskatchewan, her Masters from Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, and her PhD from the University of London, United Kingdom. This educator and author is a professor at Massey College and the Graduate Centre for Study of Drama and Victoria College at the University of Toronto. In 1976 she was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. In 1986 she earned the Rose Mary Crawshay Award from the British Academy and the following year she became a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. In 1989 the Association for Canadian Theatre Research created the Ann Saddlemyer Award. Among the many distinguished recognitions she was presented with were the 1994 YWCA Toronto Woman of the Year Award and the Order of Canada. Her more than one dozen published books have been related to drama and English literature. She is considered a pioneer in the field of Irish studies having published scholarly research in numerous publications. She has been a welcome lecturer not only in North America but also in Japan, China, Ireland, and Australia. She is also an accomplished editor and member of several editorial boards such as Theatre History in Canada/ Histoire du Théatre au Canada of which she is a founding president. (2019)

née Madden  Born December 31, 1820 Cootehill, Cavan County, Ireland. Died April 5, 1903 Montreal, Quebec. She emigrated to Canada in 1844 and published her 1st works by subscription (where people sign up to purchase a book before it is published.) November 24, 1846 she married published James Sadlier. They remained in Montreal where she continued to write and establish her name as an author. While in Canada she wrote 18 books, five novels, one collection of short stories, a religious catechism, and translated nine books from the French language to English. She also contributed to Pilot magazine and the American Celt Magazine. The family moved to New York but after her husband's death she returned to Montreal. During her career she would publish some 60 volumes of work from domestic novels to historical romances to children's catechisms. A friend of the assassinated author, poet, and Canadian politician, Thomas D'Arcy McGee (1825-1868), she edited a  book of his poems and had it published posthumously in 1869, as a tribute to her friend.  In 2008 she was declared a National Historic Person of Canada.

Born Toronto, Ontario. Rosemary attended York University, Toronto for her undergraduate studies and continued at the University of Toronto for post graduate studies in Social work. She was dominant person in the 1995 push to have the provincial and federal governments to declare February as Black History month. She has also had an active career outside of her history crusade, particularly in the fields of education and social work. She has worked as a school teacher and a hospital social worker and done volunteer work with developmentally delayed adults, emotionally disturbed children, and recent immigrants. She sat on Toronto's Ministry of Education Advisory Panel and vetted the black history curriculum produced by Toronto's District School Board. She was employed in the Women's Bureau of the Office of the Deputy Premier, where she developed a series of programs to encourage women to pursue training and employment in science fields. In 1993 she became president of the Ontario Black History Society a position she held until 2015.She has received numerous awards for her efforts including in 1999 the William Peyton Hubbard Relations Award, the Women of Pace Award, and the Black Links Award. In the mid-2000s she completed her doctoral coursework at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education/University of Toronto in the Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education. In 2005 she earned the Planet Africa Marcus Garvey Award. She also holds a lifetime achievers Award from Women Achievers’ Awards and is a member of the Order of Ontario. Rosemary married Jay Sadlier and the couple have three children.

Born 1925, Saint-Germaine-de-Grantham, Quebec. She earned her BA from the University of Ottawa. She taught elementary school and high school in Manitoba for 20 years. In 1970 she became a professor of Canadian literature at College universitaire de Saint-Boniface, Manitoba. She was the person who initiated the 1st university level Canadian literature course in western Canada. In 1978 she was a founding member of the Centre d'études Franco-Canadiennes de l'Ouest. In 1980 she published her 1st book, Le rideau se lève au Manitoba  In 1984, she was a director for the Regroupement des centres d'études au Canada. She was also a founding member of the 1st two Franco-Manitoba publishing houses, Éditions du Blé and Éditions des Plaines. These publishing houses had the specific mission to promote French language writing in Western Canada. Annette also played a major role in the preservation of the Saint Boniface birthplace of  the Canadian literary giant Gabrielle Roy (1909-1983).  In 2004 Annette was inducted into the order of Canada. In 2005 she published the book Au Pays de Gabrielle Roy.

née Goodman. Born December 9, 1890, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Died July 13, 1970.  In 1913 she married George Salverson and the couple lived in Winnipeg, Manitoba and then Toronto, Ontario. In 1923 Laura presented the 1st of her 7 published works, The Viking Heart. Most of her works would reflect her Icelandic background. In 1937 Laura published the Dark Weaver for which she received a Governor General’s Award in literature. In 1939 she produced an autobiography, Confessions of an Immigrant’s Daughter which also won a Governor General’s Award. In 1954 her Immortal Rock: the Saga of the Kennington Stone won the Ryerson Fiction Award. Laura was a member of the Paris Institute of Arts and Sciences which awarded her a gold medal for literary merit.

Born April 13, 1861 Milton, Nova Scotia. Died February 15, 1947. Margaret originally wrote under the name Marshall Saunders to hide her identity. While it was just becoming somewhat respectable for women to be writers when Margaret was publishing her works, writings by women were not best sellers. In 1894 she wrote Beautiful Joe, a story of an abused dog, for a competition sponsored by the American Humane Society. It won first prize! Beautiful Joe would became the first Canadian book to sell more than 1,000,000 copies. It was translated into more than 14 different languages.

Died July 10, 1901. She became and established author with such titles as A romance of Toronto (Toronto 1888); Lion, the mastiff (Toronto 1895) and Three wedding rings (Toronto n.d.) She could perhaps be considered a pioneer of early multi media writing as she apparently worked or at least published for the Canadian Department of Agriculture in 1898 when she prepared under her own name a lantern slide lecture on teaching kindness to animals called : Dick Niven and his Nobby. The work consisted of some 24 slides but only the descriptive text has survived.

SEE - Dayal Kaur Khalsa

Judy attended the University of Alberta and the University of Saskatchewan. For 25 years she wrote for the food section of the Edmonton Journal newspaper. After retirement she opened a blog Judyink.ca sharing stories and of course recipes from both Canada and New Zealand where she spends half her time. She has written 11 books by 2019 with her 1st novel, Freddy's War,  being published in 2011. She has published  biographies such as Mamie's Children; Generations of Prairie Women in 1998 and Jean Pare: an Appetite for Life, the inspiring story of Canada's most popular cookbook author.

Born December 14, 1950, Stoney Creek, Ontario. Virginia trained as a teacher and went on to become a staff developer in a School of Writing and Publishing after being sent to Columbia University, New York City, U.S.A. to be trained as a teacher of the writing process.  She has taught creative writing at the University of California, Los Angeles, U.S.A. Her book I Just Had Two Wings won the Geoffrey Bilson, Silver Birch, Red Cedar and Myrca Awards. Send One Angel Down won the recipient of a Parents Choice Gold Award. Messenger took the Best Book of the Year for Youth Award from New York City Public Library. (2018)

Born March 20, 1965, Oshawa, Ontario. Mary’s family moved a lot when she was young, moving with their father’s job. They finally settled in Waterloo, Ontario. She watched her brothers play hockey while she played ringette since at that time there were no girls hockey teams. She began University at the University of Guelph but after two years switched to Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo because of her job. She met and began dating a hockey player, Brad Shaw. The couple married in June 1988 and they have three children. After their marriage Brad and Mary traveled to Europe where Brad was to play hockey before being picked up by the National Hockey League playing for the Hartford Whalers in the U.S.A. While living in the U.S. Mary had no green card so she could not work. She took correspondence courses at the Institute of Children’s Literature. After some time with the Ottawa Senators Brad was playing with the Detroit Vipers and Mary decided she had time for writing. Back in Canada she teamed up with artist Chuck Temple and Brad Brady the kid who loved to play hockey was born while the family lived for Brad to play hockey in Tampa Bay, Florida with the Lightening. . Back home in Ottawa the Brady Brady character who loves hockey has become a popular series of hockey stories for young people. Brad retired as a player in 2004 and took up coaching.

Born June 2, 1935, Oak Park Illinois, U.S.A.  Died July 16, 2003. Carol studied at Hanover College, Indiana, U.S.A. spending her junior year abroad at the University of Exeter in England on a United Nations scholarship .In 1957 she married engineer Donald Hugh Shields and the couple immigrated to Canada.  Living in Ottawa she worked as an editorial assistant from 1968-1978. In 1975 she earned  from the University of Ottawa. A writer and professor she was also Chancellor at the University of Winnipeg,. where the family had steeled in 1980 and where she had been a professor. The busy mother of 5 children, this writer won the National Book Critics Circle Award, Governor General’s Award for Literature, The Booker Award, and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Along with writing novels and biographies, she has also written 5 plays and written poetry. When her husband retired in 2000 the couple moved to Victoria, British Columbia. Films based on her novels include the 1996 Swann and in 2003 The Republic of Love.

née Summerville. Born 1902, Glasgow, Scotland. Died 1990. Coming to Canada as a youngster she grew and married and settled in Winnipeg. Her first book was published in 1957 and followed it with ten more works for young readers. Some were historical studies and some were biographies. Many of the stories featured native and Métis women. In 1959 she organized Manitoba's first Indian handcrafts sales centre and she was elected Woman of the Year in Manitoba by the Women's Sales and Advertising Council in 1965.

née Stanton  Born 1865 Cobourg, Canada West (now Ontario). Died February 22, 1943. In 1898 she began publishing short stories and poems in various magazines and journals. On July 10, 1884 she married Dr. Charles Sheard and they raised a family of four sons. Between 1898 and 1938 she would publish some 12 books including; Trevelyan's Little Daughter (Toronto, 1898) and A Maid of Many Moods ( Toronto, 1902).

née Mein. Born November 29, 1783, Cornwall, England. Died July 9, 1866, Toronto, Ontario. Susan Married William Sibbald in 1807. The couple would have 11 children. In 1835 the family immigrated to Upper Canada (Now Ontario). Within the year of landing in Canada Susan became a widow. The family must have had some fortune for they were able to live in the colonial wilderness in comfort. She wrote, much like the better known sister authors, Susannah Moodie, and Catharine Parr Trail, notes for those who might wish to immigrate. Her work was entitled : A few days in the United States and Canada, hints for settlers published in 1846. She also penned an autobiography of the 1st 29 years of her life which was published in 1926 by her great-grandson. A facsimile reprint of the Memoirs of Susan Sibbald 1783-1812 was published in 2010. Source: Marian E. Fowler, “MEIN, SUSAN,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 9, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed January 30, 2015, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/mein_susan_9E.html.

Born January 4, 1902, Carcross, Yukon. Died July 17, 1991, Carcross, Yukon. Angela was given the Tagish name Ch'óonehte' Ma and the Tlingit name Stóow  as well as Angela by her Godfather. The names showed respect for both the peoples of her parents. Her mother Maria was ill and could not participate in regular activities of her daughter so times shared usually meant the telling of stories of the Tagish peoples. Angela married when she was just 14 to George Sidney (1888-1971) a future chief at Carcross. The couple would have seven children, three of who survived to be adults. Angela felt strongly about preserving the traditions and stories of her people and she was soon sharing her knowledge with her own family members but also with other school children. Angela also assisted linguists and anthropologists with research on the Tagish language and traditions. In 1980 she published Place-names of the Tagish Region, Southern Yukon and followed with Tagish Stories in 1982 and Our Family History in 1983. In 1984 Angela travelled to Toronto to be part of the storytelling festival. In 1985 she became a member of the Order of Canada, a national recognition of her efforts to preserve her people's language, stories and traditions. In 1988 she was the inspiration for the establishment of the Yukon International Storytelling Festival. She said "Well, I have no money for my Grandchildren. My stories are my wealth." (Julie Cruickshank, The Social Life of Stories Narrative and Knowledge in the Yukon.   UBC Press, 2000) 

Born Scotland February 12, 1868. Died 1958. After the death of her parents she emigrated to Montréal in 1907. There she used her powers of observation of the middle class life of single women immigrants in the pre world war one urban Canada. Her father had been an author and in Scotland she had written book reviews and articles for newspapers and magazines. In 1919 she published a book of short stories called Sister Women that told of her observations. She was a respected lecturer on women writers and women characters in works by male writers. She was a member of PEN and represented Canada at the PEN world conference in Vienna. While she published at least two additional works but it is Sister Women that illustrates the disproportional suffering  women in an era of social change. The work was republished in 1992 as a part of a series on works of Canadian women authors.

Born March 31, 1938. A playwright of dramatic works she drew from her own background for some of her play settings.  She also wrote of women elders, studies of life in retirement homes and of the contemporary human condition.  She is considered a Canadian playwright of significance.
 

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Born May 1980, Meadowville, Nova Scotia. In 2008 and 2010 she published works of poetry. In 2005 she earned her Master's Degree from Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec. In 2010 she won the Giller Prize for her novel Sentimentalists which has been translated into multiple languages. Her second novel debuted in 2014. She married John Melillo, a professor at the University of Arizona, Tuscon, Arizona, U.S.A. By 2012 she held a doctorate (PhD) from Université de Montréal. (2019)

Born December 7, 1877, Stanley, British Columbia. Died March 27, 1939, New York City, New York, U.S.A. At 10 years of age her family left the Caribou region relocation 1st to Victoria and then to Vancouver, British Columbia. Even as a teen in school she wrote plays, poetry and newspaper article under the names of C. Lindsay Skinner and Constance Lindsay. By 1895 her work had been published in the Canadian Magazine out of Toronto. By 1913 she used her full name when publishing her poetry. By 1920 she used full name exclusively for all her writings. In 1900 she moved to Los Angeles and worked for the LA Times and the following year her works appeared across the country. In 1903 she was working for William Randolf Hearst at the LA Examiner By 1908 she was in Chicago and in 1912 she had arrived in New York City. As well as writing “Sob Sister” stories of human interest she successfully continued her poetic endeavors and wrote plays which she published in her own collected works, In the 1920’s and 1930’s she was known for her histories of pioneers as well as a 3 volume history of the fur trade: Beavers, Kings, and Cabins (NY; Macmillan, 1933). She also wrote successful novels with Canadian settings from 1917 through 1929. She published 19 books, 30 short stories and some 75 poems. Most of her female characters were brave resourceful and refused to defer to men. Source: DCB

Born December 12, 1954, Brantford, Ontario. In school, she had trouble learning to read until she introduced herself to the works of Charles Dickens.  In High School she wrote satire for the school newspaper. She studied English at the University of Western Ontario and credits her degree with giving her the true talent to read and learn enough to become a successful sales person  for cutting tools. After university in 1978 she worked as a salesperson in Industrial tools where she found that other women working in the industry as secretaries and receptionists were “most hostile’ to her as a woman salesperson. She went on to become a top sales representative for Canada. She read up on everything before going for sales! Leaving her job she returned to school to earn her Maters in Library Science. It was here that she was introduced to Children's literature. She married Orest Skrypunch in 1981 and became a stay at home for her son.Not liking commercial breat pad sold on the market she developed her own and soon had her own successful business selling her hand-stitched, washable breast pads. In 1992 she began to write her own books. A proud Canadian of Ukrainian descent she began to write stories about Ukrainian Canadians who were interned during World War l, and the Armenian genocide of 1915. In addition she wrote stories about orphans of the Vietnam War. Disregarding constant refusals from publishers her 1st book Silver Threads was published in 1996 winning the Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrator’s Award and was listed by the Ontario Library Association as a ‘Best Bet’. Since then she has published over 20 book for young readers and has been nominated or won some 45 awards for her stories.   She started the Brantford Book Camp for children and a Summer Writing Workshop for adults. In 2008 she was named to the Order of Princess Olha, one of the Highest Awards from the Ukraine.

Born December 27, 1913, Ottawa, Ontario.  Died March 4, 1986 London England.  She studied piano at school and at 19 she went to London, England for music studies. She gave up piano, returned to Canada and began her career as a journalist working for the Ottawa Journal newspaper. During World War ll she worked briefly in the British Embassy in Washington, D.C.,  U.S.A, before returning to England. To support her family she worked writing advertising copy for magazines.   In 1945 she published her 1st book, which was considered a masterpiece and was reprinted several times. By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept was published in England and was based on her love affair with the poet George Baker, a married man with whom she had four children. Her mother prevented the book from selling many copies in Canada. Republished in 1966 the 1st Canadian hardcover edition was published in 1982. The novel was considered a masterpiece. It was 32 years before she produced her next two books in 1977, A Bonus, a short collection of poems, and The Assumption of the Rogues and Rascals, which was a prose poem that offers a continuation and comment on her earlier work. In 1982 she was writer-in residence at the University of Alberta.   She published again in 1984. An edited edition of her early journals was published posthumously. Her biography By Heart: Elizabeth Smart a Life was written in 1991 by Rosemary Sullivan. That same year the film Elizabeth Smart: On the Side of Angels was produced. (2019)

née Classen. Born September 1, 1915, Newton, Kansas, U.S.A. Died July 31, 2003. She came to Canada in 1969. This author, teacher, and children's librarian has won several awards for her works including the Canada Council Children’s Literature Prize (1977).  Look for her “Underground to Canada”, “Days of Terror”, White Mist” and other books. This author wove her stories for young people around little known historical events and inserted a youthful fictional character with whom her young readers could relate. Her books have been translated into several foreign languages as well a Braille and talking books for the sight impaired.

SEE - Frances Brooke

née Biss.  Born August 28, 1907, Standerton, Transvaal, South Africa.  Died December 16, 1998 Ottawa, Ontario.. The works of this historian on the Palliser Expedition of 1857-1860 are definitive studies.  She represented the Federated Women’s Institutes of Canada at the Associated Country Women from 1954-to 1967 and was executive chairman 1959 to 1965.  She was a fervent supporter of Canada and of a social democratic approach to public policy.  She was named an Officer in the Order of Canada in 1993.  Failing eyesight did not kept her from almost daily studies at the National Archives of Canada where she could be seen using a large magnifying glass in order to read documents. Source: Personal interview.

née Cress. Born January 15, 1906, Berlin (Now Kitchener) Ontario. Died September 12, 2006, Waterloo, Ontario. Edna was raised in Mennonite country which would have great influence on her career. In 1929 she graduated with a BA from the University of Toronto and she followed up with a teacher’s certificate from the Ontario College of Education. At 16 she had experienced the joy of writing and she would have her works published in numerous magazines and journals including; Maclean’s, Chatelaine, Saturday Night, Reader’s Digest, the Star Weekly as well as numerous newspapers. She wrote non –fiction, historical research, creative non – fiction literary criticism but perhaps is best known for her cook books.  While she had published earlier her best loved cook book was Food That Really Schmecks published by McClelland and Stewart in 1968. It would see numerous editions and a series develop from the original publishing. The books contained not only recipes of the Mennonite community but there were anecdotes, and stories of daily life interspersed between the culinary delights. In all she would publish 21 books including the ‘Schmecks’ series. In 1991 she established an award for creative non-fiction to be presented annually at Wilfrid Laurier University. In 1996 she became a member of the Order of Canada. Just prior to her death Must write: Edna Staebler Diaries edited by Christi Verduyn was published by Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2005. Sources: Edna Staebler, B.A. L.L.D ,Who’s Who in the Media Club of Canada 1991 : ‘Remembering Edna Staebler’, Globe and Mail, Toronto, September 17, 2006.

Born April 22, 1952. Born April 22, 1952. Kathy has had a variety of careers from sorting mail, waiting tables to teaching school. She was one of the last teachers to go directly from one year in Teachers’ College into the classroom. While teaching she worked toward a B.A. at the University of Toronto, but she didn’t complete it. She married in 1971, had two children (a son and a daughter), and then divorced. She has been with life partner Peter Carver since 1985. In 1982 she published her first children’s book, Red is Best with Annick Press. Since then Kathy has published more than 2 dozen works including picture books, novels for young adults, historical fiction, short stories, biographies as well as several other works of non-fiction.  Red is Best, Big or Little? and The Bare Naked Book have all been published in 20th or 25th  anniversary editions. Mom and Dad Don’t Live Together Anymore, published in 1984, was revised and re-illustrated in 2007.Mom and Dad Don’t Live Together Anymore, published in 1984, was revised in 2007. Her books have made the Ontario Library Association Top Ten books of the Year listing and the CBC lists Red is Best as one of the top ten Picture books each Canadian Home should have. She has been Writer-in-Residence at various Public Libraries in Southern Ontario including, East York, Toronto, Kitchener and Vaughn. Kathy also has embraced the latest technology as Writer-in-Electronic Residence, linking her to student and Professional writers across Canada. Source: “Kathy Stinson” by Dave Jenkinson CM Magazine, 2006 online (Accessed May 2014) ; Personal contact.

Born 1904. Died 2005. At age 11 Bette won an essay competition with the Toronto City Daily which included publication and prize money, and she was hooked on writing for a career. For 3 years she worked in the Children’s Division of the Toronto Public Library. In 1970 Bette and her family moved to British Columbia where she started a day care centre and took courses at Camosun College in Victoria earning a Certificate in Early Childhood Development. She organized and ran for 10 years her own pre school for 18 children. Bette contributed to the Xerox Weekly Reader, Highlights for Children, Jack and Jill, Country Guide, the Western Producer, Vancouver Sun and many other Canadian and American publications. She has also been published in trade magazines such as Milk Salesman in Pittsburg, and the Chicago Milk Plant Monthly. Her children’s book The Dreadful Dragon of Dismal Rock was published by Borealis Press in 1985. A prolific writer, 36 of her short stories have been broadcast on the CBC’s “John Drainie Short Story Program” and the “Bernie Braden Short Story Program”, her stories have also been narrated by personalities such as Don Harron and Nonie Griffin. Source: Who’s Who in the Media Club of Canada 1991

Born 1896, London, England. Died Ottawa, Ontario January 9, 1968. née Redman.  née Redman. Married December 23, 1918, in 1920 she emigrated to Canada with her husband Major Harry. John. Latimer Strange and they worked a farm in the Canadian west. In 1923 they won the World Wheat Championship in Chicago. By 1928 she had contributed various articles to Canadian magazines. In 1937 she won an award for her non-fiction work With the west in her Eyes, which was a description of her own early farming life. During her career she would compose some 60 short stories that would be published. She also published Never a Dull Moment (1941) the memoirs of her husband.

Born Toronto, Ontario. She received her B.A. from Victoria University in 1954, and later earned her M.A. at the University of Toronto, 1972. Her work in the Toronto entertainment industry has included being a casting director of feature films such as Margaret’s Museum, as well as major Canadian and American television series such as Road To Avonlea; she has won two Anik awards, and was nominated for an Emmy. She hosted her own daily CBC radio program, and the weekly public affairs television series Some of The People. In 2000 she founded ANNE TAIT PRODUCTIONS to develop and produce quality feature films and dramatic television. The 2009 award winning film Iron Road was her first as a co-producer. Sources: Anne Tait Collection, E.J. Pratt Library, University of Victoria Campus, University of Toronto. Online. Accessed July 2013. Submitted by Jeanne Ouellette, Ottawa, Ontario.

Born August 31, 1952, Montreal, Quebec. Her father was a strict Mohawk who had been removed from his culture. Carrie has found herself in her Aboriginal culture and is shares her joy with her father and young readers. She shortened her name to CJ when she autographed her paintings. Her father took her out of school at 16 as he saw no reason for girls to have an education. Carrie-Jo at 19 found herself married and soon she was a struggling single parent. She sought solace in painting. She combined her art with her interest in her native culture to express her feeling .She began writing books touring and talking about learning and Sharing. She enjoys painting large canvases and enjoys producing her works with loud music blearing in the background. She worked for awhile in Radio and even had her own show on CBC TV. However it is her children's books that are her financial support. Many of her 22 published titles are available in French and other languages eve, Braille for the blind

née Tall. Born 1917, Swan River, Manitoba. Died May 31, 2015, Airdrie, Alberta.  Gladys  trained as a teacher and taught in Winnipeg for several years. In 1940 she married Lorne Taylor in 1940 During World War II.  Lorne served in the Canadian Forces and from 1943 Gladys served in the Canadian Women's Army Corps. At war end the couple settled to Thetford Mines, Quebec. The housewife and mother of 4 began writing fiction as a hobby, and won the Ryerson Press Award for best novel of the year twice  for her works Pine Roots, 1956 and The King Tree, 1958.. She also served for several years as editor of Canadian Bookman & Quarterly, the quarterly trade publication of the Canadian Authors Association. Divorced at age 50, Gladys moved west to Alberta. She became editor for the publication Western Leisure, which she eventually bought. She expanded the business by acquiring a network of community newspapers, including The Wheel and Deal, the Rocky View Five Village Weekly, the Carstairs Courier and the Airdrie Advance. In 1983 she was Calgary’s Businesswoman of the year. In 1984 she published which was based on her tour of Australia in 1977.   Alone in the Australian Outback which was the basis for the 1992 film Over the Hill.  In 1987, she published Alone in the Boardroom, a memoir of her experience as a woman in business at a time when that was still a rarity in that era. She ran as an independent candidate in the Alberta Senate nominee election, 1989, finishing fourth of six candidates. Her 5th  book, Valinda, Our Daughter, 1993. The book tells of the Egypt Air Flight 648 hijacking, with a focus on one of the Canadian passengers. The town of Irricana, Alberta has named the public library in her honor. Sources: Gladys Taylor, Who’s Who in the Media Club of Canada 1991; Obituary, Calgary Herald, June 4, 2015.

Born 1853, Appleton, Canada West (now Ontario). Died March 21, 1924. She was educated at the Genesee College located in New York State, U.S.A. Between 1901 and 1913 she would publish some six books including The Village Artist (Toronto 1905), and Candlelight Days (Toronto, 1913).

Born May 25, 1974, Vancouver, British Columbia. Madeleine studied contemporary dance at Simon Fraser University, British Columbia and then switched to creative writing to earn her Master's degree. In 2001 she published her 1st book of short stories and also published a children's book based on the film The Chinese Violin. In 2002 she earned the City of Vancouver Book Award for her book of short stories called, Simple Recipes. Her 1st novel was published in 2006 followed with more novels in 2007 & 2008. She did a study tour of the U.S.A. for a couple of years and from 2010 to 2015 she was part of the International Faculty at the University of Hong Kong. In 2013 she served as Writer-in-residence at Simon Fraser University. In 2016 her novel Do Not Say We Have Nothing won the Governor General's English Fiction Award.  Madeleine lives in Montreal, Quebec with her partner Raui Haye. (2019)

Born November 17, 1935, Binghamton, New York, U.S.A. She attended Smith College before studying in Scotland at the famous St. Andrew’s University. After teaching in England she moved to British Columbia in 1959. In 1965 she published her 1st magazine short story. In all she has written 15 novels and collections of short stories as well as numerous radio plays and broadcasts for the CBC. She was the first winner of the Ethel Wilson B.C. Fiction Prize for her 1984 novel Intertidal Life., and she has taken the award two more times. Internationally she has gained recognition with the Canada-Scotland Literary Fellowship in 1984 and in 1987 the Canada-Australia Literary Prize. In 1987 she received the Marian Engel Award and in 2003 the Tereasen Lifetime Achievement Award. Source: “Audrey Grace Thomas” by Veronica Thompson, the Canadian Encyclopedia.

