Author Biographies in CEWW

A life-long resident of Toronto, Isobel McFadden published many non-fiction titles for the United Church of Canada as well as two volumes of verse.

The poems of Jane Arkley, who lived in various towns in Quebec, were not published until they were collected into a posthumous volume titled A Book of Verse (1912).

Montrealer Jane Belnap worked as an editor on a literary magazine and several professional reports.

A devoted Baptist, Jane Buchan helped to found the Women's Baptist Foreign Missionary Society of Ontario West and managed its associated periodical, the Canadian Missionary Link.

A member of New Brunswick's literary Roberts family, Jane Elizabeth Robert MacDonald wrote poetry and later became involved in the suffrage movement in British Columbia.

Jane Johnston Schoolcraft (Bamewawagezhikaquay) was one of the first Indigenous women in North America to compose literary work in English and Ojibwe.

Jane Layhew lived in British Columbia where she trained as a nurse and wrote one novel, a murder thriller set in Vancouver, BC.

A music teacher in Toronto, English-born Jane Porter published some of her musical compositions