Born May 22, 1919, Strathroy, Ontario. Died September 22, 2013, Toronto, Ontario. Clara attended the University of Western Ontario, London, graduating in 1941. She met her future husband, Morley Thomas, on the 1st day she was on Campus. The couple married on May 23, 1942 and they had two sons. Clara continued her education at UWO earning her Masters and after her boys were both in school she earned her PhD from the University of Toronto. She would publish as her 1st book, her University of Western Ontario, masters thesis on Canadian Novelists 1920-1945. In 1961-1962 she became a member of the teaching faculty at York University where she continued until her retirement in 1984. While teaching she worked on several critical studies and biographical books of Canadian writers. In addition to her contributions of literary histories, reference works, essays and periodical articles she also served on numerous editorial boards and scholarly committees and served a term in 1971-72 as President of the Association of Canadian University Teachers of English. She was a member of the Royal Society of Canada and in 1989 she was awarded with the Northern Telecom Canadian Studies International Award for distinguished Service. In 2005 York University honoured her by the naming of the Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections. (2020)

Born 1893, Toronto, Ontario. Died September 29, 1934, Toronto, Ontario. As the daughter of Henry L. Thompson, president of Copp Clark Publishers, one might consider that the door for a career was already open to her. Open door or not, one must have talent to consider a writing career. Dora would leave a legacy of some 6 books for young Canadian readers. Her writings, usually had the title of the name of a Canadian girl and  told the story of their lives with attention to their school live, church life and good deeds. As an author she showed acceptance for multiculturalism showing warmth and concern for European immigrant families in her fictional community life. (2020)

'Auntie Abbie'

Born June 15, 1937, Timmins, Ontario. Lola studied comparative literature at the University of Alberta, Calgary. This bilingual author has produced books in both of Canada's official languages.  Her strong command of her second language, English, can be seen in her poetic publications. She has also translated several notable authors who have written works in either French or English for publication in the other language.  Her  books of poems and her novels express feelings of female life experiences such as pregnancy and birth as well as loss of immediate family members in death. Her short fiction appeared in French in XYZ-La Revue de la Nouvelle and in the anthology, Closets of Time. She was writer-in-residence at the University of Western Ontario, London. She teaches creative writing at York University, Toronto and is contributing editor of Open Letter, a Canadian journal of writing and theory. (2020)

Born October 13, 1955, Zagreb, Yugoslavia (Croatia).  At only a few days old her mother left Croatia to join the baby’s Canadian Father. Teresa’s early life was rather unsettling with the family moving 17 times from city to city to city. Unfortunately her father died when she was only seven months old. Her first career choice was to be a mermaid. But practicality of life took over. She attended the University of Toronto and completed a Masters in Political Science just in time to marry and mover to Montreal. Once settled she worked as a freelance broadcaster for Radio Canada International before moving to Ottawa, Toronto, New York City and back again to Toronto. In between moves 2 daughters were born and she decided to become a stay at home mother. During this time she turned to writing. She also became involved as a volunteer with Frontier College and teaching English as a second language. Her writing has been mainly for young readers and has resulted in numerous books having been published starting in 1995. According to Teresa writing is almost as good as being a mermaid! Source: Teresa Toten by Dave Jenkinson CM Magazine Profile online (accessed January 2007). (2020)

née Strickland. Born January 9, 1802, London, England. Died August 29, 1899, Selwyn, Ontario. After the death of their father in 1818 the Strickland daughters, There were five sisters turned to writing to supplement the family income. at 16, Catherine was writing children's books. Her 1st book The Tell Tale: an Original Collection of Moral and Amusing Stories was published anonymously in 1818. This pioneer came to Upper Canada (now Ontario) with her retired army lieutenant husband, Thomas Traill in 1832.The young couple were no doubt encouraged on this endeavour by Catherine's sister, Susanna Moodie (1803-1885) who also soon immigrated. The couple settled near what is now Peterborough, Ontario which at that time was a backwoods area. Catherine wrote of the life around her in what was then The Canadas in her book, The Backwoods of Canada in 1836. In 1854 she published the Female Emigrant's Guide which outlined the skills necessary for a new settled in the Canadian backwoods. This book would later be republished as the Canadian Settler's Guide.  Her sister, Susanna Moodie would also become a well known Canadian author. In 1840 the Trails and Moodies both moved to the city of Belleville, Ontario. in 1865 Catherine would also note the flora of the region in her Canadian Wild Flowers, Studies of Plant Life in Canada in 1885 and Rambles in the Canadian Forest. In 1996 the book I Bless You in My Heart: Selected Correspondence of Catherine Parr Trail was published. Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario named their downtown campus after her. Catharine Parr Traill College is the University's main college for graduate studies. In 2008 as par of the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the National Library of Canada Canada post issued a series of stamps featuring early Canadian writers that included both Catherine Parr Traill and Susanna Moodie. (2020)

Born July 2, 1887, Laurierville, Quebec. Died November 27, 1977, Orleans, Ontario. She completed her university studies at the University of Ottawa and remained the city as a journalist and writer. She collaborated on the Annales de l’institut Canadien-français d’Ottawa, Revue Moderne and was editor of the women’s pages of the French language newspaper Le Droit from 1934-1950. In May 1925 she was appointed to the French secretariat of the Council of Women in Washington, D.C., U.S.A. She was an active member of the Canadian Women’s Press Club, the Société d’étude et de conferences, the Société de écrivains des canadiens-française and the Association of Women Journalists. She began to publish books in 1920, 1930, and in 1933 she published two more books. In 2005 the Ontario Heritage Foundation erected an historic plaque in Ottawa commemorating her life and work. Source: ‘Marie-Rose Turcot, journalist and author’, Ottawa raconte-moi Online (accessed July 2015)

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Born 1929, Hamilton, Ontario. As a high school student she worked summers at C K O C a Hamilton radio station. After graduating from McMaster University, Hamilton Dorothy worked as a copywriter at the radio station. After her marriage and becoming a parent she began a freelance career writing  articles on infant and child care, then later articles on travel, history, and other topics. She wrote a weekly column in the St. Catharines Standard  newspaper for 15 years, and for 22 years has had a weekly column, ‘Over the Coffee Cups’, in The Grimsby Independent and a  column, ‘A Small Drop of Ink’, in The Grimsby Lincoln News. She has written some ten books that include local history works, a biography of Canadian baseball player Fergie Jenkins, and The Nelles Story, Pioneers, Loyalists, Founding Families published in 1910.  Dorothy has always been active in her community besides reporting on community life she  has been involved in the Local Architecture Conservation Advisory Committee, served as president of the Grimsby Public Library and Art Gallery Board. She also served from 1985-88 as the President of the Media Club of Canada. She is a founding member of Grimsby Block parents and works with the Grimsby Historical Society Archives. She is also an active member of St. Philips-By-The-Lake Anglican Church. Sources: Dorothy Turcotte, Who’s Who Media Club of Canada, 1991; Dorothy Turcotte.ca (Accessed July 2015)  ; Amicus, catalogue of the National Library of Canada Online (accessed July 2015)

Born June 21 1949 Little Long Lac, Ontario. This author is a respected novelist, has also written poetry. Most of her works have been published and translated in several foreign languages. In 1992 her novel The Whirlpool was the first Canadian book to win France's prestigious Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger (Best Foreign Book Award). Her third novel Away remained on the Globe and Mail newspaper's National Bestseller list for 132 rooks which was the longest of any Canadian boo. Away also won the 1994 Trillium Award and the Marian Engle Award for an outstanding body of prose written by a Canadian woman. In the fall of 1997 her fourth novel The Under painter won the Governor General's Award.

Born 1900, Lac-à-La-Tortue, Québec. Died February 7, 1987, Ottawa, Ontario. After graduating from Laval University she studied at St Germain-des-Prés, France. In 1924 she married civil aviation pioneer Romeo Vachon. The couple would have 4 children. In 1944 the family settled in Ottawa. She was one of the founders of the Ottawa Branch and also served as president of La Société d’étude et de conference. She also found time to set up guided tours of the National Gallery of Canada. She was a member of the Female Journalists’ Circle of Ottawa. She would write her husband’s biography entitled Romeo Vachon: distinguished Canadian Aviator in 1969. Still in the aviation theme in 1974 she penned Goggles, Helmets and Airmail Stamps and it the following year she published Images of Romeo Vachon. For 6 years she was in charge of the historical documents of the Royal Canadian Air Force. She served on the Board of Directors of L’Alliance française d ‘Ottawa serving as chair 1954/5. She founded Christ–Roi Branch of the L’Alliance française des femmes Canadiennes-française in Ottawa. On May 16, 1967 she received the L’Alliance française medal from the French Ambassador. Source: Georgette Vachon, Community Leader and Author, Ottawa raconte-moi. Online (Accessed July 2015)

Born January 19, 1941, Toronto, Ontario. Charlotte lived with an overbearing father who was physical with her. She left high school to take up her teen passion and studied formal night classes in acting. She once dressed as a messenger boy to take a fan letter to Bette Davis. Davis was smitten by the letter and she became friends with the young upstart. Escaping her home situation she moving to England and worked from 1961-64 in sleazy night spots to make a living. In the mid 1960’s she brought her career back to Canada. Married in 1970, she soon became an urban mother to a beautiful daughter. By 1975 the urge to write became strong and she wrote her only non-fiction book that would be called Daddy’s Girl about her abusive childhood. The subject of the book was not popular in that era and she would publish some fifteen works of fiction before she would get this ground breaking work to readers. She has penned over thirty books which have been grabbed up by the public, mainly in the United Kingdom where she is one of the most borrowed authors from libraries. Her books sell in over twenty countries but yet she is not overly recognized in Canada. She developed her own Press to publish her own commercial fiction  Her stories deal with strong feisty women who discover that they can take care of themselves when it comes to living with adversity. She also writes under the pen name of Katherine Marlowe. She divides her time between her home in Toronto and a second home in Connecticut. Sources: “Ignored at home. Successful abroad” by Diane Frances MacLean’s October 15, 1999: Canadian Who’s Who 2005 (University of Toronto Press, 2005)

Born March 9, 1955, Rome Italy. She studied for her PhD at York University in Toronto in 1982 in Social and Political Thought. From the mid-1980's though the mid 1990's she did theoretical and historical works on gender and sexuality. in the 1990's she devoted herself to the sociology of law with her main current research interest in the deployment of low-level administrative and lay knowledges of vice, sex and race in various legal complexes. Her 998 book, "Diseases of the Will: alcohol and the dilemmas of freedom" (Cambridge) won the Law and Society Association's Herbert Jacobs biannual book prize in 2000. Princeton University Press published her most recent book, "Law's Dream of a Common Knowledge" (2003). She teaches theory at the Centre of Criminology, University of Toronto, and is currently engaged in a socio-legal research project on urban/municipal law and bylaw enforcement.

Born Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Died April 7, 2005. As a child she was the first Black person to get a library card at the whites only Public Library in Bulawayo. She came to Toronto, Ontario and attained her undergraduate and graduate degrees, including her PhD in record time and got  married She was drawn back to her troubled homeland of Zimbabwe with her need to write. She would publish 5 novels and a collection of short stories, all of which have been translated into several languages.  Acknowledgement of her talent came in awards such as the Commonwealth Writers Prize for African 1999 and the Swedish PEN Tucholsk Prize which recognizes works on taboo subjects. She wrote about problems in her native land, such as : incest, abortion, rape, infanticide and suicide. The BBC World Services has produced a 2 hour work which serves as a biography of this courageous writer.  Evidently, when she wanted to write she would check herself into a hotel for three weeks and emerge with a manuscript such as Butterfly Burning (1998) . Perhaps the fast track studies at York University and the 3 weeks production of a manuscript were part of the knowledge that having AIDS meant she did not have a long time to do what she wanted to achieve in her lifetime.

Born Lac Saint-Jean, Quebec. Marie earned her Bachelor's degree in history and philosophy at  the Université de Sherbrooke, Quebec. As a journalist she has worked for and contributed works to various Quebec publications including Le Devoir, La Press canadienne and Le Droit. She is the founder of L'Agence littéaire Alinéa. Her 1st book, L'Enfant cigarier was published in 1999 and as of 2012 she has published 6 books in Quebec. (2019)

SEE - Poets

SEE - Military

Born January 28, 1885,  Coulson, Ontario. Died ???? Elizabeth graduated from the Macdonald Institute (Now part of the University of Guelph) Guelph, Ontario in 1908. By 1912 she was working as an assistant flour tester for Pillsbury Milling Company , Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A. By 1971 she was listed in the Winnipeg Manitoba directory. In 1917 the Purity Cook book under her name was the 1st cookbook promoting the use of Purity Flour. The book was reprinted in 1923 and 1932. Also in 1917 she was involved with the Thrift Cook Book that came from the War Relief Auxiliary of Toronto. Funds raised went to various associations working for the World War l war effort. In 1934 she was a staff member of the Ontario Women’s Institute. Source: Culinary Landmarks: Bibliography of Canadian Cookbooks 1825-1949 by Elizabeth Driver, University of Toronto Press.

née Doherty. Born October 24, 1909, New Westminster, British Columbia. Died February 1, 1998, Nanaimo, British Columbia. She earned her Bachelor degree from the University of British Columbia in 1931 and went on to earn her Masters' degree in 1933. She worked as an elementary and high school teacher in various locations in British Columbia.  In 1941 she married poet Wilfred Watson (19911-1998).She taught at Toronto's Moulton Ladies College for two years in the mid 1940's and then lectured at the University of British Columbia for two years.  From 1957 to 1964 she she worked on her thesis for her PhD degree from the University of Toronto.  Her novel Double Hook, written in the early 1950's was turned down by numerous publishers. Finally published in 1959 it is considered the point for the beginning of contemporary writing in Canada. In 1961 she worked as a professor of English at the University of Alberta. She and her poet husband were founders of the White Pelican which published from 1971 through 1975 and won the Governor General's Award in 1973.  She was awarded for her writings the Lorne Pierce Medal from the Royal Society of Canada. Sheila retired from teaching in 1975 and the following year she and her husband relocated to Nanaimo, British Columbia.(2019)

Born April 9, 1957. During her studies at Queens University she received awards including the Lorne Green Award. She acted for several years but prefers writing plays. One of her works, Spring Planting has received the Saskatchewan Writers Guild Award. 

née Zamikoff.  Sydell attended Toronto Teacher’s College and when she began teaching in primary grade school she also took on the position of teacher librarian. She is married with three children. For a while she wrote stories for various Canadian and American magazine. She then became interested and wondered why women’s life stories were not being told. She too a course in women’s studies at the Women’s Resource Centre at the Ontario Institute of Studies in Education. She also did some historical research and produced her 1st book, a biography for young readers about Canada’s 1st practicing woman doctor Emily Stowe (1831-1903) called Changing the Pattern. The book won the Toronto Heritage Award of Merit in 1990 and the Our Choice Seal for Best Canadian Children’s Book. Her book Storytelling Around the World won the Rooster Prize.  Another biography that Sydell has written for young readers, Believing in Books: the Story of Lillian Smith, won the 2002 Frances E. Russell Award from the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY). It is the story of the Toronto woman who was 1st children’s librarian in the British Commonwealth. Famous Canadian Women sincerely hopes that more books for young readers telling the stories of Canadian women is part of the future plans for this author.

Born 1865, Manchester, England. Died March 11, 1943. In 1880 she emigrated with her parents to Canada. She would study and become a well known author and historian. She published some 11 books in the field of Canadian history including: A Canadian History For Boys (Toronto, 1905) : The stories of Counties of Ontario (Toronto, 1913) and Canada and the British Immigrant (London, 1914)

née Smith. Died 1933. A writer of local history she is best remembered for her Jubilee History of Thorold Township. (Thorold, ON, 1898). The original edition had now name of the author but when the work was re-issued in 1933 Wetherell's name appeared as the author of the work.

née Kesslering. Born Saskatchewan. After graduating with a BA in 1949 from the University of Saskatchewan. she took a job in Regina with the Commonwealth, the Saskatchewan C C F weekly where, as the only reporter on staff, she covered everything, had a column and even wrote an editorial. Her next job was with the Regina Leader-Post .  In the 1950s she spent two years as a foreign service officer in Ottawa and New York. She did some freelance work in Canada and Africa and, in 1963, joined the Toronto Star where she remained until her retirement in 1991. At the Star she was, in turn, reporter, feature writer and writer of editorials as a member of the newspaper’s editorial board. She won a Canadian Women’s Press Club award for news reporting in 1969.  Margaret joined the Heliconian Club in 1979, has served on the Executive Committee, was co-editor of The Bulletin for 10 years and served on the Board of Management of the Heliconian Hall Foundation as president. That same year 1979, she became the 1st journalist to receive a special award from the American Association on Mental Deficiency for the citation called Socially Responsible Journalism. She wrote the book, Envoys Extraordinary: Women of the Canadian Foreign Service, (Toronto, Dundurn Press, 1995). In October 2009 she was named one of a number of Alumni of Influence by the University of Saskatchewan and in June 2010 the university awarded her an honorary Doctor of Letters degree. Source: Duff Spofford,  ‘Stop the Presses! Looking back on 100 years of Sheaf Alumni in the Media. (Part 4, 1946-1952)’, The Sheaf, September 18, 2012.

Born April 21, 1928, Calgary, Alberta. Raised in Calgary and Winnipeg, Joan, attended the University of Manitoba. She worked in advertising at Eaton's department store where she had great fun with Radio programs such as the Santa Claus program. This was her introduction to writing. While she has written history and biography non-fiction for adults she has received the most of her joy from writing for teenagers. She married a doctor in 1955 and stopped work to stay at home with her children but she still found time to research and write. Along with her books she penned scripts for TV series such as 'Fifteen' on the Nickelodeon Network. She is also a teacher providing classes in creative writing at University College of the Caribou. You may find many of her over 20 books at your library!

Born April 26, 1857, Rockwood, Ontario. Died March 9, 1940. The family relocated to Pennsylvania, U.S.A. for two years where her father was superintendent of Haverford College. Back in Canada Ethelwyn was sent to Friends' Boarding School, Union Springs, New York, U.S.A. While she never married she did adopt a daughter. She was a published poet and journalist and co-authored an historical romance novel, An Algonquin Maiden in 1887.  In 1895 she published her 1st collection of poems and followed this up with additional publications in 1902 and 1904. She also contributed her writings to the Christian Union, the Chicago Current, The Week, the Canadian Monthly, and Saturday Night. Using the pen name Bel Thistlethwaite she worked as an editor for The Globe in Toronto and The Advertiser out of London, Ontario. She also worked as an assistant to the editor of the Ladies Home Journal and the World's Best Literature magazines. When she was a senior she continued to write under her own name and occasionally she used the pen name Octo which was short for octogenarian. Her daughter would publish a collection of her mother's works posthumously. (2019)

Born September 23, 1946, Edmonton, Alberta. During high school she taught piano and became interested in drama touring in summers with a children’s theater group. Anne graduated from the University of Alberta having studied mathematics. While at university she had also continued music studies and after graduation she became a high School music teacher. She worked for a short time as a computer programmer and then decided to travel the world for two years going to Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia.  She was inspired to become a storyteller and upon returning to Canada she joined friends to for a film collective, Filmwest. From 1975 to 1985 she had a position in Edmonton with the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) and in 1981 she was able to make her 1st feature film A War Story.  Still living in Edmonton, Alberta and caring for her two sons, she completed her 1st film outside of the NFB came was Loyalties in 1986.  Her film “Bye Bye Blues” (1990) earned 3 Genie Awards. In 1990 the family relocated to Salt Spring Island, British Columbia. Her work took her back to the prairies she directed the adaptation of Margaret Lawrence’s The Diviners which was a 2 hour TV movie which won a Genie for Best M. O. W. in Canada. Other Women’s Children garnered a Cable Ace Award for Performance and was shown in both Canada and the U.S. The War Between Us garnered several international awards including the Special Jury Prize from the Houston Film Festival, the Red Cross Award for Humanity, the Critic's Choice Award at both Monte Carlo and the Charleston Festival in West Virginia, and a Cable Ace Award for Best Foreign Programming in the U.S. In 1995 she was inducted into the Order of Canada and the following she settled in Vancouver, British Columbia. in February of 1997 and for the second year in a row, her work won the Cable Ace Award for Best International Programming. In 1998 she directed for the TV show Da Vinci’s Inquest. After doing a series of movies she returned to Canadian literature and adapted the short story, A Wilderness Station by Alice Munro. It is now called on DVD, as Edge of Madness. She keeps herself busy with multiple projects and has no plans for retirement.  In 2012 she received the Queen Elizabeth ll Diamond Jubilee Medal. Source: Anne Wheeler Writer, Director, Producer, Biography. (accessed 2013)

Born 1829, England. Died January 7, 1888. She emigrated to Canada as a child with her family and settled in Hamilton, Canada West (Ontario). Between 1851 and 1882 she would publish some five books.

Born 1901 London, England. Died November 23, 1986. In 1904 the family emigrated to Qu’Appelle Valley, Saskatchewan. Marjorie was educated in Swift Current, Saskatchewan and Toronto, Ontario.  She married Angus Campbell, a surgeon, in 1931 and continued to work as a writer and editor working for Magazine Digest, Chatelaine, Saturday Night and MacLean’s. She would publish 14 books mainly historical fiction and the biography of Colonel Baker of the Canadian National Institute of the Blind (C. N. I. B.) called No Compromise. Her writing garnered her multiple awards including from the Canada Council, a Guggenheime Fellowship. She earned as well the Governor General’s award in literature in non-fiction in 1950 and in 1954 for Juvenile Fiction for her work the Nor’Westers.   She was inducted as a Member of the Order of Canada.  Her papers are maintained in the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library at the University of Toronto.

Born October 2, 1889, Dundalk, Ontario. Died January 20, 1970, North Saarnich, British Columbia. Flos spent her youth attending Jarvis High school in Toronto and after she attended Normal School (Teachers College) in Toronto to obtain her teaching certificate. She taught in Bobcageon and the Karatha Lakes District, and then back to Toronto. On April 23, 1923 she married David Selkirk Williams (1882-1963) a traveling salesman. In 1923 the young couple had settled in Calgary where they raised their twin sons. Finding herself alone with her husband on the road for his job she began writing. In 1925 she submitted a book an won runner up prize of $2500.00 from Hodder & Stoughton Publishers. She wrote poetry and short stories along with magazine articles that were published in various well known Canadian periodicals. In 1949 she won a prize from Ryerson Press for her book Fold Home which was set in the Caraboo District of British Columbia. She relocated to the west Coast later in life. Her house at 5 Rose Ave, in Cabbagetown, an inner neighborhood in Toronto, is marked with an historic plaque, from the local heritage group. Sources: Cabbagetown People : The social history of a Canadian Inner City Neighborhood. Online (Accessed March 2014)  ; Flos Jewell Williams, Digital Collections, Library, Simon Fraser University. Online (Accessed March 2014)

Born Toronto, Ontario. Died December 15, 1938. née MacMurchy. In 1926 she married Sir John Willison and became Lady Willison. She would write some five books between 1916 and 1937: The Woman Bless Her (Toronto, 1916); The Canadian Girl at Work (Toronto. 1919); The Child's House (London 1923); Golden Treasury of Famous Books (Toronto, 1929); The Longest Way Round (Toronto, 1937)

née Archibald. Born May 2,1927, Nova Scotia. Died March 19, 2021, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Budge attended Dalhousie University, Halifax, graduating with her Bachelor of Arts in 1949. Post graduate studies followed at the University of Toronto (U of T) and by 1953 she had obtained a Diploma of Education as well as a certificate in physical education. That same year she married Alan Wilson and together they had two children. She had taught English at Halifax Ladies College prior to working at the Institute of Child study at U of T. She would also work at the Toronto Public Library and Acadia University. In 1968 she was a fitness instructor with the Peterborough County Board of Education and at the Young Women's Christian Association (Y W C A) in Ontario. working to 1987. An acclaimed author, Budge did not begin her writing career until she was in her 50's. Her first book, The Best/Worst Christmas Present Ever appeared in 1984 when she was 56. Her writings began winning awards with the CBC Fiction Award in 1981. She has won among some 25 other awards the Atlantic Writing Competition for fiction, the Canadian Library Association Award, the Mariana Dempster Award, and the Thomas Randall Award. Most of her books, more than 30 titles, were for youth although she often writes with adults in mind. In 1989 she and her husband relocated to Nova Scotia. In 1998 she was inducted into the  Her works have been published in eleven countries and nine different languages. Perhaps you have read some of her books? The Leaving (1990), The Courtship (1994), Cordelia Clark (1994), Fractures (2002), and Friendships (2006) are a few of the titles she has written. In 2004 she was inducted into to the Order of Canada. In 2008, well known for her five collections of short stories, she was selected to write  prequel, Before Green Gables, in celebration of 100 years of Anne. In 2011 she was inducted into the Order of Nova Scotia and in 2012 she received the Queen Elizabeth ll Diamond Jubilee Medal. In 2016 she published a collection of poetry, After Swissair.  Source: Information submitted by Alan Wilson; Obituary on Legacy (accessed 2021)

née Bryant. Born January 20, 1888, Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Died  December 22, 1980, Vancouver, British Columbia. After the death of her parents when she was ten she moved to Canada to live with her grandmother. She was educated at private schools in Canada and England before returning to attend the Vancouver Normal School (teacher’s college). After graduating in 1907 she taught public school until her marriage to Dr. Wallace Wilson in 1927.  Ethel began writing in 1937 with her early stories being published in British magazines. In 1947 she published her first novel, Hetty Dorva. From 1947-57, she wrote four more novels, best known being Swamp Angel. Mrs. Golightly and Other Stories, her last published work, appeared in 1964. She received a special Canada Council medal for contributions to Canadian literature and the  Lorne Pierce Medal from the Royal Society of Canada. She was inducted into the Order of Canada and in 1970 received the Canada Medal of Service.  British .Columbia's top fiction prize is named for her. Sources: The Canadian Encyclopedia online : The Vancouver Hall of Fame Online accessed November 2012. Suggested reading: Ethel Wilson: Stories, essays and Letters. Edited by D. Stouck (1988)

Born May 21, 1928, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Died June 1, 1992, Toronto, Ontario. Adel graduated from the University of Manitoba in 1949. She took on a variety of jobs including teaching at the Overseas School of Rome, Italy for a year in 1951. In 1955 she was in England volunteering for the Jewish Girls’ Hospital in Stepney. Back in Canada she supported herself working as a lab tech and as secretary to the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. During this time she was working on her 1st novel The Sacrifice which was published in 1956 winning the Governor’s General Award for 1957 as well as the Beta Sigma Phi Award. She then was writer-in-residence at the University of Windsor in Ontario. From 1957-1960 she worked on a Guggenheim fellowship in New York City, U.S.A. From 1961-1962 she worked on writing children’s stories while living in London, Ontario. In 1964-1969 she was living in Montreal, Quebec and lecturing at Sir George Williams University and other institutions. She received a Canada Council Senior Arts Award to work on her 3rd novel and was writer-in-residence at the University of Toronto which she followed up with taking similar positions as other Ontario universities. Along with her novels and children’s books she had plays published as well as essays and nonfiction works.

Born July 14, 1948, Munich Germany. She moved with her family and would grow up in Manhattan (New York City) where she attended the University of New York. She studied for her Masters in Special Education at Ferkauf Graduate School and then began working with disabled adults. She married  and settled in Toronto where the couple adopted 2 children. She started writing books and became hooked on writing before publishers became hooked on publishing her works. The early refusals only empowered her energy and her determination. She has published mainly for the your market. Her works have introduced youth lives of famous people such as Frederick Law Olmstead, the "man who made parks",  Einstein in " what's the matter with Albert' and Marie Currie in 'Maya's dream'. She enjoys writing about scientists, she tells fan, but doesn't mean to become one. A prolific writer, since 1997 she has produced almost 20 books, published in Canada, the USA and Great Britain.

Born July 31, 1956, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.A. As a child reading was her passion. At 18 she discovered Whitewater Kayaking and from there other fast athletic enjoyments. Sports, however, never took away her ambition to be a writer. After attending Beloit College in Wisconsin, she naturally turned to journalism for her profession. She combined her sport and her job by working as associate editor of River World, a whitewater kayaking magazine. She would meet her Canadian husband at a sporting event. It seemed a natural progression to writing extreme sport novels. She could often be found writing at the hockey area where he son played hockey! Her goal is to put several novels a yea for your readers on library shelves.

Born December 28, 1867, Lanarkshire, Scotland.  Died May 1, 1927, Detroit Michigan, U.S.A. In 1869 the family immigrated to the U.S.A. settling in Irving. New York. They then relocated to the area of Guelph, Ontario. From 1887 to 1901 she was in New York City, U.S.A. with her brother William.  In the hay day of her writing contemporary magazines hailed this author as the Charlotte Bronte, Charles Dickens, or the Nathanial Hawthorne of Canada. She was rated as one of the top three Canadian authors along with Gilbert Parker and Charles C.D. Roberts. It was with the support of her family that she was encourage to have her writings published as early as 1890. A daughter of Witches was published as a serial, a chapter at a time, in the Canadian Magazine in 1898. Critics described her characters as “vivid and magnetic.” During a trip to England it was rumored that she was engaged to poet Algernon Charles Swinburne but no real evidence of this has been found. In 1901 she was living in Niagara region, Ontario with her widowed mother. and was the highes paid Canadian fiction writer.   Her last novel , Farden Ha' in 1902. It is not really known why the novels stopped in 1902. She did present lectures in local history but did not present the information in print. In 1907 she joined the Niagara Historical Society.  By 1914 she was living in Buffalo, New York, U.S.A. In 1927  a newspaper reported she has suffered a nervous breakdown some years ago causing her to abandon her writing. In 1994 her work, The Untempered Wind, was republished in a centenary edition.  Source: Industry Canada.; D C B  2021.

Died 1919. She emigrated to Canada with her family when she was a child. As an author she would publish some 4 books between 1898 and 1902.

née Davies. Born 1899. Died August 1, 1937.  This author would pen the book The Celtic Heart published in Toronto in 1939 two years after her death.

Born 1856, London, Canada West (now Ontario). Died March 4, 1906. She worked as a journalist and married writer Frank Yeigh in 1892. She would continue writing and produce a novel.

Born August 13, 1961, Fredericton, New Brunswick. She attended the University of New Brunswick earning her BA in 1983. While still a student she published Heritage Handbook, Fredericton in 1982. She then attended the University of Toronto for her M.A, in 1986 and then a M. Phil in 1989. She married John G. Young on June 23, 1990 and the couple have one child. She worked as a art historian at the University of Toronto before moving as a researcher at Heritage Montreal in 1994-95. She has also worked at a translator of French to English. She has published the Glory of Ottawa: Canada’s First Parliament Buildings in 1995. Source: Canadian Who’s Who. (Toronto: U of T Press, 1997)

née Vining. Born New York State, U.S.A. Died March 6, 1897.  After her training and some experience in the U.S.A. in 1860 she was appointed instructor of English at the Canadian Literary Institute, Woodstock, Canada West (Ontario). She met and married James Cotton Yule. She enjoyed writing poetry and published Poems of the Heart …(Toronto, 1881). She would publish an additional four books including Records of a vanished life : lectures, addresses etc. of James Cotton Yule (Toronto, 1876) in memory of her late husband.

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Born August 14, 1953, Cornwall, Ontario. Deborah has always loved to draw and tell stories. In the 1970’s Deborah toured the craft fairs of British Columbia showing hand-woven and hand dyed tapestries. She had produced 5 mega murals displayed in British Columbia. On March 8, 1978 she married Leo Zagwyn and the couple has 2 children. She expanded her artistic talents to watercolour paintings and soft-sculpture works and she has had her works exhibited all along the west coast of Canada. She turned her talents to published stories for children and had brought the stories alive with her won vibrant illustrations. She had produced over 10 books for children winning the Sheila Egoff Children’s Prize in 1989 and in 1995 she was a finalist in the Mr. Christies Book Award. Source: Canadian Who’s Who (Toronto; University of Toronto Press; 1997)

née Granatstein. Born May 6, 1908, Toronto, Ontario. Died March 1, 1996. She studied music with such well know Canadian as Healey Willan and Mona Bates. She made her debut as a pianist at Massey Hall, Toronto when she was just 12 years old. With her piano playing partner, Etta Cole, the duo toured successfully toured North America. In 1939 she became a soloist. She taught at the Toronto Conservatory of Music and wrote articles for various Canadian publications such as the Star Weekly, Chatelaine and the Globe and Mail newspaper in Toronto. She was the music critic for the Toronto Daily Star and edited school music texts for Ginn and Co. publishers. She accomplished this busy career and still found time to be a mother to two daughters.

Born 1891, Beeton, Ontario. Died December 11, 1971. née Scott. As a youth of 14 she began teaching. In 1914 she married her childhood sweetheart, Henry M. Aitken and settled down to farm life. She began a small canning business from her farm in Beeton, and was soon working at speaking engagements with the federal and provincial departments of agriculture. She also began writing articles for farm journals. By World War ll she was Conservation Director for the Federal Wartime Prices and Trade Board. This was an unpaid position which provided Canadians with a advice to "Use it up, wear it out, make over, make do". She soon found a position as women's editor at the Montreal Standard and had a regular radio program popular across the country. She wrote 9 cook books which were still being reprinted in 2004! In addition she was author of a half dozen other books including two autobiographical publications. In 1941 she earned $25,000.00 a year compared to the average wage for men of $3,000.00 per year. In 1950 she earned $5,200.00 a week, one of the highest paid women in the country.. She was taping 600 radio broadcasts a year,  making 150 speeches a year while still retaining her position as cooking editor of the Montreal Standard newspaper. Her staff responded to 5,000 fan letters a week! During her career she interviewed such world personalities as Hitler, Mussolini, King George, queen Elizabeth, Franklin Roosevelt and our Canadian Prime Ministers,  King,  St Laurent and  Pearson. After retiring from Broadcasting in 1957 she turned her energies to working for the United Nations, and UNICEF.

Born December 4, 1940, Hertfordshire, England. Barbara emigrated with her family to Canada and settled in Hamilton, Ontario.  graduated from the University of Toronto with her B.A. in 1963. At university she was an active communist and was a delegate to the 1962  World Festival of Youth and Students in Helsinki, Finland. In 1964 she married George Smith but this was followed shortly by divorce and she second marriage in 1965 was to George Bloomfield. This marriage ended in divorce in 1971. She married a third time to poet, broadcaster and author George Jonas in 1974 but the couple divorced in 1979.In 1978 she published her own selected poems.  She married a fourth time to businessman David Graham from 1984 to 1988. July 21,1992 she married she married media baron Conrad Black. A writer, journalist, and editor, Barbara was editor for the Toronto Sun newspaper and a long time columnist with MacLean's.  She has published four books between 1977 and 1983.  She has won the Edgar Allan Poe Award for best face crime book and was the “Woman of Distinction” in 1989.  In 1995 she earned the position as vice president editorial at Hollinger International. In November 2006 a biography of the couple by Tom Bower, Conrad and Lady Black: Dancing on the Edge was released. She stuck by her husband when he was convicted of fraud and served 6.5 years in prison form 2007-2012.

née Buck. Born November 21, 1921, Calgary Alberta. Died Toronto, Ontario March 2007. In 1940 she graduated from Teachers College. She taught in the rural schools of Alberta to earn money to put herself through the B.A. program at the University of Alberta in 1945. She moved to Toronto hoping to find work as a journalist. She started with menial jobs at the Toronto Star Weekly and as copywriter for Eaton’s Department Stores. In 1949 she decided that she wanted to write fiction and took off for Europe. She did however maintain Canadian ties by writing stories for Maclean’s magazine and Chatelaine Magazine. Returning to Canada in 1951 she worked at Chatelaine , beginning a 20 year career becoming in 1957 editor in Chief of the magazine. In 1957 she married David Anderson. The couple would have three children but the marriage ended in divorce in 1972. In 1974 Doris became a member of the Order of Canada, an award that was changed to Companion of the Order in 2002. She ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the House of Commons and accepted a position with the Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women. Her strong personality would eventually see her leave this position but not before pressure made sure that the new Constitution recognized women as equals!. She was the YWCA Woman of Distinction in 1982 and in 1991 she received the Governor’s General Persons Award in recognition for her promotion of the equality for girls and women in Canada. In 1993 she became Chancellor of the University of Prince Edward Island. In 1998 she was Chair of the Ontario Press Council. In 1984 she returned to her journalism roots working for the Toronto Star newspaper. Sources: Canadian Encyclopedia online Accessed July 2011: Doris Hilda Anderson by Jessica Bedaoui in Biographical Sketches of nine members of the Canadian Women’s Press Club . Ottawa, Media Club of Ottawa, 2011.  Pages 4-5.

Born August 17, 1936 Tesdale, Saskatchewan. Died February 27, 2012, Vancouver, British Columbia. At 15 she won a writing contest in which she was provided with a full scholarship at the Banff School of Fine Arts in Alberta. At 16 she won a National Newspaper Award. She was hooked. Journalism was to be her career. She worked at the Calgary, Albertan and the Herald, the Edmonton Journal newspapers in Alberta as well as the Winnipeg Tribune in Manitoba. While at the Tribune she met Fred Annesley, a fellow reporter. The couple married and had two children. She worked earning herself a daily column in the Toronto Telegram newspaper and later for McLean’s magazine In the early 1970’s she ran Information Services for TVOntario. She retired to Vancouver in 1983 still dappling with some freelance writing. Source: Loves Lived by Belle Laderoule and David Cobb, The Globe and Mail, October 26, 2012. Suggestion submitted by June Coxon, Ottawa, Ontario

née Scott. Born 1946. Died November 9, 2005, Nobleton, Ontario. Susan chaired the task force that resulted in the creation of Jump Canada, and established the Horse Sport Young Riders Scholarship Fund in 1998 to recognize the top Canadian performers at the annual North American Young Riders’ Championship in the three Olympic disciplines. An avid horsewoman, Susan Jane competed and judged hunters/jumpers, bred and raced Thoroughbreds, published Canada's leading horse magazines including Horse Sport, Horse-Canada and Canadian Thoroughbred, and was a lifelong member of The Toronto & North York Hunt. She made a significant contribution to horse sport both nationally and internationally, serving as a director of Jump Canada, chair of the Media Advisory Committee of the Federation Equestre International (FEI) and, for the last 12 years, President of the International Alliance of Equestrian Journalists. Equine Canada create the Susan Jane Anstey Media Award to an exceptional individual who has delivered outstanding media coverage which served to enhance the image of Canadian equine interests to the Canadian Public.  Source: Obituary In Memorium. November 11, 2005. Online. (accessed February 2016).

Born July 16, 1943, Montreal , Quebec. Sally earned her Bachelor of Education at McGill University, Montreal in 1966. In 2001 she would return to university to earn her Master’s at the University of Toronto. She started working as a physical education teacher but soon found herself involved in journalism where she became editor in chief for Homemakers magazine from 1988 through 1999. Along with numerous magazine articles she has published several books including Mila, the biography of Mila Mulroney, wife of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney in 1982. Her works have brought the political and cultural struggles of women around the world to her readers. She has highlighted strife of women in Bosnia, Somalia, Rwanda and Afghanistan. She has chronicled lives of women who have opposed efforts of the Taliban to subjugate women. Her writings have earned her the Amnesty International’s Media Award in both 200 and again in 2002. She has also produced award winning documentaries for the CBC spotlighting international struggles for women’s rights. She is a founder of WILLOW a resource for Breast Cancer in Canada. As well she serves on the Council of Advisors for the Canadian Women’s Foundation. She has been granted numerous honorary degrees from universities and in 1998 she was inducted into the Order of Canada. In 2002 she was UNICEF’s Special Representative to Afghanistan and in 2008 she received the Canadian Journalism Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. Source: ‘Sally Armstrong’ by Dana Schwab New Brunswick Literary Encyclopedia 2009. Online (Accessed May 2014)

Born October 2, 1905, Macoun, Saskatchewan. Died Saskatchewan September 29, 2002. After high school she began teaching but by 1930 she found herself working as a secretary at the Regina Leader-Post. Journalism was to be her career. In 1935 she took a grain ship to France and was  on tour in France when World War ii broke out. Her happenstance allowed her, as the only Canadian journalist on site,  to post articles for the Canadian Press. Between 1936 and 1941 when she was forced to flee Germany,  she became officially named Paris correspondent reporting firs hand on the European conflict. After she fled Europe she dedicated herself to the plight of France. She co-founded the Free the French Association in Canada and traveled throughout North America with her compassionate plea. In 1941, France asked her to return to report on post war life. Her work in France garnered her the order of Chevalier de a Légion d’Honeur, the highest distinction given by the grateful nation of France. In her 80’s her reports from France became the base for her  book: One Woman’s War. Returning to Canada after the War she was head of the Information Service of the French Embassy until retirement in 1971. She would become the subject of a History Television documentary called Eyewitness to War. In 1948 and 1949 she was elected as president of the Canadian Women’s Press Club. With her adventuresome spirit she never stopped looking for a good story. During her lifetime she visited and reported from 60 difference countries. She also  established an additional legacy of perpetual scholarships in French Language and Journalism at the University of Regina. Sources: Biographical Sketches of Nine members of the Canadian Women’s Press Club. Media Club of Ottawa, 2011 page 6. ; Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan online accessed July 2011. ; Gladys Arnold Eulogy October 2002. Online (accessed July 31, 2011).

This journalist was the wife of Olivar Joseph Francois Asselin, the founder and proprietor of the newspaper Le Nationaliste, of Montreal. She was a working reporter and correspondent for Le Nationaliste. In 1904 she was a member of a group of women journalists sponsored by the Canadian Pacific Railroad to travel and cover the St Louis World's Fair. It was during this train trip that the Canadian Women's Press Club was founded.

née Daye. Born February 4, 1906, Saint John, New Brunswick. Died January 21, 1999. She enjoyed writing even in public school. In grade 8 she wrote a story about a child in World War l and won a Saint John city wide prize for her work. In her 20’s her stories were published in the United Church Sunday School papers. She also wrote stories and plays for radio. In the late 1920’s and early 1930’s she worked at the New Brunswick Museum Archives. On June 22, 1937 she married Arthur Richard Ayling and  settled in Moncton, New Brunswick. The couple had two sons. After her marriage she wrote stories for the popular national publication the Family Herald and the Canadian Red Cross Junior Magazine.  Vera joined the Canadian Women’s Press Club in 1944 where she served numerous times as president of the New Brunswick Branch as well as serving on the National Executive several times. She was a feature writer for the Saint John Telegraph-Journal, a career that covered 65 years. McClelland and Stewart Publishers took note of her work and she began writing for their Canadian School Readers series where she had stories published as early as 1948. These school readers were used in schools for three decades. She also published Arrivals and Departures; American School Readers (Allyn & Bacon Inc., in 1957. Arrivals and departures: American School Readers (Allyn & Bacon Inc. , 1957). She is perhaps best remembered by the public work her stories about families, farm life and New Brunswick handcrafts which appeared in numerous national publications as well as H. Gordon Green’s book Canadian Handcrafts. Sources: Who’s Who in the Media Club of Canada. 1991. (s.l.; 1991) ; Vera Ayling Collections , New Brunswick Archives provided by Reference services, New Brunswick Archives September 2014.

SEE - Authors

Born December 29, 1967, Winnipeg, Manitoba. She earned her B.A. at Queens University, Kingston, Ontario. Her first job was as a reporter in Kenora, Ontario. From 1989 through 1992 she worked on the evening news in Edmonton, Alberta.  While in Calgary she was awarded two IRIS Awards. She moved to work in the U.S.A. and earned an Emmy as Best News Anchor when she worked in Dallas at KDFW TV. She also won the Texas Associated Press Award for best series “To Serve and Survive”. She is remembered for her live reporting for 8 days straight after 9/11. She married June 29, 2002 to Harold Gould and the couple have two sons.

Born Southern Ireland. Mary credits her time at boarding school with teaching her to be independent and also proving her with a high standard of conduct. She attended the National University of Ireland and then studied in France. Mary cultivated her writing shills as a teen when articles were published in the London Daily Express newspaper. She married James Baker of Sydney, Australia in 1942. The couple lived in various locations while becoming parents to four children. In 1954 they moved to Canada where Mary shortly after became a widow. She kept her family together by holding various jobs including buying and selling antiques. In 1964 and 1967 her writings won her the Senator Cairine Wilson Citizenship Trophy when she wrote of her home in Prince Edward Island. She was also editor of the Women’s Institute News from 1959-1963. In 1980 she had a weekly TV antiques show in PEI. Source: Outstanding women of Prince Edward Island Compiled by the Zonta Club of Charlottetown, 1981.

née Brow. Born 1914 (?) Died November 1988. She began a successful TV broadcasting career under the name of Laura Lindsay at CFRN TV in Edmonton. From 1955 though 1968 she had her own show on homemaking. The show was live and unrehearsed and after the show she washed the dishes and cleaned up the set by herself! In 1964 she published a book, Laura’s Recipes that sold 30,000 copies.

Born September 26, 1904, Ottawa, Ontario. Died November 24, 1965, Montreal, Quebec. In 1929 Marcelle founded a dramatic society called La Rampe in Ottawa where she preformed for almost 10 years. In 1933 she began working at radio C K C H in Hull, across the river from Ottawa. Here she had a weekly programme Pour Vous Mesdames using the pseudonym 'Francoise'. She was the 1st bilingual woman hired by this radio station. Prior to World War 11 she travelled to Europe to study other national radio stations. There is a park in Montreal named in her honour and a street in Gatineau, Quebec also has been named in her honour. By 1938 she became the 1st bilingual female hired by the CBC Radio. She covered the Royal visit of the King and Queen in 1939 and a second royal visit in 1951 of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip.

Born February 26, 1863, L’isle-Verte, Lower Canada. Died January 7, 1910. A well known personality in Montreal society she was a pioneer feminist lecturer and writer. She is considered the first woman journalist in French Canada. She joined the staff of the weekly newspaper La Patrie in 1891. Here column was written for almost then years under the nom de plume of 'Francoise'. She would go on in her career to found Le Journal d Francoise, published from 1902-1909 . She also would publish books of her short stories. In 1900 she was one of the Canadian government representatives to the famous Paris International Exhibition. In 1904 the government of France named her as an “Officer de l’Acaémie” She was part of the group of Canadian women Journalists who were sponsored to go to the St Louis World's Fair in 1904 and during the trip they established the Canadian Women's Press Club, with herself being elected at Vice President.

née Hogg. Born 1879, Guelph, Ontario. Died 1963. Gertrude married Arthur Balmer Watt in 1900. She began her journalism career with the Woodstock Sentinel-Review where she used the byline “Peggy”. The young couple moved to Alberta in 1905. Arthur was a newspaper editor who worked with various Edmonton newspapers including the Edmonton Journal. They were stanch supporters of women’s rights and her articles on life of western women were published in various Canadian newspapers including the Globe and Mail in Toronto. In 1904 she was among a group of lady journalists who were sponsored by the Canadian Pacific Railway to travel and cover the St Louis World's Fair. It was during this train trip that the Canadian Women's Press Club was founded. After the St Louis World’s Fair she would establish the Edmonton Chapter of the Canadian Women's Press Club and along with her continued newspaper columns would write several books on women and life in the Canadian west.

née Macdonald. Born August 23, 1939, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Isabel earned her BA from Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario and went on to earn a Master's degree from York University, Toronto, Ontario in 1973.  Earning her Teacher Diploma she taught French and English at Humberside Collegiate Institute, Toronto, Ontario. In the 1960's she became a journalist for the Toronto Telegram and later joined CTV as a reporter and documentary producer. She married John Bassett (1915-1998) on July 17, 1967. In 1993 she ran unsuccessfully for the House of Commons. In 1995 she was elected in the Ontario Provincial election. In 1997 she was appointed Ontario Minister of Citizenship, Culture and Recreation. She did not win in the 1999 Ontario Provincial election and from 1999 through 2005 she was the chair and CEO of TVOntario, Ontario's provincial public television network. There was some controversy with Isabel working at TVO as she was in a common law relationship with Ernie Eves then Premier of Ontario. In 2016 she was inducted into the Order of Ontario  and in June of that year she became a Member of the Order of Canada.

née Tarbox. Born 1870, Hamilton, Ontario. Died May 30 1942, New York City, New York, U.S.A. At 18 Jessie left Canada to teach in Williamsburg, Massacheutts, U.S.A. where she settled for ten years. in 1897 she married Alfred Beals and in 1902  the couple worked as itinerate photographers with Jessie taking the photographs and Alfred processing the photos in the dark room. When some of her photographs were published in a Vermont newspaper she earned the title as 1st woman photo journalist in North America. She is perhaps best known for her work at the 1904 World's Fair in St Louis, Missouri and as the official photographer of Greenwich Village in New York City. The couple settled in New York City in 1905. By 1917 they were divorces but Jessie carried on with her profession and bringing up their daughter. She took photographs of the homes and gardens of the wealthy which were published in garden magazines. She struggled during the Great Depression and died in poverty. (2019)

Born 1910, Minto Township, Wellington County, Ontario. Died 1993. As a young lady she too a secretarial course in Toronto, Ontario. She married Clarence Diamond and later married Ellworth Bean. From 1977 to 1980 she was President of the Ontario Federated Women’s Institutes. She too leadership roles in conference of the Associated Country Women of the World. She was an active member of the Waterloo Farm and Home Safety Council, the Wilmot Agricultural Society, the Wilmot Horticultural Society and the Waterloo Historical Society. She was the Haysville correspondent for the Kitchener – Waterloo Record for 30 years and had a radio career with C F R B in Toronto. In 1990 she was the Wilmot Citizen of the year. She was also presented with the Queen’s Jubilee Medal. Source: Waterloo Regional Hall of Fame. Online (Accessed July 2014)

Born March 19, 1952, Toronto, Ontario. In 1968 she commenced her acting career on CBC Television in a sitcom. She entered studies at York University, Toronto, Ontario and then went to Paris, France to study mime. Back in Canada she worked for CBC Radio in St John’s, Newfoundland. By 1978 she was producing daily lifestyle and entertainment features for CHUM 1050 Radio, Toronto. In 1979 she launched the NewMusic for CityTV and also became an entertainment reporter for CityPulse. In 1986 to 1998 she was married to Toronto radio personality Bob Magee. The couple had two daughters. In 1995 she instigated @Fashion, the internet’s 1st ever fashion website for American communications giant MCI. Until 2012 she hosted Fashion Television and acted as a segment producer. From 2003-09 she was editor-in-chief of FQ Magazine and Sir. 2012 – 2014 she hosted fashion and entertainment segments for Bell Media. She is also an accomplished print journalist with articles written for the Toronto Star, and the Globe and Mail. In 2010 she released a clothing line: Edit by Jeanne Beker followed in 2013 with a line of footwear with The Shoe Company. In 2015 she started a weekly live television program Style Matters with Jeanne Beker for the Shopping Channel. She ahs also authored 5 fashion advice books. In 2013 she received the Special Academy Achievement Award form the Canadian Academy of Cinema and Television and she became a Member of the Order of Canada.

Born Regina, Saskatchewan. After high school she earned her B.A. at the University of Manitoba. She also too additional schooling in Radio and Television Arts at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute , Toronto, Ontario where she received the silver medal as outstanding female graduate. She began her career as a journalist and was the CBC’s 1st female announcer for radio and television, the 1st Saskatchewan producer of musical variety on CBC Television, Canada’s 1st female jazz disc jockey, and a actress in the first live drama on Saskatchewan’s CKCK television. Off the job she became the first certified baton-twirling judge in western Canada, and -coordinated the first musical theater program at the Saskatchewan Summer School of the Arts. She is the founder of the Saskatchewan Roughrider Cheerleaders squad in 1960 and remained as director though to 1977. As part of Canada’s 1967 Centennial Carol initiated the Saskatchewan Express, a touring show with Saskatchewan performers. This program would hatch the Saskatchewan Talent Program in the performing arts. She and her husband Vern worked full time with the troupe to Celebrate Saskatchewan’s 75th Anniversary as a province. She has been recognized for her efforts in 1985 as the YWCA Woman of the Year, professional category), 1986 she won the Larry Schneider Communications and Leadership Award a, in 1997 she received the Saskatchewan Order of Merit and in October 2008 she was invested as a Member of the Order of Canada. Source: City of Regina. History. Online. (Accessed January 2012.) ; Order of Canada Online (Accessed January 2012)

Miss Lou

Born September 7, 1919, Kingston, Jamaica. Died July 31, 2006. She was one of the first Black women broadcasters in the 1940’s. While still as student at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, England, she hosted a radio show called Caribbean Carnival. After she emigrated to Toronto she used her knowledge of her culture, the stories and songs, sa a basis for her radio shows which included ‘Laugh with Louise’, ‘Miss Lou’s Views’ and  educated Jamaican immigrant children with her TV show ‘Ring Ding’. She married Eric ’Chalktalk’ Coverley and they had a son and many ‘adopted’ children. Miss Lou as she was known, had been made a member of the Order of the British Empire and had received an honorary doctorate from York University, Toronto and another from the University of the West Indies. She died the night she was to be presented with the 2006 Jamaica Independence Award Hall of Fame from the West Indian American Association of New Jersey. Source: Miss Lou, 86: Bedrock of Canadian culture by Philip Mascoll, The Toronto Starr, August 1, 2006.

 Born May 21, 1884, Streetsville, Ontario. Died October 5, 1951, Winnipeg, Manitoba. In 1879 her family relocated to farm in Manitoba. She earned her teacher's certificate and taught near Carman, Manitoba. In 1909 she and her sister, Lilian Beynon Thomas (1871-1961), moved to Winnipeg where she worked for the T. Eaton Company. From 1912 for five years she was the editor of the women's page of the Grain Growers Guide, an influential Prairie magazine. Using the pen name 'Dixie Patton' she also wrote for the children's pages.  A journalist, feminist, and social reformer she was a determined individual who wrote of votes for women, marriage and family structure. She was a pacifist and resigned her position at the Grain Growers Guide over views on World War I. She and her sister helped to found the Quill Club and the Winnipeg Branch of the Canadian Womens Press Club that had been founded in 1904. She stood up for women's suffrage and was one of the organizers of the Manitoba Political Equality League. She felt that women should stand on their own feet and that both husband and wife should share responsibility for success. In 1917 she moved to New York City, U.S.A. In 1919 she published a semi-autobiographical novel, Aleta Day. In New York she and her sister worked at the Seamen's Church Institute, an Episcopalian Mission for sailors.  1922-1925 she was the editor of the mission's publication The Lookout. She used the pen name Ginty Beynon over the next 25 years writing as a freelance journalist. She returned to Canada in 1951 just shortly before her death.

National Historic Person

née Miles.  Born 1820, Rhode Island, U.S.A. Died 1877, Brooklin, New York, U.S.A. . Mary was born a free Black Quaker and was privileged to be educated , graduating from Normal School (Teacher’s College) in Lexington, Massachusetts. She was one of the first Black women teachers in North America. In 1847 she met her future husband Henry Bibb ( d. 1854) who was an escaped slave, at an anti-slave rally in New York City. The couple were wed a year latter and settled in Boston. In 1850 the couple fled to Canada after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law which could have caused Henry to be re-enslaved. Settling in Sandwich, Canada West (now known as Windsor, Ontario) the couple played a key role in the famous Underground Railroad that helped escaped slaves settle in Canada. The co-published the newspaper The Fugitive Voice beginning in 1851. Mary is credited with being the first Black woman journalist in Canada. Later her sister-in-law Mary Shadd Cary would become the first Black woman publisher of a newspaper. Mary Bibb also operated a dress making business and taught both adult Black and their children in a class in her own home. She fought for Black schooling in the area for several years. After Henry’s death she carried on until 1871 when she returned to the USA. She and Henry were declared Persons of National Historic Significance by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada in 2002. Sources: Section15.ca ; Merna Forster 100 more Canadian Heroines; Famous and Forgotten Faces (Toronto; Dundurn Press, 2011. )

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Born March 27, 1942. Died Winnipeg, Manitoba  March  23, 2009. Arlene lived in New York City for a short time and had good memories of working on the political campaign of John F. Kennedy. Returning to Canada, she earned her degree in economics and political Science at the University of Manitoba. She joined the staff of the Winnipeg Free Press in 1964, working in the women’s section. She left the newspaper when complaints of inequality of pay with male reporters were ignored. She travelled in Europe a few months only to return to a job at the newspaper which met her demands.  From  1970 through 1994  she was the well respected legislative reporter, writing the column Under the Dome.  She was also known as a supporter and mentor for young reporters. She enjoyed being a participant , even after her retirement, in the “Beer and Skits” political satire productions at the Winnipeg Press Club.  She received the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002. Sources: Lives Lived, Globe and Mail July 20, 2009: Memorable Manitobans, Online (Accessed December 2011)

Born April 25, 1871, Dorset, England. Died London, England April 22, 1947. A journalist perhaps in search of a story, she decided to  came to visit her brother’s farm in Saskatchewan and fell in love with the area. She also felt that she would be a better farmer than her brother. In 1905 she purchased land in the Qu’Appelle Valley in Southern Saskatchewan. As a woman she was not eligible to apply for or receive the free land offered in Western Canada. She sold her grain in the open market and was a critic of privately controlled grain-marketing systems.  She would go to Ottawa in 1908 and protest for equality for women farmers. It was not until 1930 when the federal government handed land control over to the prairie provinces would single women farmers get their demands. Meanwhile in 1910,  Georgina opened her farm to train other single women wishing to learn farming. She also continued her writings and left behind a rich detailed account of social life and daily farm life in the settlement of the Canadian prairies. During World War l, the British Government appointed Georgina and 6others to train women to work the land. Her own personal war effort was a children’s book from which proceeds were used to help wounded solders and their horses. She began ladies dress making business in London to stabilize her finances while still managing her Canadian Farm. Her ashes were spread on her lands in Saskatchewan. Source: 100 more Canadian Heroines by Merna Forster (Dundurn 2011)

SEE - Authors

SEE - Authors

Born January 18, 1941, Montreal, Quebec. In 1971 Denise obtained her Master’s from the Université de Montreal and in 1974 she earned a PhD from the Sorbonne, France. She worked as a research assistance with the Radio-Canada television program Aujourd’hui and went on to host a number of programs in the 1980’s and 1990’s. Noir sur blanc was the 1st public affairs program to be hosted by a women in Quebec. She was also a prolific writer of articles for the press including Le Monde, Le Devoir, L’Express de Toronto, Chatelaine, Le Point and L’Actualité as well as the international press. In 1993 she became a Knight in the French Legion d’honneur. In 2000 she was made a Knight of the National Order of Quebec. In 2007 she wrote the song LaDiva for Céline Dion and published a book about Dion, L’enigmatique Céline Dion published in 2009. In 2015 she was inducted as a Member of the Order of Canada. (2019)

née Springer. Born April 29, 1875, Moodyville, British Columbia. Died February 2, 1953, Vancouver, British Columbia. She was the first white child born on Burrard Inlet. After her marriage dissolved she ran a school with her sister, Eva in the 1890’s. She next took up journalist, a career she embraced for 30 years. She wrote for the women’s pages of the Vancouver Sun newspaper. During the 1930 and 1940’s the apartment of Mabel and Eva was renowned among the social elite. Source:  Whos Who (accessed June 2009)

Born 1952, Toronto, Ontario. She studied at the University of Guelph which is a little ironic. Guelph is known more as an agricultural school than for the arts and she lives on a sheep farm and is listed in the Canadian Who’s Who as a shepherd and an author. A successful journalist she combined her love of history and humour in her works. She won the Leacock Award for humorous writing in 1996. She has done regular columns in Maclean’s Magazine, and written CBC productions. She writes anecdotal Canadian history books which began with Just a Minute: Glimpses of Our Great Canadian Heritage (Toronto : McArthur & Co., 1994) In 1998 she was the YWCA Woman of Distinction.

SEE - Authors

SEE - Authors

Born March 10, 1935, St. Adéle, Quebec. Died April 2, 2006. After high school Suzy attended business college in St. Jerome, Quebec. In 1950 St. Jerome radio hired her and by 20 she was writing newspaper columns as well as hosting 2 radio shows along with handling Public Relations for the radio stations. She began taking  Public Relations and marketing course at McGill University, Montreal. She travelled internationally to cover newsworthy event.. She tried taking modeling classes and moved to New York City to appear in Television commercials. By the 1960’s she had purchased an old lodge in the Laurentian Mountains and turned it into an art gallery. She met and married a radio station owner, Gordon Burnett and the couple settled in St. Catherines, Ontario. Once their daughter was in school , Suzy became involved with the production of a French language radio show which she produced in her own home studio. The Ontario Ministry of Culture picked up the show for stations across the province. She became the French culture expert for the CBC production of Morningside. By 1980 she used her avocation for art to raise awareness of First Nation’s issues with her new company Kakekalanicks Inc. She served as a Board member for TV Ontario, the educational public television. 1987 Rochon-Burnett was presented with an eagle feather in recognition of her efforts to save a totem pole carved by Squamish carver Chief Mathias Joe and in 2001 she received a Meritorious Service Award in recognition of her contributions to Native Friendship Centres in Ontario.  In 1995 she purchased a country music radio station in Welland, Ontario becoming the 1st Aboriginal person in Canada to own a private commercial radio station. She has received an Eagle Feather, Canada’s highest First Nations honour, A Woman of Distinction Award, the Governor’s General Confederacy Medal, the Order of Ontario. She is the 1st woman inducted into the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business Hall of fame. Source: Great women from our First Nations by Kelly Fournel (Second Story Press, 2007)

née Naim Born March 26, 1929, Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.A. Died July 21, 2014 Edmonton, Alberta. When her parents separated she grew up in Greenfield, Nova Scotia with her mother’s family before settling in Ottawa. As a student at the University of Toronto she wrote for the school’s Communist newspaper. Dropping out of school she followed Ted Byfield to Timmins, Ontario and worked Press. The newspaper would only hire her if she was married so she and Ted married. Relocation to Ottawa she worked at the Ottawa Journal On the move again the couple relocated to Alberta where she worked on the Alberta Report Magazine and the Winnipeg Free Press newspaper. In Selkirk, Manitoba the couple founded the Company of the Cross, a lay order of the Anglican Church of Canada. They opened in 1957 the St John’s Boys School In 1968 they worked on a newsletter, St John’s Edmonton Report . They trained numerous young journalists and their home was often a bunkhouse for their students. Their final joint project was the editing of a 12 volume history of Christianity. Source: Peter Shawn Taylor, Formidable Editor Left and Indelible Mark , Toronto Globe and Mail August 2, 2014. Suggestion submitted by June Coxon, Ottawa, Ontario

SEE - Social Activists.

Born March 26, 1930, Toronto, Ontario . Died November 3, 2011, Toronto, Ontario.  She had no love of formal schooling and dropped out of high school to work at various jobs. She found her niche when she began reporting for the Kitchener-Waterloo Record newspaper. In her twenties she met fellow writer Clayton Derstine. The couple would marry with the birth of their only child in 1965. In the early 1960’s the couple made the move to Toronto after she had won the Judy Award for promoting Canadian Fashion. She wrote for the Globe and Mail and included interesting highlights of what workings behind the fashion world. Her first national byline appeared in the Globe and Mail November 14, 1962. In 1981 she was named Woman of the Year by Fashion Canada. Her work allowed her to jet off to world fashion capitals but her pay was not large for the results provided. A succinct reporter she came to the point directly. She did not write after her retirement. Source: Fashion writer had a healthy perspective…by Susan Ferrier Mackay, Globe and Mail January 10 2012. Suggestion submitted by June Coxon, Ottawa, Ontario.

née Taylor. Born January 15, 1927, Montreal, Quebec. Died September 9, 2017, Montreal, Quebec. Gretta learned at an early age from her family about family commitment and community service. While still in her mid- teens she studied Political Science at McGill University, Montreal graduating in 1947. In January 1951 she married Edgar Chambers and the couple had five children. She became a political wife in 1958 when her husband was elected to the Quebec provincial legislature. She worked at this time as a translator and researcher and later worked as a front-line journalist, public-affairs analyst and a broadcast commentator. From 1964 thought 1978 she had a weekly radio programme called the Province in Print. From 1977-1980 she hosted a weekly CTV program called The Editors. It was in 1977 that she began her 25 years as a columnist for The Gazette newspaper. A convince federalist she was a major spokesperson for the English community at a time when separation was a hot topic. She served on numerous boards and committees including in 1978 to 1988 sitting on the McGill Board of Governors. In 1991 she was invested as the 1st woman chancellor of McGill University. She was an Officer of the Order National du Quebec in 1993 and in 2000 she became a Companion of the Order of Canada.

Born February 25, 1888, Campbellville, Ontario. Died August 28, 1976, Toronto, Ontario. In 1905 Ethel attended the Milton Model School after completing her high school. In 1909/10 she attended Normal School in Hamilton, Ontario to earn her teacher’s certificate. In 1912 she earned her Domestic Sciences Teacher’s Certificate from Macdonald Institute, Guelph, Ontario. After graduating she worked at the Women’s Institute Branch of the Ontario Department of Agriculture from 1927- 1952. She was a contributor and editor for the publication Food for the Family and editor of the ‘Home’ section of Farmer’s Magazine. In 1952 she became editor of Home and Country magazine for the Ontario Women’s Institute. She also wrote novels, short stories and essays. In 1974 she received the Ontario Agriculture Centennial Medal. In 1980 she was inducted into the Ontario Agricultural Hall of Fame.
Source: Obituary, Toronto Star, August 30, 1976 Page A 6

Born 1955. Died December 10, 2013, Ottawa, Ontario. Leigh Anne began working in news broadcasting in Pembroke, Ontario. The town is situated in the Ottawa valley and she was soon noticed by one of the workers at CTV in Ottawa. She began working as secretary to Max Keeping, a well known broadcaster at CJOH television, with the understanding that when a job in broadcasting opened up she would apply. She worked on the television program Regional Contact, providing stories from the Ottawa Valley that would be on interest to her Ottawa viewers. Then she became anchor for the late night news on CTV Ottawa. She worked at this job with true dedication for three decades becoming a familiar and welcome face to her viewers. She was also known for being the master of ceremonies, host or a guest auctioneer at local charities throughout the Valley. She helped the next generation come into the profession when she taught at Algonquin College. She was honest and forthright about such things as her struggle with weight but his showed that broadcasters need not all be slim like a career model.  Leigh Anne retired after 36 years on Ottawa television On May 4, 2012. Source: Obituary Ottawa Citizen, December 14, 2013. Suggestion submitted by Leah Monroe, Timmins, Ontario

Born January 15, 1916, Birmingham, England. Died Winnipeg, Manitoba October 30, 2010.  As a child she immigrated to Manitoba with her family, and settled in the Sturgeon Creek area of St. James. On  October 24, 1936, she married Thomas P. Chester. After the birth of their three children, she began writing professionally in the mid-1950s. Her career in journalism began as the Charleswood correspondent for the St. James Leader. By 1965, she was Editor of the St. James Assiniboia News. She was later Editor-In-Chief of several weekly community newspapers, including Metro One, The Lance, The Herald, The Times and Thompson Times. As a volunteer  she was also a founding member of the Charleswood Historical Society and the Charleswood Sketch Club.  She was a member of the St. James Chamber of Commerce, The St. James Business and Professional Women’s Association and other local and political organizations. In 1997, she wrote a book on the history of St. Mary’s Anglican Church in celebration of its 75th anniversary. Sources: Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 6 November 2010 : Memorable Manitobans Online (accessed November 2012)

SEE - Social Activists

She studied for her Bachelor of Arts at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario and earned her M.A. at the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario. She also took additional personal interest courses in California. She worked as a Director of Communications in the Canadian Government.  She worked as a broadcast journalist for the CBC in Toronto and Calgary. A linguist, she speaks English, Italian and French. She has traveled and loves international cuisine. She is married and has two children. In 1988 she earned the Award of Distinction in Broadcasting for her work with the Calgary winter Olympic Games. In 2001 she published her book Take the step, the Bridge will be there (Harper Collins). In 2003 she was the cover story for Women with Vision magazine. She provides help and guidance through workshops and retreats around the world. She is the founder and President of Grace Cirocco Inc. training and coaching company. In 2004 she founded the Goddess Club, a monthly workshop and therapy group in Oakville, Ontario. Source: Grace Cirocco, Biography (accessed 2007); Interview with and inspiring woman by Penny in Discovering She May 14, 2011. Online (accessed December 2011. Suggestion submitted by Joan Lowry.

SEE - Politicians and Civil Servants.

Born 1912?, Marbeton, Quebec. Died, 1983, Ottawa, Ontario. By 1908 Bettie was a working reporter with the Sherbrooke Record. She worked on the Women’s Pages. By 1941 she had relocated to Ottawa and until 1952 she worked with the Ottawa Citizen newspaper. Written on her grave stone is the sentence” 1st girl journalist on men’s general staff of the Ottawa Citizen.” While working as a journalist she lived with fellow journalist Rosa L. Shaw (1895-1981). In 1952 she switched professions working as a landscaper in Orleans, just outside of Ottawa, retaining in 1982. Source: “Section B, Range 6, Graves 20A & 25” by Marci Surkes, “Stories from the Grave”, Ottawa Citizen September 28, 2004.

Born 1864, Galway, Ireland. Died 1915. After the death of her first husband, Kit immigrated to Canada in 1884. She turned to journalism to support herself and her two children after the death of her second husband. Boarding a boat in Florida she landed in Cuba as the world’s first woman war correspondent in 1898 during the Spanish American War. She would work with the Toronto Mail newspaper until she retired. Her full page column not only discussed fashion but reported in her personal outspoken manner all the top topics of the day. She was part of the group of Canadian women Journalists who were sponsored to go to the St Louis World's Fair in 1904 and during the trip they established the Canadian Women's Press Club, with Kit as the first president.

née Barrett. Born May 7, 1933, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Died June 22, 2015, East Berlin, Nova Scotia. Arlene worked as several professions such as a teenage fashion photographer, an antique dealer and a cattle farmer but it was her passion for writing that would last the longest. In 1958 she married Clarence H. Corkum and the couple had three sons.  and Her written works appeared in publications from the Halifax Herald Ltd., Cameron Publications, Transcontinental Media and Graphic Advocate Publications. She writings appeared in the Queens County Advance and the Selbourne Coast Guard. In the 1970’s she began a weekly column for the Advance o in Liverpool, Nova Scotia. She also wrote short stories and poetry winning the 1st Joseph How Festival Award in 1975. In 1976 she began working on television producing and hosting shows viewed locally and internationally. She was the founder and 1st president of the South Shore Literary Club, past national Vice-president of the Media Club of Canada (formerly the Canadian Women’s Press Club), a founding member of the Writers Federation of Nova Scotia, the Nova Scotia’s Writer’s Council board member,  and member of the International Association of women. She also served as president of the Queens County Historical Society, Milton Heritage Society and served on the Board of Directors and/or edited numerous newsletters within these organizations. In 1991 she received a Nova Scotia Government Environment Citation, the Media Club of Canada National Press Award.  In 1992 she received the Governor Generals Medal for historical writing. She also received the Canada 125 National Volunteer plaque in 1992. She also won a Children’s Aid Society First Certification of Appreciation for Foster Care. Source: Canadian Women of Note, Canadian Womens Press Club, 1994.

Born April 11, 1901, Leeds County, Ontario. Thelma earned her BA at Queens University, Kingston, Ontario and then attended the Ontario College of Education, Toronto. She be began a career in teaching having taught for 5 years in Western Ontario. She decided to be a journalist and worked as a staff writer for the Mail & Empire newspaper, Toronto. She was one of the top ten Ace reporters, and the only woman to cover the 1939 Royal visit to Canada by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. During world War 11 she was one of the members of the Canadian Women’s Press Club who would serve the government. Source: Canadian Women of Note, Canadian Women’s Press Club,  York University, 1994. 

Born August 11, 1909 London, Ontario. Died May 4, 1983. By 1933 she had earned her BA from the University of Western Ontario in London. She became a member of the newsroom staff of the London Free Press. From 1941 through 1974 she was a reporter. She was a critic of music art and cultural events. She maintained a weekly column and a digest of French Canadian editorial opinion that appeared in daily and weekly French language newspapers in both Ontario and Quebec. She was in the London Bureau of the Windsor Star newspaper and was the first woman reporter in the Windsor Star newsroom..

née Murphy. Born July 20, 1903, Ashcroft, British Columbia. Died September 13, 1982. She earned her BA at the University of British Columbia and in 1924 she received her MA from the University of Toronto. From 1924 through 1945 she lectured in English literature at both the University of British Columbia and the University of Toronto. She served 9 years on the Senate at the University of British Columbia. From 1945 through 1968 she was a full time free lance script writer and broadcaster with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) radio and television.
Source: Canadian Women of Note. Media Club of Canada. (Toronto: York University, 1994) no. 184 page 202.

née Short. Born May 11, 1851, Port Hope, Canada West (now Ontario). Died November 1, 1930 Toronto, Ontario. Emily attended Mrs. Lucy Simpson's Seminary for Young Ladies in Montreal. September 27, 1871 she married Willoughby Cummings of Toronto. The couple had one daughter. Emily began her working career as a journalist, working from 1893 through 1903 on the editorial staff of the Toronto Globe. In 1888 she attended the founding International Council of Women in Washington D.C., U.S.A. In 1890 she represented the Mission Society of the Church of England touring Indian reservations in British Columbia, Manitoba and the Northwest Territories. She wrote of her visits to the reservations in the Canadian Church Magazine and Mission News. In 1893 she was a special correspondent for the Globe and the Manitoba Morning Free Press of Winnipeg for the International Council of Women meeting in Chicago. That same year she assisted Lady Aberdeen (1857-1939) in founding the National Council of Women.  From 1894 through 1910 she was the corresponding secretary of t the National Council of Women. She also served on the Ladies Committee of the Toronto Industrial Exhibition (now the Canadian National Exhibition  C. N. E. ) when it began in 1901. April 1, 1910 the Canadian government appointed her to a paying position in the Department of Trade and Commerce.  In 1910 she received the honorary degree of D. C .L. from King's College, Windsor and became the first woman to receive an honorary degree from a Canadian University. She was a member of the British Society of Women Journalists and after World War l she joined the Canadian Women's Press Club.

As a school girl, she won a prize in a writing competition run by the London Advertiser and she became a contributor to the newspaper. In 1904 she was a member of a group of women journalists sponsored by the Canadian Pacific Railroad to travel and cover the St Louis World's Fair. It was during the train trip that she participated in the founding of the Canadian Women's Press Club. She would marry Elfred Archibald of Montreal where she joined the staff of the Montreal Star, using Margaret Currie as her byline.

Born September 5, 1959, Brockville, Ontario. Her love of sports was evident during her years as a student at Thousand islands Secondary School where she participated in basketball provincial championships for Ontario. While at the University of Oklahoma in the USA she was twice named “Big 12” basketball player of the year. She was the highest Canadian ever drafted by the Woman's National Basketball Association where she played for the Washington Mystics. She retired from the court in 2004. In 2002 she bean working for ESPN as a studio sports analyst and has expanded her sports coverage since then. In 2004 USA Today named her Rookie analyst of the year, and in 2004 she has been named “Best new face”.

Born c1785. Died June 14, 1859. Married to Thomas Dalton in 1805 the family attempted to establish themselves in business in Newfoundland before moving to Kingston, Upper Canada in 1817. Again, the family attempted several businesses before establishing a newspaper , The Patriot and Farmers Monitor , November 12, 1829. The family decided to move the newspaper to York, now Toronto, in 1832 as The Patriot. . It is said that Sophia would edit her husband’s writings to avoid any legal issues. When Thomas died in 1840, Sophia took over the paper, becoming the first woman publisher of a Toronto newspaper, a position she maintained until the paper was sold in 1848. Dalton Road in Toronto is named in honour of the family.

nee Marchand.  Born 1862, St John, New Brunswick. Died 1925. Like most early women writers she would use a pen name to sign her writing. She was known as Josette. A strong feminist she championed the role of women in Quebec society. In 1892 she founded le coin de feu which was the first women’s literary review in Canada. She was also a strong orator and was often called the female Laurier. Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier.  In 1898 she was the first Canadian woman to be made an officer of the French Academy in France. In 1900 she was the government appointed Canadian Commissioner to the famous Paris Exhibition. In 1901 in her work, Two systems of art, she proposed government provide funding for the arts. This was a full 50 years before the Canada Council of the Arts.

See - Mary Adelaide Dawson Snider

Born 1905. Died December 19, 1988. She followed her father’s advice and took up teaching as a respectable profession. It lasted 8 weeks, spent in a one room school in Four Corners Alberta! Her first marriage to Sid Richardson lasted 6 months in the fall of 1923. Not succeeding at the acceptable she followed her desires and landed a job on a newspaper. With no male reporters available the editor of the Edmonton Journal sent Dempsey off to collect a story and interview Charlotte Whitton, the newly appointed Director of the Canadian Welfare Council. Seeing that the new reporter was very nervous Whitton proceeded to provide the questions and the answers for the interview. Lotta was on her way to a remarkable career. She moved to the Edmonton Bulletin and from there to Toronto in 1935 where she landed a job with Chatelaine Magazine. Her writings were written with “Gusto’ under several pseudonyms including a more acceptable feature writing name of Jack Armstrong. In December 1936 she married Architect Richard Fisher and by 1938 she was a working mother with a new son. In the 40’s she worked for the War Time Prices Board and in the CBC Newsroom. In 1944 she was back at Chatelaine. She missed the daily bustle of newspapers and soon was working for the Globe and Mail moving in 1953 began a long career as columnist and editor at the Toronto Star. She as known for her large hats , big purses , smoking cigarettes in a long holder. Her hardy laughter no doubt helped her survive the discriminating world of male journalism. She won the Canadian Women’s Press Club Member’s Award in 1948, 1967 and 1976. In 1975 she was named to the News Hall of Fame. She was also a founder of the Voice of Women for Peace in 1960. Her auto biography No life for a lady was published in 1976. She retired from the Star in 1981. Source: Driving Miss Dempsey by Ryan Jennings the Ryerson Review of Journalism. Spring, 1999. Additional reading: Lotta Dempsey: the Lady was a star by Carolyn Davis Fisher (Toronto, Belsten Publishers, 1995)

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née Sandys. Born 1854(?) Chatham, Ontario. Died February 1, 1914, Toronto, Ontario. As a young girl she attended Hellmuth College in London, Ontario. She is considered Canada’s 1st female travel writer. In 1890 she published A Happy Holiday, a picture storybook, in 1890.  She worked as a journalist and society editor for Saturday Night Magazine for 23 years using the pen name ‘Lady Gay’. It is said that she made an unhappy marriage. In 1904 she was the oldest member of a group of 16 journalists who traveled to the St, Louis World’s Fair on behalf of the Canadian Pacific Railroad. On the train trip returning to Canada the women formed the Canadian Women's Press Club, however Grace Elizabeth Dennison did not become a member of the club. She also published The Canadian Family Cook Book a volume of tried, tested and proven recipes which ran in several editions from 1912 through 1939’s. Source: Linda Kay, Sweet Sixteen: the journey that inspired the Canadian Women’s Press Club, 2012.

née Merrill. Born February 20(?) 1867 North Hastings County, Canada West (now Ontario). Died May 23, 1921, Toronto, Ontario. In order to support her love and desire for writing she ran a successful dressmaking business in Toronto. She married a travelling salesman and the couple had one son. The marriage was however short lived and only strengthened Flora’s belief in divorce and free love. As a young woman working as a costumer for the Robert Simpson company in Toronto  she witnessed firsthand the horrible conditions of the city’s sweat shops, and vowed to do what she could to change the lives of the women who worked in them. In 1903 she was introduced to the suffragist movement by Dr. Elizabeth Stowe, the first woman to practice medicine in Canada. In 1906, Flora attended the Copenhagen Conference as a delegate of the Dominion Women’s Enfranchisement Association, and in 1911- 1914 she was the president of the Canadian Suffragist Association. She worked tirelessly with others to organize “monster rallies” and send dozens of petitions to members of the legislature to improve the plight of women and get them the vote. She resigned her position due to her support for the more militant English suffragettes. Her strong life views were expressed in her regular column in the Toronto Sunday World, 1909-1913. During WWI she was a active and strong supporter of the Whitmanite movement which was a social and spiritual movement based on the works of Walt Whitman. In 1916 she published the Whitmanite magazine entitled The Sunset of Bon Echo from 1916-1920. Later she became a theosophist and in just before her deaths she participated in the Theosophist Social Reconstruction League. Source: The Canadian Encyclopedia, on line (accessed March 2006)

Journalist & photographer

Born 1881, Truro, Nova Scotia. Died February 16,1958. As a child her family moved to Halifax where her publisher father provided the town with its two major newspapers. In 1912 he was appointed to the Senate of Canada. Clara attended both Mount Allison University, Sackville and Dalhousie University, Halifax. She finished her studies with courses in stenography and typing and the Halifax Business College so that she might pursue appropriate employment for a young woman of her era. After a trip overseas she had a great desire to tour her home province. She took alone her camera to provide images of her travels. She would produce three major books of trips in Nova Scotia that would be published by Ryerson Press. Her home province travel writings also appeared in newspapers and magazines across the country informing all of Canada of the beauties of Nova Scotia. In 1939 she composed the provincial chapter on a souvenir booked produced for the King and Queen’s Royal Tour . She had a keen eye for photography and a charming writing style that left a descriptive legacy of her beloved home. Her photographs showed people. Nature. Places and architecture including lighthouses and even Cabbage houses on Tancook Island. Her promotion of the province was her passion which was recognized with and honourary doctor of Literature from Mount Allison University and a life membership in the Nova Scotia Branch of the Canadian Women’s Press Club. Her legacy of thousand of images is preserved in the Nova Scotia Archives.  Source: Clara Dennis: tours Nova Scotia - Biographical Sketch. Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management. (accessed June 2008.)   Suggestion submitted by Cabot Yu, Ottawa, Ontario June 2008.

Born 1945,  Huston, Texas, U.S.A. Rita relocated to Canada in 1967 to work as producer of a children’s television programme. In 1974 was working as a television journalist with the CBC program Take 30. Leaving the CBC in 1983 she taught journalism at the University of Regina, Saskatchewan and by 1988 she had become a founder of Vision TV, the world’s 1st and only multi-faith television network. She worked as an executive and hosted numerous interstitial segments where she was known for often sporting a flower in her hair. She has been named to the Maclean’s Honor Roll of Outstanding Canadians and is a Member of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame. She has an interest in Black Canadian drama and is a board member of Obsidian Theatre Company, Toronto, Ontario. In 2005 she was inducted as a Member of the Order of Canada. Having that same year completed a term as director of News and Current Affairs for APTN, the world’s 1st Aboriginal Peoples Television Network. It was in 2005 that she wrote and performed three, on-woman shows, Smoked Glass Ceiling, McCarthy and the old Woman, and Big Ease.  In 2006 she was awarded the Festival Mentorship Award by Banff TV and in 2007 she became a Quebecer Fellow for the Banff TV Festival. That same year she was appointed the 1st CanWest Global Fellow which is a one-term commitment in residence at the University of Western Ontario (now Western University), London, Ontario in 2007. 2008/2009 she was the 1st storyteller-in-residence at the Centre for Creative Communications of Centennial College. July 2009 to June 2012 she was the holder of the Nancy’s Chair in Women’s Studies at Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax, Nova Scotia. She became a Member of the Order of Canada in 2005 and is a member of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame. (2019)

née Leslie Born July 2, 1921, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Died January 23, 2018, Ottawa, Ontario. She obtained her BA at Guilford College, North Carolina, U.S.A.1941.  Her Masters studies would wait until her family has grown. She received her Masters in Journalism at Carleton University 2003. She Married David Rutherford Dickson (d 1992) in 1942.. As a young woman she and her husband, settled in Pontiac County, Quebec raising a family of 6 children while publishing and editing the weekly newspaper The Equity. Rosaleen served as the newspaper's editor for more than 30 years.  Retiring from the paper  she helped her son Ross in launching the Hill Times in Ottawa an she taught journalism students at Ryerson University at 75 years of age. She continued to write feature articles for the Hill Times, the newspaper of Parliament Hill in Ottawa. She has co-authored, as well as written her own books that have included:  The Leslie-Dickson Family Histories,; HTML: the Basic book for people who would rather do it than read it and The Mother-in-law book. In 2004 she wrote a play One Hundred years of Daring, celebrating the founding of the Canadian Womens’ Press Club. She took to the internet as a natural extension of communication and enjoys writing for senior ‘Zines’ as well as developing and maintaining web sites for such auspicious groups as the National Press Club of Canada. Her personal web site displayed the pride she had of her 18 grandchildren and 21 great grand children. Rosaleen was a life long member of the Media Club of Ottawa (formerly the Canadian Women's Press Club.)

SEE - Academics.

Born February 22, 1956, Toronto , Ontario In 1985 she began working as a host a producer for MuchMusic. By 1992 she was director of music programming and by 1997 she was vice-president and general manager. She holds two Gemini Awards; Special Event Coverage for Election Night 93 and in 1992, as Producer for The NewMusic. In 1998 she launched MuchMoreMusic. By 2000 she was president of Sony Music Canada. In 2001 she won the Peter Gzowski Literacy Award of Merit along with a Woman of Vision Award, and Woman of the year from Canadian Women in Communications.  On September 17, 2008 she became an executive director of CBC Radio’s English language services. Leaving CBC in 2011 she hosed the TV program, The Zoomer, co-hosting with Conrad Black on Vision television Network. In 2009 she was listed as one of Canada’s Top 100 Powerful women and that same year, son the Rosalie Trailblazer Award during Canadian Music Week. She is a member of the Canadian Broadcasters Hall of Fame and a Member of the Order of Canada.

Born June 8, 1945, Toronto, Ontario. After her master's studies at the University of Toronto she began her career in broadcasting by working at various radio stations in Ottawa and Toronto and then in England. Returning to Canada in 1975 she began working for CBC. As host of CBC. Radio "Sunday Morning" broadcast she won an ACTRA Award for Best Host Interview on Radio in 1980. As a freelance writer she has written for the Globe and Mail, Chatelaine, Books in Canada, and London Magazine. In 1987 she won National Magazine Award for her work in Toronto Life. She published a book in 1988 which was awarded the Ann Saddlemyer Book Award.

Born India. She was brought up on a dairy farm in Beausejour, Manitoba. She attended the University of Winnipeg before entering a career in broadcasting. When she first started her career she wanted to break the mould of the idea that most Indians were either extreme intellectuals, researchers or taxi drivers! She was a very popular host on Much Music's Electric Circus from 1988 through 1996. When she left the show some 35,000 people came to her farewell on her final episode. By 2002 she was working as a Vancouver news anchor for CityTV. In July 2003 she stepped down from City Pulse tonight to spend more time with her husband and children.

Born December 24, 1958, Bathurst, New Brunswick. Lyse attended Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, graduating in 1980. While at university she wrote for the university newspaper. She went on in 1982 to earn her Master's in International Relations from the University of Toronto. After graduating she volunteered for four months to teach English in the Ivory Coast, Africa. In 1983 she worked as a freelance journalist in West Africa for Canadian media and began working for the British Broadcasting Company (BBC). By 1988 she was reporting from Pakistan. From 1989to 1993 she was the BBC correspondent in Islamabad also reporting from Afghanistan and Iran. 1994 found her at the BBC office in Amman, Jordan. She served from Jerusalem and across the middle East through to 1999. In 2003 she earned a Silver Sony Award for News Broadcaster of the Year. In 2010 she earned a Peabody Award for her film work in Afghanistan. That same year she earned the Sony Radio Academy Award for Best News Journalist. 2007 saw named the International Television Personality of the Year by the Association for International Broadcasting and the News and Factual Award from the Women in Film and Television. In 2014 she made the documentary Children of Syria which was nominated for a BAFTA Award in 2015. That same year she made the documentary Children of the Gaza War. In 2014 she became an Officer in the Order of the British Empire (OBE). She also received a Bayeux-Calvados Award for war correspondents. In 2017 she earned the Outstanding Contribution to Broadcasting Award at the International Media Awards. Starting in January 2018 she began presenting Her Story Made History; a five-part series on the BBC Radio featuring in-depth interviews with remarkable women with the theme showing the relationship between women and democracy. Proud of her roots she attends the Acadian World Congress which is held every five years. In 2018 she became a Member of the Order of Canada.

Born August 12, 1949 Montreal, Quebec. She studies industrial design at an architectural school but ended up with a completely different career path. An author, translator and illustrator she has translated more than 400 titles and published more than 60 original books, seven of which she has illustrated herself! She also writes scripts for plans and recorded a series of broadcasts on legends and music for Radio Canada. To think that she does all of this with ease in both of Canada's official languages!!! Her works have be awarded the Governor General's Award (Victor , 1992) and in 1993 La 42e soeur de Bebert and 1995 La Bergerede chevaux won the Mr. Christie's Book Award.

Born December 22, 1861, Brantford, Upper Canada (Ontario). Died July 22, 1922, Ashtead, England. Like many women of her era she trained as a teacher at the Toronto Normal School graduating in 1882.  Her 1st published poems appeared in 1880 and an article was published a year later. In 1884 she published articles on the World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition in New Orleans. She published the articles under the pseudonym (pen name) ‘Garth’ and the articles were picked up by American papers. In 1886 she took over the ‘Woman’s World’ section of the Globe. Using her own name she also wrote a column for the Toronto literary periodical Week on important intellectual issues of the day. She left Toronto in November 1887 to work for the Montreal Star and by February 1888 she was the papers parliamentary correspondent in Ottawa. She and fellow journalist Lily Lewis mourned around the world sending stories of their exploits to the Montreal Star. These stories Jeannette turned into a novel in 1890, A social departure; how Orthodocia and I went around the world by ourselves. The trip provided fodder tor two additional publications. In 1890 she married Everard Charles Coates in Calcutta, India. Her 1st novel appeared in 1894.  A daughter of to-day was the 1st book to appear under the name of Mrs. Everard Coates (Sara Jeannette Duncan). After her marriage she continued producing a steady number of articles and worked on the autobiographical On the other site published in 1901. She would publish 22 books and she had more planned. During World War she travelled between India and London , England working on an original stage play which were sadly unsuccessful. In 1919 the couple settled in England. She died of chronic lung problems exacerbated by her smoking.

SEE - Authors - Victoria Grace Blackburn

SEE - Social Activists - Marie Arzélie Éva Circé-Côté

née Bernard Born 1862, Barrie, Canada West (now Ontario). Died July 17, 1933. After her marriage in 1882 she left for England with her husband but returned in 1894. As a journalist she used the pen name Lally Bernard. She also wrote the book "Canadian Doukabor Settlements (Toronto, 1899).

née Adams. Born August 25, 1912. Died November 30, 2003.  She was the first female journalist to work at the Canadian Press. She was women's Editor at the Ottawa Citizen and President of the Canadian Women's Press Club. Wife of Lt. Col. Kenneth Flexman, they had five children.

Born February 15, 1875, Fredericton, New Brunswick. Died June 18, 1974, White Rock, British Columbia. In 1896 she earned her B.A. from the University of New Brunswick. She went on to train as a nurse at the Philadelphia Polyclinic Hospital receiving her diploma in 1901. She worked as a nurse in Woodstock, New Brunswick where she served as the 1st matron of Carlton County Hospital. Poor health forced her to leave her nursing career and she moved first to Saskatchewan in 1905 and then in 1908 on to British Columbia to teach. In 1915 she married William Garland Foster, editor of the Nelson Daily News. In 1916 she followed her husband to England where she nursed with the British Red Cross. Widowed during the war she returned to Canada eventually settling once again in Nelson British Columbia in 1919. She became President of the Great War Veterans Association. In 1920 she was the only woman delegate to the association’s annual convention. In 1923 she began writing for the Vancouver Daily Province. It was at this time that she also attempted unsuccessfully to have a career in politics. She continued writing producing such books as High Days and Holidays in Canada and the Makers of Canada. She also wrote a biography of poet Pauline Johnson entitled the Mohawk Princess in 1931. That same year she graduated from McGill University with a post graduate degree in Library Science. In 1932 she submitted the Mohawk Princess to earn a Master’s Degree from the University of New Brunsw3ick. In 1945 she married Patrick Hanley. She was active in the Vancouver Women’s Canadian Club and the Women’s Civic League. She became the 1st woman to serve on the University of New Brunswick Alumni executive. Source: ‘Annie Harvie Ross Foster.’ New Brunswick Literary Encyclopedia. Online (Accessed May 2014)

SEE - Marcelle Barthe

née Roseberg. Born September 8, 1937, Niagara Falls, New York, U.S.A. Died March 26, 1992, Toronto, Ontario.  Barbara grew up in Niagara Falls, Ontario  Where her father had his business. She married Murray Frum, a dentist and later a real estate developer in 1957 while she was studying at University.  She graduated with a degree in history from the University of Toronto in 1959. She and Murray would have two children and an adopted son during the 1960’s. She worked as a freelance journalist with her writings being accepted by the Toronto Star, the Toronto Globe and Mail and Saturday Night Magazine. In 1971 she began work as an on air journalist with the CBC radio. For ten years, ending in 1981, she provided interviews with international personalities on the popular radio newsmagazine show As It Happens. In 1975 she was presented with the National Press Club of Canada Award for outstanding contribution to Canadian Journalism.. On December 17, 1979 she was inducted into the Order of Canada. From 1982 until her death she hosted CBC television’s The Journal, a nightly current-affairs program. She was the inspiration for Canadian Sesame Street character, Barbara Plumb and she ever portrayed herself as the reporter Barbara Frum on the Canadian cartoon shoe The Raccoons. You know that you have made it when you have become a puppet, a cartoon character and when you have been parodies on the Canadian TV show CODCO! She died for m chronic leukemia which although it had been diagnosed in the 1970’s had been kept a secret even from her children until the final years. After her death there were numerous tributes. In 1993 the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television awarded her the John Drainie Award for Distinguished Contributions to Broadcasting and that same year the new CBC building, in downtown Toronto, dedicated the Barbara Frum Atrium. The Toronto Public Libraries dedicated a branch library which contains a commemorative sculpture of Barbara. There is also an annual Barbara Frum Lecture co-sponsored by the Department of History, University of Toronto and the CBC. In 1996, her daughter Linda Frum, published Barbara Frum: a Daughter’s Memoir. In 1999 Canada Post issued a commemorative stamp in her honour in the Canada Millennium series.

Born January 13, 1963, Toronto, Ontario. Linda earned her B.A. from the McGill University, Montreal, in 1984. Linda is married to Howard Sokolowski and the couple has three children. She was a contributing editor for Maclean’s magazine and a columnist with the National Post newspaper. She has written two books: A guide to Canadian Universities published in 1987 and updated edition in 1990 and Barbara From: a daughter’s memoir, published in 1996.. Prime Minister Stephen Harper appointed Linda to the Senate of Canada in 2009. Linda is an active member of the Toronto community. She is vice chair of the board of Upper Canada College. She is also the honourary chair of Zareinu—a school for physically and developmentally challenged children. She is an honorary patron of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada.  In 2006, she was chair of the Women’s Division of the United Jewish Appeal. She is a past board member of the Canada Israel Committee, the Art Gallery of Ontario Foundation, and the Ontario Arts Council. She is a past recipient of the Golda Meir Leadership Award from the State of Israel bonds.  And in 2010, Yeshiva University awarded her a Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa. She earned a Gemini Award in 1996 for Best Social-Political Documentary Program.  Source: Senator Linda Frum Online Accessed February 2012

Born 1884, Stratford, Ontario. Died October 23, 1977, Vancouver, British Columbia. She studied at the University of Toronto to become a concert pianist. She switched careers and became a journalist working in 1910 in Woodstock, Ontario and later in Vancouver, British Columbia and Calgary, Alberta. While on the west coast she joined the Canadian Women’s Press Club and served as Vancouver’s chapter president in 1913. In 1914 she was a journalist campaigning across the Canadian prairies for women’s right to vote. Shortly after she was running a publicity bureau for the Alberta Government in London, England. She and her cousin Nell Sifton would run the successful 1917 campaign for nursing sister, Roberta MacAdams’ run for the Alberta Legislature. During World War 1 she was one of only 4 women journalist allowed to tour behind the Canadian lines on the war front in France. She reported back to Canadians stories of life and bravery at the war front. In November 1918 she was present when the armitist was signed. The only woman journalist accredited to cover the World War 1 1919 peace treaty negotiations in Paris, France. She married and returned with her husband to Montreal where he worked for the Montreal Gazette newspaper.  She went on to author several short stories and raise her children. In 1952 the couple retired to Vancouver. Source: Herstory 2006: The Canadian Women’s Calendar. Coteau Books, 2005)

née Filion. Born 1946. Brought up on Canada's west coast she moved to Toronto, Ontario to attend university at 18. By the age of 23 she had married a lion tamer from the circus and had two children. Her early jobs were somewhat eclectic. She drove cab, delivered elephants to Ohio and worked as a professional clown. She even ran as a candidate for the position of mayor of Toronto in 1974. However, once she had worked her first radio job she knew what her career would be. Working at CBC. Radio she had her own show for 12 years. In 1997 she made the switch to television talk show. She as won three ACTRA awards for best host interviewer and in 2003 she earned two Leo Awards for best talk show host. It is estimated that she has completed some 5000 interviews. She has written her autobiography, This Won't Hurt a Bit and also composed a cook book. She also finds time to be a grandma and to be honourary fundraising Chair for the Parkinson Society.

née Coldeugh. Born December 16, 1897 , Winnipeg, Manitoba. Died February 18, 1988. She studied German at the University of Manitoba but it was journalism that would become her chosen career. She wrote fiction and non fiction works for newspapers, national and international magazines and the CBC Radio. She hosted a CBC Series Houses I have Known. She was honoured with numerous Manitoba historical and literary awards. In World War ll she was an official escort for British evacuee children who were sent to safer homes in Canada. (2019)

Born 1875 (?), London, Ontario. Died May 26, 1984, West Vancouver, British Columbia. Mae moved to Winnipeg in early 1900s as a CPR public relations officer for the Canadian Pacific Railway. She was one of the first female general news reporters in Western Canada, writing for the Albertan, Edmonton Bulletin and Vancouver News-Herald, before joining the Vancouver Sun in 1930. In 1962, retired as senior court reporter covering the British Columbia Supreme Court and county courts. She was also one of the first women to obtain a mortgage from Central Mortgage and Housing. She was a champion of women's rights at least two generations before the rise of the women's movement. Source: Vancouver Hall of Fame on line accessed December 2012

née Warnock Born 1878, Galt, (Cambridge) Ontario. Died September 7, 1956. Although she was married in 1912 she continued her career as a journalist. She used the name de plume Katherine Hale. Prior to her marriage she had been literary editor for the Toronto Mail and Empire newspaper. After her marriage she would concentrate on her poetry and for the next four decades would pen some 6 volumes of poetry. She also was the biographer for Isabella Valency Crawford and published the work in Toronto in 1923. Her second book of prose would be Legends of the St Lawrence published in 1926.

née Gaudet. Born October 26, 1902 Sainte-Eulalie, Quebec. Died September 4, 1986. After attending convent school she obtained her teaching diploma from the École normale de Nicolet and began working in her father's business. By 1924 she was working as a secretary and a journalist. In 1934 Françoise married Paul Smet (d1950).She founded the journal Paysana in 1938 serving as the director until it ceased publication in 1949. She worked for Radio Canada on weekly programs and co-hosted Voix de femmes and later Sans détour in Sherbrooke, Quebec. During this time she continued writing for various Quebec newspapers. In 1946, she founded the Centre Social Claire-Vallée and served as its director until the early 1960s. In 1965 she married Samuel Brisson. In 1969 she served a two year term as President of the Cercle des femmes journalistes  In 1974, she founded a cultural and educational centre, the Gaudet Bourg Centre, in Aston-Jonction. That same year she became a Member of the Order of Canada.  She also taught continuing education at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières. In 1985 she became a Chevalier in the Ordre nationale de Québec.

Born 1871. Died May 1945. She chose the career of journalism. In 1904 she was one of the 16 women who traveled to the St Louis World’s Fair on behalf of the Canadian Pacific Railway. While at the Fair she reported for the Quebec City daily, L’Evénement. It was during the train trip back to Canada that the women formed the Canadian Women’s Press Club. In 1905/06 she traveled to Switzerland with a friend Jeanne Andi to teach domestic sciences. Back in Montreal in 1907 the two women opened L’Ecole ménangère. In 1910 she was teaching at L’Académie Marchand in Montreal. In 1926 she was the director of L’Ecole ménangère. In 1936, along with the help of her niece Marie she expanded the school at L ‘institute Notre Dame du Bon-Conseil. She took her retirement from teaching in 1942. Source: Linda Kay, Sweet Sixteen: the journey that inspired the Canadian Women’s Press Club, 2012.

75

Born 1895, Saint-Barnabé, Quebec. Died 1952 or 1953, Montreal, Quebec. While she was studying in Montreal she started writing for newspapers and magazines. In 1918 she was writing a column on women's fashion using the pen-name 'Manon'. She was also writing serial romances at this time. She wrote as a film critic for Pa Panorama in 1919. By 1922 she was a screenwriter. Sadly many scripts and films of this era in Canada have been lost so it is only known that two of her scripts became films from information located in newspaper accounts. She returned to journalism and writing film chronicles under her pen name 'Manon' all through the 1920's. She married Robert Green and continued to publish serial novels and branched out to children's comics. She became involved in politics running as a candidate in the provincial elections and promoted votes for Quebec women. Source: Women Film Pioneers (2019)

Born 1891, Toronto, Ontario. Died December 15, 1958, Toronto, Ontario. She attended the private girls college, Havergal College, in Toronto. The College was known for its advance acceptance of girl’s sports in the early 20th century. She graduated in 1913. During World War l she worked as a secretary in Toronto. Although she was engaged to marry she never married after her fiancé was killed during the War. Her participation in sports continued after her college days. She enjoyed tennis, soft ball gold and track and field. She was a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs Ladies Basketball team which won Eastern Canadian championships from 1922-1924. She was becoming an articulated spokesperson for women in sports. During the 1920’s and 1930’s she was Canada’s most preeminent woman journalist. Working with the Toronto Daily Star she maintained a daily column entitled “No man’s land sport” for over 30 years. She began her journalist career in the 1920’s and it was May 1928 that she began her famous column. In 1919 she helped found the Ladies Ontario Basketball Association and served as president in 1925. In 1922 she founded the Canadian Ladies Athletic Club and served as the 1st president. In September 1925 the Women’s Amateur Athletic Union was created and Alex helped draft the Constitution. By December 7, 1926 the Women’s Amateur Athletic Foundation of Canada was founded with her encouragement. She served as President from 1928-1931. In 1928 she was the manager of the Canadian Women’s Olympic Team that would become known as the “Matchless Six”, bringing home gold, silver and Bronze medals in Track and field. In 1934 she had become assistant sport editor at the Toronto Star and she was appointed to be the only woman on the Ontario Athletic Commission. In 1935 she toured Russia and sent home to the Toronto Star articles on life in that country. Some of her stories were front page copy. She gave up her column with the star in 1940 when the country was at war. By 1951 she was accompanying Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinborough in their cross country Tour. In 1954 she was in the thick of the sports story of the year when she encouraged Marilyn Bell’s swim across Lake Ontario.
Sources: “Queen of the Ice Lanes: the Preston Rivulettes and Women’s Hockey in Canada 1931-1940” by Carly Adams in Sport History Review no. 39 pages 1-29 2008; 100 more Canadian Heroines by Merna Forster Dundurn Press, 2011.

née  Kaufman. Born  December 30, 1936, Winnipeg, Manitoba. An author, who has one the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour in 1978 for her novel Confessions.  she has also authored two Canadian cookbooks.  She writes articles for such notable publications as Saturday Night, Maclean’s, and the New York Times. She is married to Allan Gotlieb, a former Canadian Ambassador to the United States. The couple have three children. Her book, Rollercoaster recounts they years in Washington, D.C., U.S.A. during the Reagan era. Invitations to their Washington parties were highly coveted. She writes a regular weekly column for the National Post.

Born January 22, 1931, Montreal, Quebec. Died April 25, 1993. She began her working career as a secretary with a supermarket chain. She joined the staff of the Montreal Star newspaper in 1953 and thought persistence and hard work she  never accepted accepted the "Glass ceiling" that kept many women in low positions. She rose to be a reporter and editor at three of Canada's major daily newspapers. Her husband Jack Rabinovitch established the Giller Prize in 1994. It is Canada's premier literary prize for literary fiction.

'Madeleine'

Born October 5, 1875, Rimouski, Quebec. Died Montreal October 21, 1943. As a teenager she was writing for local newspapers using a multitude of pen names for her works. After the death of her father, she and her sister relocated to Ottawa to live with a brother. Here she continued writing with Le Temps. It was here that she first used the pen name “Madeleine” when she was writing the women’s column. She had taken over the job begun by “Francoise” / Robertine Barry.  It was during this time that she became a founding member and treasurer of the Canadian Women’s Press Club. That same year, 1904 she married Dr. Wilfred A. Huguenin. The couple would have one daughter. During World War l  Anne-Marie gave generously of her efforts with the French Red Cross society and l’aide a la France. For her efforts she received the French Medal of Recognition in 1920 and King Albert of Belgium presented her with a gold medal. In the 1920’s both her husband and her daughter died and Anne-Marie immersed herself in her work. After 19 years she left La Patrie and started editing La Revue Moderne. In 1928 she founded La Vie Canadienne which merged with La Revue Moderne, the ancestor of Chatelaine. After publishing several books she decided to compile a history of Canadian women and in 1938 she published Portraits de femmes. A second edition of the popular work was written for younger readers. Feminism was reflected her many works She called upon women to better themselves with education, and becoming interested and involved in Politics. She encouraged women to support their men and raise boys respectful of equality of the genders. Sources: Canadian Encyclopedia online Accessed July 2011:  Anne-Marie Gleason (Madeleine) by Amelia Baxter in Biographical Sketches of nine members of the Canadian Women’s Press Club . Ottawa, Media Club of Ottawa, 2011.  page 11-12

Born January 19, 1943, New York, U.S.A. Died February 12,  2015, Toronto, Ontario. Alison attended schools in New York, U.S.A., Tokyo, Japan, Cairo, Egypt and Rome, Italy as her father worked in various countries for the United Nations.  She came to Canada in 1960 to Attend Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario. As a journalist she worked for CBC Radio  in various roles including being producer of the show As It Happens and being a news anchor in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In 1978 she earned a National Magazine Award for humour. She also worked beginning in 1979 for the Toronto Star newspaper. Alison was the 1st woman beat writer covering the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team surviving the waves she caused being a woman in the Jays locker room to win a National Newspaper Award citation for sports writing in 1979. She wrote a book about the Toronto Blue Jays but found her love to be writing mysteries centered on a sportswriter as a main character. She wrote five mystery novels.  If you like mysteries, visit your own public library and look up these books. Sources: Obituary, Toronto Star February 14, 2015.

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Born 1879, Upper Musquodoboit, Nova Scotia.  Died May 1924, Montreal Quebec. .  At 15 she attended the Normal School at Truro, Nova Scotia. She taught for a few years and was ahead of her times in advocating voting privileges for women teachers in the provincial teacher’s association. In 1898 she became interested in mission work in the West Indies. She was unable to complete her five year term at the mission after a riding accident. She would spend some time in New York City with her journalist brother and by 1897 she was employed as a journalist herself at the Halifax Herald. She would move to Ottawa as the paper’s correspondent by 1904. She was part of the group of Canadian women Journalists who were sponsored to go to the St Louis World's Fair in 1904 and during the trip they established the Canadian Women's Press Club. After the 1904 World’s Fair in July 1905 she married Albert Horton. The couple settled in Ottawa and had a daughter. In Ottawa sh where she worked at the Home for the Blind and the Protestant’s Infant Home. She had little to do with the Canadian Womens Press club after the birth of her daughter but in 1923 she was flown to  Vancouver to attend the triennial CWPC conference as the 'Mother of the CWPC'. In 1975 Her daughter made a donation to the Ottawa branch of the CWPC (now Media Club of Ottawa) and the following year the 1st annual Margaret Graham Award was presented to an Ottawa area journalist for the best feature article. The award was later changed to be presented the a top journalist student in Ottawa.

SEE - Sara Jeanette Duncan

Born 1896. Died 1984. She began her broadcasting career in 1924 in London Ontario, at the Radio station for the Free Press. She came first in a list of 90 applicants for a cooking program on CFRB in Toronto. It is said of here that she was a born show-person and it did not bother her to wear an Indian costume to do a live commercial. In the 1940’s she was a main stay on CHML in Hamilton, Ontario with the daily Jane Gray Show. Later she would host the show on CHCH TV in Hamilton. Considered one of the first Canadian women with a career  in radio broadcasting, a true pioneer who is listed in the Canadian Awards in Broadcasting Hall of Fame.  Name submitted by Jeannine Ouellette, Ottawa

Born  1879, Rickville, New York, U.S.A. Died 1964, Saskatchewan. Her parents were Canadian and the family moved shortly after her birth to Athens, Ontario. She attended Bishop Strachan School in Toronto and  graduated from the Toronto Conservatory of Music. By 1904 the family lived in Edmonton, Alberta, and she moved on to work as a reporter in 1912 with the Prince Albert Post.  She married George Edward Ellis, who would become Inspectors of Schools for Alberta. When George became principal of Prince Albert Collegiate in Saskatchewan, Miriam became coach for the women’s hockey team. In 1913 she joined the Canadian Women’s Press Club and remained a lifelong member. By 1919 she was back in Edmonton and President of the Edmonton Branch of the CWPC. From 1919 through 1927 she was a reporter for the Edmonton Bulletin. She dubbed herself “Toad” after the character in the Wind in the Willows. She drove across the province for stories and often changed her own sparkplugs in her old second hand car. In 1927 her writing caught the eye of the Family Herald and Weekly Star where she worked until 1952. She retired in 1952 but still wrote freelance articles. While in Edmonton in 1922 she had financed her own journey to Aklavik, North West Territories on the edge of the Arctic Ocean and travelled with her typewriter and camera writing some 40 stories about her travels.  Her photos showed the life of peoples of northern Alberta. Her papers and her photographs were bequeathed to the University of Alberta providing a lasting archival legacy. Sources to read: Miriam Green Ellis: Champion of the West. Edmonton; University of Alberta Press, 2013.

Born 1890? Woodstock, Ontario? In 1914 Florence was reporting from the eastern front of World War l for Frank Leslie's Weekly Newspaper out of New York City, U.S.A. While reporting back to New York she suffered from trench fever and trench foot. In 1916 she left Vancouver, British Columbia sailing to Shanghai, China then taking the Trans Siberia Railroad to Petrograd (now St Petersberg) Russia. She was following a hunch for a story. What she say was the violence of the early days of the Russian Revolution in February 1917. Florence also served as a volunteer nurse at an American Field hospital in Russia. She witnessed and reported on the street violence  in Petrograd and the Bolshevik uprisings in Moscow. Hungry and sick of violence she left Russia in August 1917 just a few months prior to the Bolshevik coup. She reported on Russian happenings from Finland for awhile. From her experiences during World War l and the Russian Revolution she would publish three books with photographer Donald Thomson: Bloodstained Russia, From Tsar to Kaiser; the Betrayal of Russia and in 1918 a more detailed account in Runaway Russia. Her life after this is sparsely documented. She traveled once again to China spent time in Seattle, Washington, U.S.A. and Montreal, Quebec. In the 1940's she was in New York City. Little else is known about this journalistic trailblazer.

Born 1904, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Died June 15, 1967. From the 1920’s she had an active interest in children’s theatre. In1930 she moved to Vancouver. From 1944 through 1952 she was a prominent radio broadcaster with Morning Visit on the CBC. In the 1950’s she became involved with the CBC school broadcasts. Active in the Vancouver Ballet Society she served at one point as President. She was part of the building committee of the University of British Columbia’s International House and was Public Relations Officer for the BCAA and Health Centre for Children. She was an active member of the Vancouver Zonta Club and also a member of the International Zonta Club. Source: The History of Metropolitan Vancouver – Hall of Fame (accessed June 2009)

née Irwin.  Born November 21.  1907, Newark, New Jersey U.S.A.  Died 2002. This author soon found her true talent in writing children's' books. Often her stories are told in a Native setting, teaching the need and respect for balance of nature.  She has been awarded the Canadian Association of Children's Librarians book of the year award for "Raven's Cry" in 1966 and "Mouse Woman and the Vanished Princesses"  in 1976.  The "Trouble with Princesses" in 1980 won the Canada Council's Children's Literature Prize. In 2002 she was awarded the Mr. Christie's Book Award. There is even a Canadian juvenile literature book award named after her called the Christie Harris Illustrated Children's Book Prize. She is a Member of the Order of Canada. 

née Riley. Born 1859, Toronto, Ontario. Died May 8,1935. As an journalist and author she frequently used the pen name Seranus. She published several novels but is perhaps best remembered for her poetry. She was a master of the difficult poetic form known as villanelle. She published in her lifetime some 6 books of poetry. She also published the Canadian Birthday Book (Toronto, 1887).

Born 1856, Dalhousie, New Brunswick. Died 1945. Like many young women of her generation she attended Normal School (Teachers college) in Fredericton and taught at various schools throughout the Maritimes until she married C. Bowman Simpson in 1882. Married women could not work as teachers. The couple had two children. Kate left her husband and moved to the prairies in 1885 living first in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan before settling in Regina. Here she opened a millinery shop and became organist at the Catholic Church.  Within a month of her arrival in the city she founded the Literary and Musical Society and began to write plays and prose using  the pseudonym of “Mary Markwell”. While in Regina she had a torrid affair with one Nicholas Flood Davin. He hired her to write for the Regina Leader as its first female reporter and he put her name forward for the position for legislative librarian, a post she maintained for 8 years.  Kate was separated but still married and refused to marry Davin even with the birth of their two Children in 1889 and 1892.  The Children were placed in living conditions outside their home. Davin married another and attempted to locate his two children to live with him. Kate moved to Winnipeg in 1899 where she was the editor of the women’s page of the Manitoba Free Press. She was part of the group of Canadian women Journalists who were sponsored by the Canadian Pacific Railway to go to the St Louis World's Fair in 1904. During the trip they established the Canadian Women's Press Club.  She would be elected in 1906 as the second president of the C W P C. In 1907 she was sent overseas as a publicity writer for the CPR and served as an immigration commissioner. She would publish several books one of which Prairie Pot Pourri is considered the first book written and published in the Northwest Territories. * Some resources list her first name as Catherine or Kathleen. Sources: Canadian Who’s Who 1910 : City of Regina. Heritage. Online (accessed January 2011)

née Hayr. Born 1 1839, Northamptonshire, England. Died February 15,1912,  Chateauguay, Quebec. Linda immigrated to the U.S.A. in 1852 and was educated at the Troy Female Seminary, Troy, New York, U.S.A. Often her school compositions were published in the Troy Daily Times. By 16 she was a 1st assistant in the free schools in Troy. She became a teacher in Chateauguay, Lower Canada, a few miles shout of Montreal, where she met her husband Robert Jack (d1900). The couple were married on June 13, 1860 and they had a family of 12 children, 11 of whom lived to adulthood. From 1877 to 1890 she was a regular contributor to the Reports of the Montreal Horticultural Society and Fruit Growers Association of the Province of Quebec. An avid horticulturalist she honed her knowledge from experience but also by corresponding with others in the field. She often had more acceptance for her horticultural writing from the U.S.A. than from her own home. She was also keenly invested in education and in 1882-83 she became a member of the Montreal Ladies’ Educational Association and shortly after the Montreal Women’s Club. She wrote articles on social topics for the Montreal Witness using the pen-name Loyal Janet. She was also a regular contributor to the Waverly Magazine in Boston and published numerous articles for children.  From April 30 1898 to 1903 she wrote a weekly column in the Montreal Daily Witness called Garden Talks. She contributed as well to the Canadian Horticultural Magazine and the Canadian Horticulturist. In 1902 she published a collection of short stories followed in 1903 with The Canadian Garden which influenced a whole era of gardening. In 1904 she published Rhyme-thoughts for a Canadian Year, a small book of poems. Source: D C B Vol 14. Online .(accessed 2002).

née Almon. Born May 31, 1866, Bridgetown, Nova Scotia  Died February 10, 1946. This author and lecturer wrote of her interest in women’s issues and social tolerance.  She wrote periodical articles and 10 books under her own name but also under the pen name of Gordon Hart, J. Try Davies, and Almon Hensley.

née Pettit Born January 12, 1877, Simcoe, Ontario. Died April 25, 1959. She graduated from the University of Toronto and had written her 1st novel by the time she was 19. In 1913 she married Simpson Hill (1848-1932) and the couple had 2 children. She called herself ‘Videre’ for a series of articles in the Toronto Star newspaper which studied working conditions of Toronto women. She was a member of the Canadian Women’s Press Club (CWPC). When her husband died she travelled extensively with her 2 daughters. And then wrote a book about her adventures. In 1936 she married Norman Hill Beaton (1886-1962) and the couple settled in California, U.S.A. where she produced a 2nd novel. Her shorter pieces where published in such magazines as the Canadian Countryman, Chatelaine, Maclean’s, Saturday Night, and the Star Weekly. Source: Canada’s Early Women Writers, Simon Fraser University.  

Born September 18, 1861, Toronto, Ontario. Died October 6, 1942. Cora’s mother died when she was very young and her father took the children to live with their grandparents on a farm in Ontario where grandfather taught her about farming. She was educated at home by her aunt until she was 11 and the family built a school. She lived in Orillia with her Uncle George to complete her high school. Moving west to Manitoba in the hopes of landing a teaching position, Cora learned that she had failed the algebra portion of her teaching exams. Not deterred she decided to become a journalist. The Manitoba Free Press did not want an inexperienced woman writer so Cora worked as a typist until 1893 when she opened her own business as a stenographer becoming the 1st public typewriter in the province. Cora joined the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). Along with Dr. Amelia Yeomans (1842-1913) she formed the Manitoba Equal Suffrage Club. Cora also joined the Canadian Women’s Press Club that had been formed in 1904. She never gave up writing and with her knowledge of farming she was soon a regular reporter and became the commercial and agricultural editor for the Manitoba Free Press. She would become renowned for her accurate analysis of crop yields and livestock news and became the western correspondent for several eastern newspapers. Still wanting votes for women she formed the Political Equality League with Lillian Beynon Thomas (1884-1961) and Nellie McClung (1873-1953) in 1912. Women earned the right to vote in 1916. She became a regular columnist with the Winnipeg Free Press and at 75 she travelled around the world to observe agricultural methods, writing her observations in 1937 in the book, Seeing for Myself and My Travels and Findings, 1939. After her death the United Grain Growers created the Cora Hind Fellowship for research in agriculture, and the Free Press created the Cora Hind Scholarship in home economics. Sources: Gordon Goldsborough, Ella Cora Hind Memorable Manitobans (accessed 2002); Carlotta Hacker, E. Cora Hind, 1979.

née Milner. Born March 27, 1922, Vegreville, Alberta. Died January 23, 2015. As a youngster she was drawn to watching the happenings of a murder trial in her home town. She declared later in life that this is when the love of the big story and the call of writing for newspapers came to her. Simma attended the University of Manitoba, 1941-1944. On May 20, 1949 she married Leon Hold (d1985) a mathematics instructor.  She was a pioneer in journalism, entering the newsroom that was traditionally the strong hold for males only. She would eventually gain women colleagues to fend off the mean spiritedness and jibs of male reporters. Simma was a member of the Canadian Womens Press Club (CWPC) where she served as President of the Vancouver CWPC branch in 1953. She had a talent for front page news. She started her career in Calgary but soon found herself working as assistant city editor for the Vancouver Sun. She was winner and runner-up ten times of the top award for news and features by Canadian women writers. She took up unjust causes and earned reprieve from the death penalty for 3 convicts.  In 1958, she went to South America to investigate the activities of Freedomite leader Stefan Sorokin. After further years spent in Freedomite research, she began work on her 1st book, Terror in the Name of God, published in 1964. In 1967 she published her 2nd book, Sex and the Teen Age Revolution. Her 3rd book, The Devil's Butler in 1972, was almost like a follow-up to her 2nd book. It focused on the drug explosion, the hippy scene and the Satan's Angels motorcycle gang. In 1969, she received the University of Manitoba Alumni Jubilee Award for distinguished achievement in the twenty-five years since her graduation. She returned to the  University of Manitoba in the early 1970’s became the 1st female managing editor of the student newspaper, The Manitoban. On July 8, 1974 she was elected to the House of Commons, the 1st Jewish woman elected to a seat in Ottawa where she worked with fellow Liberal Party maverick, Pierre Trudeau (1919-2000). Even here she faced anti-Semitism and anti-feminism. She was unsuccessful in her bid to return to Ottawa in 1979 and gladly returned to the Vancouver Sun. From 1981-1984 she served as a member of the National Parole Board of Canada. She also wrote in 1982 The Other Mrs. Diefenbaker, which was the life story of the 1st wife of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker (1895-1979). In 1996 she was inducted into the Canadian News Hall of Fame and the Order of Canada. She also penned her auto biography: Memoires of a loose Cannon in 2008. Sources: Bob Mickleburgh, No one messed with Simma Holt, Globe and Mail, February 20, 2015; Brian Morton, Trail-blazing reporter was afraid of no one. Ottawa Citizen February 7, 2015; information supplied also by . by June Coxon, Ottawa, Ontario

Born 1912, Weyburn, Saskatchewan. Like many young women of her era, Dorothy studied and became a teacher. She taught for 2 years on the Canadian Prairies before moving to a more challenging career. She joined the Regina Leader Post newspaper staff and worked her way up to a reporter for the women’s section of the newspaper. During World War 11 she headed for Toronto to work for the Toronto Telegram. In 1949 Dorothy wrote about Newfoundland’s entry into the Canadian Confederation and she won the Canadian Women’s Press Club Award which was a national newspaper award for feature writing.  In the 1950 Dorothy moved west and tried reporting for the Vancouver Sun but she felt she was closely controlled in the stories she covered and that her work was ‘savagely’ rewritten so she returned to the Toronto Telegram. In 1967 she married Dr. Harold ‘Hal’ Richardson and raised 2 stepchildren. By this time she felt that her style of journalism was no longer acceptable especially with the modern effects of television. Source: Chantal Guertin. ‘the 1st lady of razzmatazz: if Toronto’s newspapers in the 50’s was a circus, Dorothy Howarth was in the centre ring.’ In Ryerson Review of Journalism. June 2000.

Born November 12, 1876, Emerald Junction, Prince Edward Island. Died April 27, 1925, New York City, New York, U.S.A.. After completing her education in 1892 in her home province taught aboriginal children in eastern and central Canada. she joined the staff of the Montreal Star in 1903 until 1906. In 1904 she was a member of a group of Canadian women journalists who were sponsored by the Canadian Pacific Railway to travel and cover the St Louis World's Fair. It was during this trip that she participated in the founding of the Canadian Women's Press Club (CWPC). By 1906 she had moved west and was working with the Edmonton Bulletin where she covered the news from the Alberta provincial legislature. That same year she published her 1st book, a biography of her uncle.  In 1908 she was appointed as the 1st Provincial Archivist of Alberta. While in Edmonton she was one of the founders of the Catholic Women’s League.  In 1914 she became Assistant to Agent General for Alberta in London, England where she befriended the Irish sentiment for independence. By 1920 she had written a draft biography on William Van Horne. The biography was published but not under her name but that of editor Walter Vaughn.  It was about this time that she moved to Washington  DC, U.S.A. in order to lobby for Irish independence. She also traveled to Australia to support the Irish cause before settling in New York City, New York, U.S.A.   As well as having been a journalist she authored two biographies. Archbishop O’Brien: man and churchman (Ottawa, 1906) and Father Lacombe: the Black Robe Voyageur (Toronto, 1911). Source: Linda Kay, Sweet Sixteen: the journey that inspired the Canadian Women’s Press Club, 2012; .D C B

J.J. McColl

Born December 24, 1936, Vancouver British Columbia. Died September 23, 2008 White Rock, British Columbia.  While in high school she enjoyed working on the school newspaper and being in the Drama group. She choose the professional name of J.J. McColl and began her radio career as Vancouver’s first woman D.J. hosting her own show on CJOR and later on CBC Radio. She worked with James Cavell the author and with James Beard as his CTV show in the 1960’s. She also created radio documentaries and authored an award winning 10 part drama called Mothering in the 1990’s. After a visit to Ireland she wrote a musical about a group of 50-something women at a high school reunion but the show never took off. In 2001 she dappled in drama again by acting in small roles such as being the real estate agent in Sean Penn’s The Pledge in 2001. At 65 years of age on June 22, 2002 she married Frank Howard. Source Broadcaster and writer… by Moira Dann, The Globe and Mail, October 20, 2008; Herstory: The Canadian Women’s Calendar 2012.

Born July 10, 1916, Terrebonne, Quebec. Died October 20, 1972, Montreal, Quebec. Educated in France and in Montreal she would be described as a talented, brilliant determined and energetic pioneer of TV broadcasting. As a youth she joined a theatre group in Montreal and her talents took her to work in radio drama presentations where she gained acclaim. But her true love would become TV journalism. When medium of TV came along she would use her theatrical background to ultimate advantage in her presentation as an interviewer. providing good body language to compel attention. She and colleague Rene Levesque were credited with developing Quebec street journalism, taking reporting out of the newsroom to where the story action actually unfolded. She was a true pioneer who worked around the world on site to provide viewers with a the full report.

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Born September 6 1957, Port au Prince, Haiti.  She emigrated with her family in 1968 to live in Canada’s Province of Quebec. After she completed her Masters of Arts at the University of Montreal she took up teaching. She also worked for the betterment in the lives of women and children in crisis by contributing to the establishment of safe shelters. Taking some time off work,  she studied language arts in Italy. She is fluent in five languages, French, English, Spanish, Italian and Creole. Returning to Canada she began an energetic broadcast journalism career with Radio-Canada and earned the right to have her won show. Her journalistic efforts were put to use to create an awareness in human rights. Her efforts  gained her awards and recognition from the Human Rights League of Canada, Amnesty International , Canada and awards such as the Prix Mirelle-Lanctot, the Galaxi Award and being made a Citizen of Hounour by Montreal. She is married and has a daughter, Marie Eden. She was invested as Canada’s 27th and first Afro-Caribbean Governor General in September 2005.

Born 1875. Died 1950. She worked as a reporter of ladies fashion. She donned men’s clothing posing to prove she could do a news story as well as any man. She worked reporting on the waterfront docks for the Vancouver World. She also reported on life in Chinatown and City Hall. She became Financial and Marine editor for the Vancouver Sun. Tired of being a reporter she became the 1st woman taxi driver in British Columbia working in Victoria prior to World War l. She also worked as a logger and even tried real estate. A handy carpenter she built her own house in Burnaby, British Columbia and then ran her own cement construction company winning contracts to build the 1st sewers in Burnaby and for a roundhouse for the Canadian Pacific railway. In 1933 she took an interest in provincial politics and ran unsuccessfully as a candidate for the Liberal Party. She ran in 1937 as an independent but was once again unsuccessful.  In 1941 she left Vancouver and some people saw her on a Mexican newsreel. In 1951 she was found dead in a hotel room in Arizona under the name Edna Jepson. Source: Canadian Girls Who Rocked the World by Tanya Lloyd Kyi. Walrus Books 2001.

Born December 8, 1921, Eagle, Alaska, U.S.A.  Died January 31, 2010, Old Crow, Yukon. She was a member of the Vuntut Gwitchin Tribe, “People of the Lakes. Along with regular schooling, Edith learned the traditional sills of her peoples related to hunting and living from the land. The family moved to the Yukon Territory upon the death of an Uncle. In the Yukon she would raise two of her three children and care for her aging parents. In 1957 she was appointed Justice of the Peace in her community of Old Crow. In 1962 Edith became a correspondent at the Whitehorse Star newspaper it was not long before her column “Here are the News” became popular and syndicated! She wrote of the everything and anything of interest to Old Crow and her readers were charmed with the description of everyday life in the Yukon bush. Her article went our each week on the local supply air route. Grammar, spelling and sentence structure with of little import to Edith. She wrote as she spoke. The writing style endeared her to her rapidly growing fan base which eventually reached across the globe, and was translated into several languages. Her work also became the base of several books. Her life was opened to CBC TV viewers, readers of magazines such as Weekend Magazine and Life.  With all her success she remained humble and genuine. She received many honours such as the Canadian Centennial Medal of 1967, the Order of Canada in 1995 and the Aboriginal Achievement Award. She wrote her last column in 2005 but continued as an active elder in Old Crow. In 2006 she was inducted into the Order of Canada. In 2019 a bust of Edith was unveiled in Old Crow, Yukon. (2021)

née Styran. Born 1926, Ottawa, Ontario. Died March 20, 2017  As a teenager she worked beginning as a teenager at the Ottawa Citizen newspaper but in the 1940's she switched to radio. She married Gerhard William Thomas Kennedy (d. 1975)and the couple had four children.. She began working for CFRA radio station in Toronto in 1959 where she worked for 27 years during which time she became one of the most popular radio personalities in Toronto.  She hosted her own she and was a panelist on the CBC Television program Front Page Challenge which ran from 1962-1995. She also has an extremely long list of credits of business appointments such as being a Director of Simpson's Ltd 1974-1979, Bank of Montreal, since 1975, Northern Telecom ltd, 1987, member of metro Toronto Hospital Planning Council 1965-70. She was the 1st woman chair person for the Advisory Committee for the University of Western Ontario (School of Journalism).  She wrote two books: Gerhard; A Love Story, 1976 and Hurricane Hazel,1982. She was awarded the Order of Canada in 1982 and became a member of the News Hall of Fame and the Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 1983. In 1998 she was made a Sister in the Venerable Order of Saint John. Both Betty and her husband, G. Allan Burton (d 2003) were part of the initial Milton Walk of Fame June 20, 2000 she was appointed to the Senate of Canada.

SEE - Authors - Jean Blewett

née McIntosh. Died 1998, Ottawa. By the time she was 20 she had earned her BA and her degree in Education from the University of British Columbia. She began teaching in the coastal areas of the province. She taught in a one room schoolhouse at Rivers Inlet in Northern British Columbia were she arrived by steamboat with supplies need to open the school. In 1941 she was in Ottawa working for the for the Royal Canadian Air Force eventually working in the Intelligence Unit redacting letters from Prisoners of war. She went on to work for the Department of Reconstruction and the Bureau of Statistics. In 1952 she became a writer with the Department of Transports staff newspaper, News on the Dot. She returned to the RCAF as editor of the pilot’s magazine Flight Comment.  She also worked at the National Museum, National Health and Welfare. In 1955 she joined the Media Club of Canada (Formerly the Canadian Women’s Press Club) In 1965 she married Don Kines (1925-2014). In 1976 she returned to school to earn a Library Technician’s diploma. Retiring from the government and relocating to Kanata in the west end of Ottawa she began working with the Kanata Standard working  to being community news editor. She also wrote for the Ottawa Carleton Immigration Service’s ethnic newspaper, Mosaic.  She encouraged new writers to be curious . Her action packed life included helping capture a bank robber and being rescued from an overturned foot Bridge. Suggestion submitted by June Coxon, Ottawa.

She and her family escaped the civil war in Uganda in 1983 and settled in Canada. She studied at Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario and graduated with a BA. She has worked as a videographer for MuchMusic and has contributed to the Marilyn Denis Show. She has hosted and produced shows for Sportsnet and Bet as well as reporting for ET Canada, and CNN. In 2008 she was an Ambassador for the Canadian Red Cross and was declared by Chatelaine Magazine as one of ’89 Canadian women to watch. In 2010 she directed a TV pilot after writing a popular column for the BBC’s Focus on Africa Magazine. In 2013 she was named an Emerging Filmmaker by the ReelWorld Film Festival. She is mother to two children. (2018)

Born October 27, 1946. Died April 2, 2009 , Phoenix, Arizona.  Audrey studied to become a teacher with her BEd 1969 and her BA in 1971 from the University of Saskatchewan. She was a member of the Canadian Educational Press Association from 1972 and in 1985 she began serving as the Executive Secretary for the association. She received eight Distinguished Achievement Awards for Excellence n Educational Journalism from the Educational Press Association of America. She was also a member of the communications staff of the Saskatchewan Teacher’s Federation where she served as editor of the Saskatchewan Bulletin. From time to time she also worked for the United Church Observer. Sources: Audrey Kunkel, Who’s Who in the Media Club of Canada 1991 ; Obituary, The Star, Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.A. April 2009.

Born February 27, 1950, Berlin, Germany. In 1968 she attended the Red River Community College to study nursing. Thinking that nursing was not her niche she graduated from the Actor’s Showcase Theatre School in 1972. She has one daughter. For over 20 years she has been at the forefront of broadcasting on Manitoba television. She was one of the 1st female TV broadcasters in Western Canada. She has worked with the United Way and bolstered donations to the Koats for Kids program. In 2004 she was the YM-YWCA woman of Distinction and in 2009 she was inducted into the Order of Manitoba. (2018)

Born 1861. Died 1948. In 1904 she was a member of a group of women journalists sponsored by the Canadian Pacific Railroad to travel and cover the St Louis World's Fair. It was during the train trip that she participated in the founding of the Canadian Women's Press Club. In 1908 she married Arthur Léger. In the 1920’s she served as president of the Provincial Franchise Committee/Comité provincial pour le suffrage feminine.  She wrote the English language history for the 50th anniversary of the Ladies Morning Musical Club which had a member ship of 1200. She had served as president for 9 years and was there when the famous African American singer, Marion Anderson, was not allowed into a hotel in Montreal. The singer stayed at Cécile’s home. Source: Linda Kay, Sweet Sixteen: the journey that inspired the Canadian Women’s Press Club, 2012.

Born July 25, 1964, Kitchener, Ontario. Lisa earned her B.A. from the University of Ottawa. In 1989 she began her career with CTV in Kitchener, Ontario on C K C O. By 1997 she was the consumer reporter for CTV News. In 1998 -2000 she was the prime news ancho for CTV Newsnet. In 1999 she earned the Galaxi Award form Canadian Cablevision Television Network. She became an Ambassador of PLAN International highlighting child poverty around the world. In 2003 through 2010 she served as the national affairs correspondent for CTV national news covering wars, elections and disasters. In 2011 she was appointed Chief Ancho and Senior Editor for CTV News. In 2014 she earned the Canada Screen Award and the Bert Canning Award from the RT News Directors Award.

Born July 12, 1939, Toronto, Ontario. After high school she spent a year on a kibbutz in Israel. Returning home she attended the University of Toronto graduating in 1962 and joined the staff of the Toronto Globe and Mail newspaper. The following year she married politician Stephen Henry Lewis (born 1937) and the couple has three children. After taking off some time to have her children she began working as a writer of a regular column and editor for Chatelaine magazine in 1971. In 1978 she became a staff member of the Toronto Star newspaper writing a regular column on feminist issues. In the 1980’s, while living in New York City, U.S.A. she wrote a column for the Globe and Mail on New York living and a book This Is New York, Honey.  In 2005 the Michele Landsberg Award to recognize outstanding young women in media and activism by the Canadian Women’s Foundation. That same year she returned to work at the Toronto Star. During her long career she has received two National Newspaper Awards, has been the YWCA Woman of Distinction, received the Dodi Robb Award from MediaWatch, received the Robertine Barry Prize for journalism, earned the Florence Bird Award from the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development, as well at the Governor General’s Award in Commemoration of the 1929 Persons Case. In 2006 she was inducted into the Order of Canada. In 2011 she published Writing the Revolution published by the University of Toronto Press. In 2012 she became a member of the Board for Women’s College Hospital.

Born January 3, 1912  Disraeli, Quebec. Her early studies in Music and foreign languages were useful to the journalist who first newspaper post saw her responsible for music criticism and women’s issues. She would be the first Canadian woman to become an editorial writer in 1965 which was marked with her being named “journalist of the year” In November 1971 she was appointed to the Senate of Canada where she would be the first French Canadian Woman to hold the position of Speaker of the Senate.

née  Laroque. Born September 1, 1906 Hull, Quebec. Died January 27, 1965, Montreal. As a youth she worked in amateur theatre which would become a life long love for her. At 22 she married actor Jacques Auger in Paris, France where the couple studied at the famous Sorbonne. The couple had one daughter.  The couple separated and Laurette found the need to support herself. She soon had gained a reputation for script writing and wrote the plots for Quebec French language soap operas for decades. Even when on holiday she would send along her scripts for production. In 1947 she was recognized by the Legion for her generous attention s providing treats,  and entertainment for the wounded soldiers at St Anne de Bellevue Hospital. She used the pen name of Jean Despréz and was well known for speaking her mind freely on all subjects. She appeared on local French radio and television and earned a reputation as a theatre critic. She was a playwright who also directed and produced French language plays. Laurette is an integral part of history of French Canada's theatre, radio, cinema and television. (2019)

Born April 3, 1948 Longueil, Quebec. After attending the College Marie-de-France she attended the Université of Montréal and the Ecole des hautes études in Paris France.  Returning to Quebec she began her long teaching career at Cégep Edouard-Montpetit, Longueuil. A respected author in the French language she began publishing novels in 1979. She has sat on juries for various literary prizes, including the Prix Émile-Nelligan, the Prix Athanase-David, the Governor General's Literary Awards and the Grand prix littéraire de la ville de Montréal. (2018)

Born February 1871, Stanley Township, Huron County, Ontario. Died November 14, 1936. While still a toddler in 1873 her family relocated to Winnipeg, Manitoba. Like many of her generation she attended Normal School (Teacher’s College) and when just 15 she was teaching in public schools. In 1889 she attended the University of Manitoba but ill health forced her to withdraw in her second year. In 1895 she began a 2 year stint with the Winnipeg Free Press. In 1898 she travelled across country submitting travel articles to various publications along the way. In 1901 she published a book, Lords of the North , which helped finance her relocation to Wassaic, New York, U.S.A. Continuing to writing she submitted articles to various North American publications including Financial Post, Saturday Evening Post, Review of Reviews and Collier’s. In 1909 she published the book The Canadian Commonwealth, and began writing for MacLean’s Magazine often items of political commentary which was unusual for a female journalist. Her commentary allowed Canadian to open their perspective to the wider North American scene. In all she would publish 24 books with a north American historical background. Source: The Pioneering Journalism of Agnes C. Laut During the Great War. Cleo’s Current August 18, 2014. Online (Accessed August 2014) ; Agnes C. Laut Funeral today., The Windsor Daily Star, November 17, 1936.

Born 1880 (?),Edinburgh, Scotland. Died December 2, 1969, Duncan, British Columbia, She was the 1st woman to graduate in moral philosophy from McGill University, Montreal. She became the1st woman reporter in Vancouver with the World and Two years later, she was assigned women's editor of News-Advertiser. In 1909, founded Vancouver branch of Canadian Women's Press Club. An avid arts supporter, she promoted her 1st Celebrity Concert in 1921, bringing  world-famed performers to Vancouver packing the Denman Arena auditorium with acts like the Ballet Ruses de Monte Carlo and Belgian Royal Symphonic Band. Source: The Vancouver Hall of Fame online (Accessed November 2012)

Born 1838 Fifeshire, Scotland. Died July 30, 1917. As a journalist she would first use the pen name Hugh Airlie for her regular column in the publication The Grip. In 1988 she would publish a book of these articles called the Epistles O' Hugh Airlie (Toronto, 1888). later she would use and Irish pen name, and continue her popular writing. She also published more books including Dr. Bruno's Wife (Toronto , 1893) and while she lived in Scotland,  the Harvest of Moloch ( London, 1908). The family, including ten children, returned to again live in Canada in 1911.  She turned her talents to poetry and published Lays and Lyrics (Toronto, 1913)

née Gardiner. Born Merlin, (now Chatham) Ontario.  Eunice always loved to write and at 12 she had her 1st bylines in the Family Herald and the Star Weekly.  From 1946 through 1956 she was news editor for the Radio station CFCO, Chatham, Ontario. For the next two years she was a broadcaster and news writer for CFPL Radio in London, Ontario. After 1958 she moved to a position as morning commentator for CBC Radio in Ottawa, Ontario. It was here that she moved to print media becoming the Women’s Editor for the Ottawa Journal until 1967. She had married Norman Laycraft in 1966 and decided to leave her full time day job but she freelanced and remained with the Ottawa Journal as a columnist until her retirement in 1979. She was a Member of the Media Club of Canada serving as president in 1963. She was also an active member of the Young Men’s Christian Association serving as one of the two first women delegates to the national meeting in Toronto in 1956 which she followed up as a delegate to the YMCA Centenary in Paris, France in 1955. Source: Eunice (Gardiner) Laycraft , Who’s Who in the Media Club of Canada, 1991; files of the Media Club of Ottawa.

Born December 18, Sydney, Australia. Died March 17, 2015 Toronto, Ontario. In grade school Betty produced a daily neighbourhood newspaper in long hand and sold copies for a penny. This was the beginning of her desire to write. She left school at 16 learn shorthand and typing so she could become a secretary. She preferred to be called by her last name saying she felt like a ‘lee’. An early job was writing scripts for a Radio station and then as a writer and editor for a publishing house and fashion magazine. In 1950 she went to London, England to work for the Daily Mirror newspaper but the job was short lived. By 1953 she was working at the Toronto Globe and Mail as a reporter, rewrite editor, feature writer and editorial writer. She took off for New York City in the United States where she covered stories of the United Nations. She returned once again to the Globe and Mail as a feature writer for the weekly Globe magazine which was included in the weekend edition of the newspaper. She would tale and interest and fought for criminal justice rights. She traveled the world for the Globe and Mail and won a national newspaper award for her lengthy series on the insurance industry. In 1972 she became the 1st Canadian woman granted a journalism Fellow at Massey College, University of Toronto. Leaving the employ of the Globe and Mail she did freelanced writing for such magazines as Chatelaine, Canadian Business and the Moneyworth TV show. She would publish a book about the life of her partner Dorothy Knight who had worked as a nurse in the Canadian Arctic. Source; Lisa Fitterman, Obituary, Globe and Mail March 24, 2015.

Born November 20, 1955. Gail attended Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario to earn her Bachelor of Journalist.in 1978. During her studies She worked for the Ottawa Citizen newspaper. After graduating she worked for the Canadian Press until 1982. She was the 1st woman to be president of the Southern Ontario Newspaper Guild (SONG) In 1986 she returned to school for studies at Humber College, Toronto, Ontario for a Certificate in Labour Studies and became a union representative. In 1994 she became the 1st woman to sit on the Executive Board of the International Organization of Journalists. (2018)

Born October 10, 1935, Mill Village, Nova Scotia. Died April 1, 2013, Malibu, California. Her mother died when she was three but thanks to siblings she enjoyed an active childhood. She loved to sing and she sang and danced at 13 on radio. She began her career as a script assistant , communicator and singer for CBC TV in Halifax.  At 24 she relocated to Montreal singing and recording her own album. She soon joined radio as a commercial writer and then on to working for Television. She was the 1st female all night disc jockey on Montreal radio and the 1st woman to appear in regular programming on CFCF-TV. She worked for N B C in Houston , Texas before ending up in Hollywood managing the famous comedians the Smothers’ Brothers. She was at CBS New York prior to moving back to Canada in 1978. In the 1980’s she was v-p of network relations at CTV but her office door read “Vice Princess”. She was the 1st woman v-p in Canadian television. In 1984 she married for the third time to Judge Allen Linden and became a loving step mom to three daughters. She was the 1st female President of the Broadcasting Executive Society and in 1997 she was inducted into the Canadian Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame. She had a gift with people and it was said that she charmed all whom she met including the Pop and Queen Elizabeth 11. She retired in 1990 1st to Ottawa and shortly after to Malibu , California.  Source: “Broadcast pioneer charmed all she met…” by Susan Ferrier MacKay and Allison Lawlor. The Globe and Mail May 4, 2013.

née Elliott. Born 1943, Vancouver, British Columbia. Anne trained as a home economist earning her degree at the University of British Columbia. In 1966 she married Bob Lindsay and the couple would have 3 children. In the 1970’s she was a home Economist for the Toronto Daily Star newspaper. In 1979 she started writing for Canadian Living magazine. In 1984 she wrote a cook book for the Canadian Cancer Society and produced 5 additional cook books with and for charitable organizations. In 1992 she became nutrition editor for Canadian Living. Her work for magazines and her books provide accurate good nutrition by employing fun and a practical approach to healthy eating and living. In July 2003 she became a Member of the Order of Canada. Sources: Order of Canada online (accessed July 2011).

Born 1886 Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. Died January 29, 1935, Montreal, Quebec. The young Lipsett family moved to Toronto when Genevieve was just an infant. Later they relocated to Winnipeg and back to the U.S.A. settling in New York. From 1900-1903 she attended New York Normal School (Teachers College) and in 1904 she was off to Manitoba to teach. She found herself working from 1904 through 1917 with the Winnipeg Telegram newspaper as a reporter and editor to the “Sunshine Department of the paper. Outside of the office she served in 1909-10 as Secretary for the Winnipeg Branch of the Canadian Women’s Press Club. In 1910 she served as Director of the Anti-Tuberculosis Society. On June 6, 1911 she married Winnipeg businessman Robert Curtis Skinner, whom she stated was a staunch supporter of herself as a modern working woman. In 1912 she joined the Political Equality League, an organization dedicated to the advancement of women’s rights including the right to vote. In 1918 she and her younger brother Robert Lipsett started the Lipsett-skinner Press News Bureau specializing in Publicity Campaigns. It was a memorable year for Genevieve as she graduated in law from the University of Manitoba as the 1st qualified married woman in this field. By 1919 she saw the end of her marriage and was once again working back at the Telegram. In June 1920 she was an unsuccessful candidate for the Progressive Conservative party running for the Manitoba Provincial Legislature. Later that same year she began working for the Vancouver Sun Newspaper out of British Columbia. She would spend the next five years as an official Parliamentary correspondent in Ottawa, the 1st woman member of the Press gallery. By 1926 she was writing for the Montreal Star newspaper. In the late 1920’s she toured England and Ireland lecturing about the Dominion of Canada. In 1933 her picture was hung on the Ottawa Press Gallery wall along with her male colleagues. While in Montreal she served four years as President of the local branch of the Canadian Women’s Press Club. At her funeral in Montreal large floral displays were presented from the CWPC and Prime Minister Mackenzie King. Source: Memorable Manitobans. Online. (Accessed June 2014) ; “Associates Mourn Noted Journalist.” Montreal Gazette February 21, 1935 ; Obituary. Winnipeg Tribune January 30, 1935.

Born October 12, 1909, Winnipeg, Manitoba.  Died December 29, 1996 Victoria British Columbia. Dorothy attended the University of Toronto graduating in 1931 and earned a diploma from the School of Social Work at U of T in 1934. She also did some studies at the University of British Columbia and the Sorbonne in Paris, France. In 1931 she became a Communist and joined the Communist Party of Canada in 1933. A journalist and literary critic, she is also known for her short stories of fiction and her poetry. She was active in the Canadian Labour Defense League, the Canadian League Against War and Fascism, Friends of the Soviet Union and the Workers' Unity League. In 1935 she settled in Vancouver, British Columbia. In 1937 she married Duncan Macnair and the couple had 2 children  In 1941  she was one of the founders of the poetry magazine Contemporary Verse. In 1944 she won the Governor General’s Award for her work Day and Night and won again in 1947 for Poems of the People. That year she was elected a Fellow in the Royal Society of Canada and earned the Lorne Pierce Medal from the Society.  She taught in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) from 1953 through 1963. In 1973 she wrote a memoir, A Winnipeg Childhood which she followed in 1977 with another memoir, Right Hand Left Hand: A True Life of the Thirties. She was an instructor and writer-in-residence at universities across Canada. In 1977 she was presented with the Queen Elizabeth Silver Jubilee Medal.  In 1984 she earned the Governor General's Persons Case Award. She was inducted as an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1987. In 1989 The Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize was named in her honour. It is a category of the BC Book Prizes that is awarded to authors of the best work of poetry in a given year, where those authors are British Columbia or Yukon residents. In 1991 her last memoir, Journey With My Selves: A memoir 1909-1963 was published. (2019)

Born (Twin of Robert) April 16, 1925 Indian Head, Saskatchewan. Died February 26, 2012. While still in high school she became a correspondent for the Prince Albert Daily Herald. She continued her education and earned an Masters degree at the University of Saskatchewan in 1949. Taking a staff position at Chatelaine Magazine she moved to Toronto. By 1960 she was a reporter for the Toronto Star and was living in London, England as the Star’s 1st woman bureau chief. In 1964, back in Toronto she married Peter Reilly, a journalist. The couple moved to New York City, U.S.A. in 1967 when Mr. Reilly was the United Nation’s correspondent for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). While in New York City Jeannine wrote articles for the Toronto Star Weekly . In 1969 she moved to television journalism producing documentaries. In 1979 she turned her talents to drams producing her own scripts for TV. In 1987 she won an ACTRA Award for Chautauque Girl as the best program of the year. She retired in 1990 using her time to volunteer for causes such as saving Ramsden Park in Toronto. Source “A trailblazing Woman Journalist” by Susan Ferrier Mackay, The Globe and Mail, March 12, 2013.   Suggestion submitted by June Coxon, Ottawa, Ontario.

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née Macwalker. Died July 24, 2014, Toronto, Ontario. As a student at Acadia University she worked as a journalist in Saint John, New Brunswick. After graduating from university she relocated to Toronto, Ontario to work with Public Relations at the Robert Simpson Company. She became editor of Chatelaine  Magazine but the post was short lived as she was lured back to work for Simpson’s in 1964. A volunteer with the Helicon Society she was the founder of the Heliconian Foundation. She married Allison Cheyne London (1918-1975) and the couple had 2 children. Source: Obituaries, The Globe and Mail, July 28, 2014. Suggestion submitted by June Coxon, Ottawa, Ontario.

Born 1881(?) Died 1945. As a school girl, she won a prize in a writing competition run by the London Advertiser and she became a contributor to the newspaper. In 1904 she was a member of a group of women journalists sponsored by the Canadian Pacific Railroad to travel and cover the St Louis World's Fair. It was during the train trip that she participated in the founding of the Canadian Women's Press Club. In 1912 she would marry journalist Elfred S. Archibald of Montreal. Using Margaret Currie as her byline from 1914 through 1945 she was editor of the Women’s pages of the Montreal Daily Star.  1924 a compendium of her advice columns including helpful household and beauty tips was published as Margaret Currie – Her Book.  Source: Linda Kay, Sweet Sixteen: the journey that inspired the Canadian Women’s Press Club, 2012.

Born October 25, 1909. Died October 6, 2005. She attended McGill University in Montreal in 1930 and then a Masters in Social Work from the University of Toronto. She began her career in Hamilton, Ontario in city planning. It was here that she began to build a reputation as a writer. She made the novel suggestion of having a professional report on social work  Her feature column, “Successful Living” was published in some 25 daily newspapers and more than 100 weeklies across North America 1960-1988.  A true pioneer, she bequeathed to those who followed in journalism an ideal of professionalism and independence. She settled down and married at 82 and enjoyed travelling with her husband until she became a widow at 92.  (Submitted by Connie Johnson)

Born 1962 Prince Rupert, British Columbia. For her 1st job  in broadcasting was she presented the news after school on weekdays and weekend mornings for Prince Rupert Radio. In 1979 became Miss Pacific Northwest Exhibition. She studied journalism at the British Columbia Institute of Technology and worked as a beat reporter for a Vancouver radio station. She then spent four years traveling in Sprain and France studying languages, art history, and teaching English. In 1989 she was back in Canada working for the CBC TV in Vancouver. On September 2, 1998 she was reporting the crash of the SwissAir Flight crash near Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia for five hours and won Radio and Television Director's Association and Gemini Award for Best Live News Coverage. Her work has garnered her numerous awards including the Jack Webster Aware for best New Reporting in 2002 the Leo Award for Best Anchor in a News Program in 2004. She is an active community volunteer and host for such organizations as Arts Umbrella, Dr. Peter Centre, and the Royal Columbian Hospital Foundation. In 2005 she was named one of TVWeek's 10 Most Beautiful People in British Columbia. (2019)

née Luxton. Born 1926 British Columbia. Died March 3, 2012 Toronto, Ontario. Ida earned the title ‘BC Mary as a crusading journalist and later crusading blogger. She began her career as a freelance writer for the Family Herald magazine and other publications of the 1950’s. She wrote during time she was raising her two children and a mountain cattle ranch with her husband Bernard Allan Mackie. The couple worked together producing several books on such topics as construction with logs. They also founded the B. Allan Mackie School of Log Building and the Canadian Log Builders Association which is now the International Log Builders Association. Ida enjoyed developing a lively network son British Columbia politics. Her death was acknowledged in the British Columbia Legislature as a defender of democracy. Suggestion submitted by June Coxon, Ottawa.

SEE - Anne Marie Gleason

SEE - Emma Gendron

née Bruser.  Born 1922 Foam Lake, Saskatchewan. Died October 3, 1989, Toronto, Ontario. When she was 9 years old her family moved into Winnipeg. After high school she became an award winning university student. She earned her B.A. at the University of Manitoba and then went on to the University of Toronto for her masters’ degree. She then went to  Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A. where she earned her PhD at Radcliff (Harvard University). She married Max Maynard in 1948 and moved to Vermont were her husband was a professor at the University of Vermont. The couple had two daughters.  While she originally did not work at the university she began a successful career in journalism writing books and articles on child care. In the 1960’s and 1979’s she became a ghostwriter for Good Housekeeping Magazine writing columns including the Dr. Joyce Brother’s advice column. By 1952 she was hired as a lecturer at the University of New Hampshire in Continuing Education. She also taught a high school where she enjoyed nurturing young minds. In 1961-62 she lectured at the University. In 1972 she wrote an autobiographical volume called Raisins and Almonds. This was followed by the book, The Tree of Life. It was at this time her marriage folded.  Shortly after she met Toronto Businessman Sydney Bacon who would become her best friend and partner. Relocating to Toronto a Fredelle continued her success as a journalist, writing, lecturing and working on radio and television. In 1989 after being diagnosed with cancer, she died shortly after she and Sydney were married. An historic plaque has been erected by her house in Cabbagetown, an inner city neighborhood of Toronto. Sources: Cabbagetown People : The social History of a Canadian Inner City Neighborhood. Online (Accessed March 2014) ; Fredelle Bruser Maynard, Library, University of Manitoba, (Accessed March 2014)

SEE - Joan "Joane" Elizabeth Humphry

née Dixon. Born December 25, 1828, Belfast, Northern Ireland. Died October 22, 1899, Seattle, Washington, U.S.A. When she was in her 20’s Margaret came to Canada with her mother, stepfather and siblings. She married Alexander Dougald McDougall (1827-1997) in 1852 and the couple had 6 children. The family settled in the Ottawa Valley where Margaret taught school. Her 1st publication was a book of poetry. She also wrote for local newspapers and in the early 1880’s while she was in Ireland as a correspondent for the Montreal Witness and the New York Witness. In 1882 she published her columns from Ireland in a book: The Letters of ‘Norah’ on her tour through Ireland. She told about her travels again in her novel Days of a Life in 1883. After the death of her husband Margaret Became an active member of the Baptist Home Missionary Society, working in Michigan and later in Montesano, Washington. Source: Obituary in Seattle Post Intelligencer. ; Margaret MacDougal in Canada’s Early Women Writers.

Born January 27, 1935 Toronto, Ontario. Died April 27, 2005. She stared work as a secretary to Maclean's Magazine but continued her education. After receiving her B.A. in English form the University of Toronto she continued at Maclean's, as a writer. As a pioneer in journalism she would be monumental is dispelling the idea that women could write only 'fluff''. She moved to Ottawa, for a while and took an interest in politics that would become a lifetime pursuit. While in Ottawa she covered political writings for both Chatelaine and Saturday Night Magazines. Back in Toronto with her family of three daughters she honed her writing skills and began more in depth projects of writing publications such as the history of the Liberal Party of Canada and a two volume biography of Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau.

Born 1895, Toronto, Ontario. Died March 25, 1964. She studied at the University of Toronto (B.A. 1917) and at Oxford University in London, England (B. Litt 1927). She returned to Canada and was a reporter for the Montreal Gazette and by 1937 she had married Colin Sabiston and had been appointed as Art Critic for the Toronto Globe and Mail newspaper. She wrote Leo Smith: a biographical Sketch (1937) and collaborated in an number of other books.

née Elliott. Born September 6, 1881 Lilacdale, Ontario. Died December 21, 1961 Trail, British Columbia. Hughena married lawyer, Alexander McCorquodale (d 1949) on June 10, 1908 and the couple settled in High River, Alberta.  She began writing in the 1920’s. She wrote freelance features and acted as correspondent for the Winnipeg Free Press, the Calgary Herald and the Lethbridge Herald as well as such magazines as Survey Graphic Magazine and Chatelaine.  She became a full time journalist and editor of the High River Times in the fall of 1927 after raising her three sons. Member of the Canadian Women’s Press Club from 1932-1945. In 1944 the Stoney Indians expressed their appreciation of her writing in support of their rights to their land when they gave her the honorary title of ‘Eagle Woman’ with gifts of an eagle feather and a sweet grass necklace. When Hughena retired from the paper in 1956 she was honoured with the town declaring June 7 as Mrs. McCorquodale Day. She moved to Trail, British Columbia to be near her youngest son and his family. In 1960 her play Inside Out was aired by the CBC.
 

Born May 5, 1922, Newtonville, Massachusetts, U.S.A. Died July 15, 2010, Brantford, Ontario. Her parents were Dutch and in 1931 the family returned to Holland. As a teen she worked as a spy for the Dutch Resistance, gathering information from German soldiers and being a courier with messages carried in the sole of her boots. After World War ll she served as an Allied Forces Interpreter with the Canadian occupation army in Germany. After she married she moved to Lethbridge Alberta to be with her husband’s family but later relocated to Hamilton/Stoney Creek area in Ontario with her three children.  In the late 1950’s she was co-owner and assistant editor of weekly newspaper The Stoney Creek News, with Jean Craig and another woman. They were pioneers as producers and distributors of a weekly paper and their story was written up in Time Magazine. In1960-1 she worked as an advertising copy writer the Right House Dept stores, Hamilton, Ontario. In 1961-62 she worked as editor The Stoney Creek News for Brabant Publishers, who had purchased the weekly newspaper. From1962-88 she was Women’s editor and broadcaster CKPC radio in Brantford where the hour long daily Kit McDermott Show was aired. Trilingual she also provided French lessons on air.  In 1976 she served as National President of the Media Club of Canada. (Formerly Canadian Women’s Press Club).In 1988 Kit changed media and became a  columnist and freelance writer for the Brantford Expositor, Brantford, Ontario.  She believed in serving her community and was a volunteer with Big Brothers Association Brantford/Brant County, and a Trustee with the Art Gallery of Brant. In 1986 she served as honorary Chairman, Brantford/Brant County United Way campaign and in 1989 as honorary Chairman, Cancer Society. She lived in Brantford with her life companion Vern Cavanaugh for 32 years.  Sources: Kit McDermott, Who’s Who in the Media Club of Canada, 1991 ; Richard Beales, ‘Media Pioneer Enjoyed her Many Roles’, Brantford Expositor, July 16, 2010. Online (Accessed July 2015)

Born December 18, 1941 Morris, Manitoba.  Died August 25, 2015 Ottawa, Ontario.  1960 she worked as a student intern for the Winnipeg Free Press and she never forgot the enjoyment of journalism. By 1962 she had earned her BA at St Paul’s College at the University of Manitoba. In August of that year she entered the Society of Holy Names of Jesus and Mary and became Sister Audrey Catherine and taught high school. She took on part-time work for a local radio stations as a commentator on religion. After 12 years she felt she could no longer retain her commitment to her religious order and left joining CBC Radio. On October 22, 1977 she became the host of the program called The House. By 1980 she the social affairs reporter for CBC TV’s The National.  In 1986, she became producer of CBC Radio's religious and spiritual show Open House, and became the program's host in 1990. She remained with the program until it was replaced in 1994. She was the 1st female national reporter at CBC TV’s parliamentary bureau in Ottawa. She not only broke the barriers but she also held her own! After her retirement in 1996 she returned to university and earned her master degree in counseling and worked with the Employee Assistance Program for a government Department. Marguerite married Harry Elton (d2004) and there was a second marriage to Bill Young. While she did not have any children of her own she was step mother to 6 children. Source: Fred Langan, ‘CBC Journalist Marguerite McDonald Broke Gender Barriers.’ the Globe and Mail September 6, 2015;  Marguerite McDonald 1st to host CBC Radio’s The House dead at 73. CBC News, August 24, 2015. Suggestion submitted by June Coxon, Ottawa, Ontario

SEE - Businesswomen

née Claeys. Born December 30, 1924, St Vita, (Winnipeg) Manitoba. Died March 27, 2013, Princeton, New Jersey, U.S.A. There were no facilities for women at a mandatory camp for engineering students at the University of Manitoba so Yvonne studied chemistry and Math and was 1st in her class. She went on to post graduated studies and earned her Masters from the University of Southern California. She began her engineering career at Douglas Aircraft in Santa Monica, California, U.S.A. where she was one of the only women working and the 1st American plans and projects for satellites. In 1951 she married William Franklin Brill. The couple had three children. Her career carried her across the country where in 1981 through 1983 she worked at the National Aero Space Administration (NASA). She invented a propulsion system to help keep communication satellites in their orbits which is still in use today in 2015. It was in the 1980’s that Harper’s Bazaar magazine and DeBier Corporation presented her a Diamond Superwoman Award for combining family life and successful career. In 2001 she was awarded the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal which was followed in 2002 with the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Wyld Award. She also earned the American Association of Engineering Societies John Fritz Medal which is the highest award in the engineering profession. In 2010 she was inducted  into the National Inventors Hall of Fame and in 2011 President Obama presented her the National Medal of technology and Innovation. Superwoman indeed! Source: Douglas Martin, Yvonne Brill, a pioneering Rocket Scientists Dies at 88, in the New York Times March 30, 3013: Memorable Manitobans Online. (Accessed June 2015)

See - Social Activists

née Marchand. Born December 5 1861, Saint Jean sur Richelieu, Lower Canada (Now Québec). Died March 2, 1925, Montreal, Quebec. Josephine was educated in a convent school where she enjoyed education in both French and English. She began to write short stories, tales and plays when she was young. From 17 she kept a secret diary sometimes with entries sometimes in English. On January 12, 1886 she married Raul Dandurand, a lawyer and later appointed to the senate of Canada. The couple would have one daughter. From 1893 through December 1896 she founded the monthly magazine Le coin du feu which was the 1st French language periodical in Canada to be edited by a woman. She wrote much of the articles and columns in the monthly production using such pen names as Mme Danderand or Marie Vieutemps. After ceasing her own magazine she wrote for Le Monde illustré, Le journal de Francoise and La Revue moderne. In 1894 she became a lecturer in English as was called ‘the female Laurier’ which was a reference comparing her to the eloquent Canadian Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier. In 1898 she founded the Euvre des livres gratuits to provide reading materials to students and teachers in remote areas. The Government of France awarded her with the title of Officier d’Académie in recognition of her championing the French language in Canada. In 1900 she represented Canada as a commissioner of the Government at the International Congress of Women and the Paris World Fair. She was a member of the Montreal local Council of Women and went on to serve as the Vice President of the Council of Women of Canada. In 1902 she founded the women’s section of the Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Montreal which provided another outlet for her strong feminist views. In 1924 she published a book of her journalistic writings. In 2015 the city of Ottawa announced that it would name a street after Josephine Marchand-Danderand as part of a special project to rename 12 streets after Canadian women of Achievement. Sources: Line Gosselin, MARCHAND, JOSÉPHINE (Dandurand), Dictionary of Canadian Biography vol. 15, Toronto: University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2005; Erin McCracken Names of trailblazing Canadian Women may be coming to a street near you. Ottawa South News, November 5, 2015. (2020)

Born March 29, 1870 Québec. Died May 2, 1928 Montréal, Québec . A granddaughter of known historian François Xavier Garneau there was no doubt of her literary birthright. As a child she was educated by religious sisters and is thought to have studied literature in Paris, France. July6, 1892 she married Donat Brodeur ( d. 1920) in Ottawa, Ontario. The couple settled in Montreal where they had a family of 3 sons and 5 daughters. She wrote articles , newspaper columns, poetry, short stories and novellas but it was not until after her death that her daughter, Marguerite, collected several pieces of her work and published a book, Figures et paysages (Montreal, 1931) Source: Dictionary of Canadian Biography Vol. XV online accessed August 2011.

née Downey. Born March 23, 1924, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Died June 3, 2013, Greene, New York, U.S.A.   Amy attended the University of Saskatchewan graduating with a BA in 1943. While a student she volunteered on the university newspaper the Sheaf.  She was one of seven students, all women, who collaborated on the publication in 1943 of Seven Sheaves, a volume of poetry dedicated to the Sheaf. She went on to complete a PhD degree in Romance Languages at the University of Michigan in the United States where she settled, combining writing books with newspaper editing and some university teaching. In 1951 she married William D. Marsland from New York State in the U.S. The couple had four children.  In 1958, Amy and her husband, bought the weekly Chenango American, in Greene, New York and went on to purchase then The Whitney Point Reporter, then The Oxford Review-Times and in 1961 the Tri-Town News of Sidney, beginning  a family business publishing weekly newspapers. Amy edited the American, and she wrote a regular column. She reports, “anything from obituary photos to global warming to how to give a cat medicine, and after all this time my few thousand readers probably know more about me than my family.” During her life in Greene she was chairman of the Bicentennial celebration, active as a member of the Greene Historical Society in putting Genesee Street on the historical register, and chaired for some time, what later became Greene Community Services. She belonged to the Art Group of Greene, Book Club, and was a member of Zion Episcopal Church, where she served briefly on the vestry. She was the author of two Doubleday Crime Club novels, and, with her husband, of two non-fiction books: Venezuela Through Its History and Snow White, the Wolf and the Unicorn. Symbols in Art, of which she was sole author, was published on the web in 1998, and 2009 her last scholarly work, The Origin of Culture, was published by Academia Press. Source: Duff Spofford, ‘Stop the presses! Looking back on 100 years of Sheaf alumni in the media (Part 3: 1940-1946)’   Sheaf, University of Saskatchewan, September 18 2012. ; Amy Louise Marsland (1924-2013) Obituary. http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/PressConnects/obituary.aspx?pid=165168997#sthash.q01v381I.dpuf (Accessed July 2013)

Born April 22, 1962. She is a television news journalist who was inspired by her uncle, also a journalist, who ran an underground newspaper in her native South Africa. She is a graduate of Ryerson Polytechnical Institute in Toronto. Before becoming the host of the CBC Evening News in Toronto, she worked at TV stations in Hamilton, Windsor, and Ottawa   She has received 2 Gemini Award nominations for her work. 

In 1982 she completed her BA at the University of Toronto and went on to earn a Bachelor in Applied Arts in Journalism at Ryerson University, Toronto in 1987. She began her career at the Financial Post winning awards for her writings about the Collapse of the Campeau empire. She went on to work at General Motors winning 4 major national and international awards. Being a journalist she writes freelance magazine and newspaper articles and occasionally make radio documentaries for CBC. She has done work for the New York Times science section, CBC’s Quirks & Quarks, National Geographic, The Guardian, GQ India, The United Church Observer and Canadian Geographic Magazine.  In 2004 she decided to try her had at writing books. In 2008 she won the Atkinson Fellowship and in 2010 she won the Ghantham Prize. She turned her book Sea Sick: the global Ocean in Crisis into a one woman play in 2014 and has toured throughout North America performing. She married James Paterson and the couple has two children.

Born 1888, Kansas, U.S.A. Died September 25, 1982 Fort St John, British Columbia. Born in Kansa she had the wanderlust and relocated to Western Canada in search of handsome cowboys. February 5, 1913 she married newspaper editor and future Member of Legislative Assembly George Matheson Murray (   -1961). In 1920 she started a magazine called Country Life in BC that lasted until 1927. In 1933 George is elected Liberal MLA for Lillooet British Columbia. Margaret, who was dubbed ‘Ma Murray’ by an Ontario journalist, began the Howe Sound News in Squamish. Her son Daniel began the Cariboo News in Williams Lake. In 1937 Ma and George went to the orient and witnessed an air raid on Shanghai. Bach home Ma wanted nothing to do with Lillooet being a reception area for interned Japanese Canadians and the family relocated to Fort St. John, a rough and ready settlement with a camp of 5000 U.S. soldiers. Here she began the Alaska Highway News on March 17, 1944. As editor Ma took the town and the province to task on bringing progress to the area. She traveled rough unfinished roads or flew to locations that provided stories for the newspaper. In her own words “We raised a lot of hell and had a lot of fun.” She was well known for her “salty” language. In 1971 she was presented with the Order of Canada. In 1988 the Murray home in Anmore British Columbia was donated to the town along with some of the family presses. Sources: “Ma Murray: Fighting Editor of the Peace” by Stephen Franklin, Weekend Magazine Vol. 8 No. 23, 1958

SEE - Social Activists - Marie Arzélie Éva Circé-Côté

Born November 14, 1886, Winnipeg, Manitoba.  Died May 18, 1955,Winnipeg, Manitoba. In 1915 she started reporting for the women’s page of the Winnipeg Tribune, remaining there until 1945 when she became head librarian for the newspaper. She retired in 1948. She was a President of the Winnipeg Women’s Press Club. Sources: Memorable Manitobans. Profile by Gordon Goldsborough. Online (Accessed December 2011)

née Fraser. Born September 2, 1859, Galt Canada West (now Ontario). Died November 11, 1932, Calgary Alberta. She worked as a journalist in Toronto where she became the 1st editor of the woman’s Pages of the Toronto News. While in Toronto she developed an interest in problems facing working women and she introduced working women to the use of shorthand writing. She was the 1st woman teacher of Shorthand in Canada. In the 1880’s she served as assistant secretary to General Manager of the Northern Pacific Railroad. In 1884 she married Eugene Pierre Newhall. She also wrote poetry and some of her poems appeared in Selections from Scottish Canadian Poets. (Toronto, Imrie Graham, 1900). Source: Guide to the Literary Heritage of Waterloo and Wellington Counties. 1985. 

née Newman. Born 1938 Toronto, Ontario. Erna earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Toronto in 1960. She attended the Sorbonne in Paris, France to earn her Master's Degree. By the 1970's she was working as a journalist and radio broadcaster. Ema is also know for her books. In 1970 she won the Medial Club of Canada Award for feature writing. In 1973 and again in 1974 the Media Club of Canada recognized her feature writing and her radio documentary work. In 1981 her book, Long Shadows made the Now magazine Best Book ranking. April 26, 1981 Erna Married Thomas More Robinson  and the couple had two children. In 1983 she was a Gold Medal winner from the National Magazine Awards. In 1990 she earned the Best Canadian Essays for her work, The Boat People which also won in 1991 the Bronze Medal, The White Award the North American City and Regional Magazine Completion awards. In 1996 the End of Days: Tolerance, Tyranny and the Expulsion of the Jews from Spain earned the Canadian Jewish Book Award for history. In 2001 she earned the Now magazine Best Books Award, the Globe and Mail Best Books Award, the Pearson Writers' Trust Non-Fiction Prize, The Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing, the Dorothy Shoichet Prize for History, The Christian Science Monitor Best Books Award, and  the New Statesman Best Books! In 2002 she worked to have a resolution presented in the U.S. House of representatives to create a monument to American slaves on the Washington Mall in D.C., U.S.A. In 2005 Long Shadows: Truth, Lies and History was credited as one of the 100 Most Important Canadian Books Ever Written by the Literary Review of Canada. In 2008 and 09 she served as Vice-Chair of the Writer's Union of Canada and was Chair in 2009-2010. In 2012 she earned the World Federalist Movement-Canada World Peace Prize. In 2015 she was appointed to the Order of Canada as a Member. (2019)

SEE - Social Activists

Born London, England. Amanda earned her Bachelor Degree in Political Science and Women's Studies from York University, Toronto, Ontario. She continued her education with a Master's Degree in Sociology of Education from the University of Toronto. In 2005 she created ROOTS at York University that is a student organization that explores history and pursuing alternative education.  She had also studied theatre at the Lee Strasberg Institute of Film and Theatre in West Hollywood, California, U.S.A. and Theatre Ontario.  She began her career working with the Remix Project and as co- founder and coordinator with Lost Lyrics, an arts education program that used theatre, dance, poetry, film and music to reach at risk youth. She produced exhibits and concerts with Manifesto Festival, the Art Gallery of Ontario , and T-Dot Renaissance. Amanda is a CBC art columnist. She hosts three television show on the CBC including From the Vaults. She also host radio programs such as Marvin's Room. As a Playwright she  written The Other Side of the Games which is a love letter to the strength of Black Women. The play was staged in 2017 at the Cahoots Theatre, Toronto. (2019)

née Eileraas. Born July 9, 1920, Saskatchewan. Died November 18, 2014, Ottawa, Ontario.  Borgny  completed a degree in English and Social Science at the University of Saskatchewan in 1944. Her passion for writing led her to volunteer at the university newspaper, The Sheaf, where she wrote articles and poetry and became its editor. With so many men off at war in 1941, women were being hired to fill in jobs and on October 1, 1944 she was hired by the Regina Leader-Post newspaper to write human interest stories. After an automobile accident in 1945 Borgny began working for the slower paced weekly paper, The Shaunavon Standard in southwestern Saskatchewan. By 1948, Borgny was a reporter for The Swift Current Sun. She crossed paths with a lady soliciting for the Unitarian Service Committee (USC) and became so engaged with this overseas development organization, which helped orphans through setting up resources in third world countries, that in 1950 she accepted the position of Promotions Manager with the USC in Ottawa. In 1955, she took up a job with the advertising department at Murphy Gambles department store. In 1956 she became Editor of the Homes Page at the Ottawa Citizen for 3 years. She quickly moved into CBC radio, writing scripts and doing interviews. Another highlight in her career was working for the federal department of Citizenship and Immigration, where her duties included writing promotional material on citizenship for new Canadians, including youth. She also worked for 10 years at Statistics Canada becoming editor in 1976 for the Canada Yearbook and just before she retired she spent six months at the Department of Justice. In retirement she freelanced for her community paper the Glebe Reporter. She was a long time member of the Media Club of Ottawa (Formerly Canadian Women’s Press Club) and served as president in 1995. Borgny married Joe Pearson, who was Presse Attaché for the Russian Embassy, and together they raised their son and daughter.  Sources: Jessica Goodfellow, Borgny Pearson’s Eclectic Career, The Galley, Media Club of Ottawa. August 2007 ; Duff Spofford, Stop the Presses! Looking back on 100 years of Sheaf alumni in the media (Part 3: 1940-1946) The Sheaf, University of Saskatchewan, September 18 2012. ; Obituary The Ottawa Citizen, December 12, 2014.

née Stoddart. Born October 5, 1930 Toronto, Ontario. Died Toronto, Ontario August 2, 2011. She had started her interest in journalism with working on her high school newspaper. After attending the University of Toronto she became a cub reporter for the Globe and Mail. She noticed that there was nothing in the paper for young mother and put forth the idea of a column. The Morning Coffee Club ran for 10 years and won the Canadian Women’s Press Award! This was the 60’s when young mothers were expected to stay home. Joanne Strong was mother to three children who were often featured in her column. She did decide to stay at home returning to her writing only when the last child was out of high school. She wrote informal columns for the Globe and Mail where she interviewed prominent Canadians such as Roberta Bondar, and returned to school to earn her Master’s Degree. She was appointed to the Governing Council of the University or Toronto. In the 1980’s she married a second time another writer and the couple enjoyed travelling the world. Source: Lives Lived. Globe and Mail. September 2011.  Nominated for this site by June Coxon

née Stenton. Born April 19, 1921, Kingston Ontario. Died November 26, 2016, Scarborough, Ontario. The family relocated to Peterborough, Ontario where Jean and her sister attended high school. It was here  at the Peterborough Examiner newspaper that Jean got the 1st job as a journalist in 1942. She worked being in charge of foreign news and military news including covering D Day on June 6, 1944. She remained at this job until 1956 when she left to freelance and travel to Mexico. By 1958 she was a copy editor with the Toronto Globe and Mail newspaper. She worked as a foreign correspondent covering Asia from Japan to Cambodia where she met her husband, Felix Portugal. Jean began working with the United States Information Agency in Cambodia. She received a commendation for her cool leadership she the American Embassy was under siege. In 1965 she was back in Canada working as a provincial information officer with the Ontario Department of Municipal Affairs. She went on to work for Maclean Hunter Publishing until 1987. She took on the ambitious project ‘we were there’  recording stories of World War ll veterans. The stories were published in seven volumes. On the 5oth anniversary of D-Day she received a commemorative medal for her telling stories of veterans. She also received awards from France for her travel and tourism writings. Source: Fred Langan, Obituary, Toronto Globe and Mail, January 1. 2017.

Born September 5, 1953 Windsor, Ontario. Valerie graduated with a degree in radio and television from Ryerson University, Toronto. While she was still a student when she took a summer job with CFRB radio in Toronto in 1973. She became a full time reporter on CFRB and in 1981 she was hosting her own daily show on CFRB. She switched over to CBC and was a host of Midday until 1992. Switching again she began working as co-host to the CTV program Canada AM. She also hosted special events such as elections, the Oscars, royal weddings, and the Olympic Games. Valerie is married to Andy Pringle and the couple have one daughter. In 2001 she hosted a travel show, documentary specials for Discovery Channel Canada and from 2006 she hosted Antique Road Show. That same year she was appointed to the Order of Canada for her work in broadcasting and philanthropy. She is the official spokesperson for the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Trans Canada Trail. She also volunteers with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto. In 2017 she was appointed as a Mentor with the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation. (2019)

Born 1949, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Died June 1, 2013, Halifax, Nov Scotia. She graduated high school at 16 and entered university. Here she was introduced to drugs and by 19 she was married to Roderick MacEachern. Mother to a son and sported a drug addiction. She was able to turn her life around and in 1974 began working as a reporter at the Halifax Chronicle Herald. She excelled as a journalist and became the 1st woman to work as managing editor of the newspaper. During this time she also served on the boards for the Canadian Press and the National Newspaper awards. In 1999 she was up front about her addiction and ran successfully becoming a Member of the Legislative Assembly until 2003. She held cabinet positions in education and health as well as for the Status of Women. After being defeated in the 2003 election she returned to newspapers working as editor of the Halifax Daily News. She also served as chief of staff for premier Hamm and was an analyst for CBC who was known for being out front and frank. Source: “From heroin addict to Cabinet Minister” by Allison Lawlor in the Globe and Mail June 25, 2013

Born March 24, 1910, England. Died  January 3, 2013, Edmonton, Alberta. Privately educated she decided against any of the accepted career choices and took off to be a reporter. She worked during her career for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) Reuters  and the Canadian Television (CTV) She worked with Reuters from 1935 through 1944 interviewing such notables as Emperor Haile Selasie. During the war she was a member of the U.S. Air Force. From 1948-1954 she owned a PR organization serving such notables as the actress Deborah Kerr. She immigrated to Edmonton Alberta when she was 44 where she owned and operated an accessories and hat shop while she continued to serve as a reporter, playwright and a theatre reviewer and taught Radio and TV Arts at the University of Alberta! In the 1960’s she hitch hiked to the Distance Early Warning Line (DEW LINE) that was set up as defence for the north during the cold war, to interview Canadian troops. She was a proud member of the Canadian Woman’s Press Club. Source: Joy Roberts-White 1910-2013, The Ottawa Citizen January 26, 2013. Suggestion submitted by June Coxon, Ottawa, Ontario

Born March 19, 1943, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Died March 18, 2014, King City, Ontario. Heather attended the University of Manitoba and was a feisty editor of the university newspaper, The Manitoban. She went  on to post graduated studies at the Columbia University, New York, U.S.A. In 1966 she began work on her 1st published book Reservations are for Indians (1970). She worked after university for the Winnipeg Free Press and then moved to the Winnipeg Tribune and she stood her ground to write for more than women’s pages. Her writings were also found in the major journals and magazines in Canada such as : Maclean’s, Chatelaine, Toronto Life, Saturday Night, Equinox, Elm Street, Canadian Forum and others. In 1973 she met her life partner Andrew Marshall and became a stepmother and later a son arrived. Concerned with the lack of respect given to writers she became co-founder of both the Writer’s Union of Canada and the Professional Writer’s Association of Canada.  In 1983 she tried her had at fiction writing Willie: a Romance. This garnered her the Books Canada First Novel Award. She went on to turn her work into a trilogy with Lily: a Rhapsody in Red and in 1989 Igor: a Novel in Intrigue. In her own local she founded the King Township Archives. She had two close brushes with Cancer and in 2000 she became a certified caregiver visiting hospices in Canada, England and Africa. She wrote about in pending death from her experiences. In 20011 she earned the Outstanding Achievement Award from the National Magazine Awards Foundation. Source: “Heather Robertson, Writer, 72: Reform Spirit Drove her Work, Private Life…” by David Hayes. The Globe and Mail, April 4, 2014. Suggestion submitted by June Coxon, Ottawa.

née Levi. Born 1897, Toronto, Ontario. Died 1989, Toronto, Ontario. Evan as a child she exhibited a powerful desire for leaning and retention of knowledge. In 1921 she earned her BA in Mathematics and physics from the University of Toronto. In 1924 she married Meyer Rotenberg (1894-1958) a lawyer and businessman. The couple would have 5 children. By 1926 she had completed her doctorate and was the 1st woman and 1st Jew to earn a PhD in Physics at the University of Toronto. Her thesis “on the characteristics X-rays from light elements” was actually published in 1924. In     1929 she founded the Hillcrest Progressive School the 1st Jewish Day School in Toronto. She served as a director through to 1944. Mattie also enjoyed being a journalist, in 1930 she worked for the Jewish Standard writing a women’s column. From 1939 through 1966 she was a regular commentator on the Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC) Trans Canada Matinee, which was dedicated to women’s issues. In 1945 her work was recognized by the Canadian Women’s Press Club (CWPC) with the presentation of the Memorial Award. In 1947 she covered the session at the United Nations and the Status of Women for the CBC.  By 1941 she had returned to the University of Toronto where until 1968 she was a demonstrator at the University physics laboratory. She was always a strong family oriented person who  made sure  the younger generations knew of their religious beliefs. Sources: Mattie Levi Rotenberg by Nessa Rapoport. We Remember, Jewish Women’s Archives. Online Accessed December 2012.

Born 1912 Change Islands, Newfoundland. Died 1986. She originally studied to be a teacher and taught in St John's for a couple of years. She resigned and was married in 1935. For the next ten years she moved to various rural communities with her magistrate husband. In 1945 she became the first woman's editor of the Evening Telegram in St John's. She contributed columns, editorials and fictional works all from a woman's perspective. She supported local women in political, business, volunteer and domestic roles and stressed activities of the local women's community. She had a dispute with the political views and resigned. She cared for her five children and interested herself in astronomy, music and working with the Girl Guides. She was awarded the Queen's Jubilee Medal in 1977 for her work with the Girl Guides.

née Marie Jeanne Annie Saint-Amant. Born July 1, 1892 L’Avenir, Quebec. Died August 4, 1928, Winnipeg, Manitoba. She was educated by the sisters of L’Assomption and L’Ecole Norman (Teacher’s College) Laval graduating with diplomas in both English and French. She was diagnosed with tuberculosis and spent 2y years at a sanatorium in New York State, U.S.A. During this time she occasionally sent articles to newspapers in Montreal. IN 1914, Back in Canada she and her sister, Marie moved to Gravelbourg Saskatchewan to teach. In 1918 the editor of the first French language newspaper in the province, La Patriote de l”Ouest,  sought Annette out to become the editor of the women’s page. Annette moved to Prince Albert Saskatchewan and became the 1st francophone woman journalist in Saskatchewan. Her writings reached rural women throughout the province and her works included poems, stories along with helpful hints. Soon she created a second column, Le Coin des Enfants which encouraged children to write. On December 26, 1918 she married Donatien Frémont (  -1967) the assistant editor of the paper. The couple had one child. In 1923 the family moved to St. Boniface, Manitoba where Donatien was Chief Editor for La Liberté Annette soon became editor for the women’s section. After her death, Donatien produced a collection of her writings, L’ Art d’être heureuse. (Montréal 1929. Sources: Herstory, the Canadian Women’s Calendar 2006 Coteau Books, 2005; Dictionary of Canadian Biography online Accessed April 2013.

née Dessaulles. Born February 6, 1860 St Hyacinthe, Canada East (Quebec).  Died November 17, 1946. As a journalist she used the pen - name "Fadette" and wrote for Le Canada and Le Devoir newspapers. Between 1918 and 1933 she also published 3 books, one of which Lettres de Fadette (Montreal 1918) was a collection of many of her newspaper columns.

Born March 6, 1930, Montreal, Quebec. Died May 7, 2013, Toronto, Ontario. She was raised in the Black neighborhood called Little Burgundy in Montreal, Quebec. Her mother often took family to museums  and as many musicals outings as they could afford. Mariruth attended Sir George Williams College and McGill University as well as studying journalism at Columbia University in New York City. She worked on Montreal’s TV news show, The hourglass and moved to the CBC as a researcher and on-air host. She worked at Expo 67 for Canada’s Centennial year and then she was posted to the United Nations in New York City. She continued her education earning a master’s degree from the University of Ghana in education. By the 1980’s she was serving as a governor at the CBC. She was awarded the Order of Quebec for her work. Both her daughter and her son died before she did, one from an accident and the other from breast cancer. She became active in MATCH the international women’s development and taught prisoners how to read. She also was an active member of the Canadian Women’s Press Club/Media Club of Canada. In 1975 her 1st marriage to Cullen Hodge disintegrated and she remarried to Dominick Sarsfield, a director with the Canadian International Development Agency. The couple lived in Nairobi and she worked for the Department of External Affairs. In 1997 she penned an autobiographical novel No crystal star which was republished by Women’s Press in 2005. Source: Mariruth Sarsfield from Little Burgundy to Expo 67 by Elizabeth Renzetti, Globe and Mail June 12, 2013. Suggestion submitted by June Coxon, Ottawa, Ontario.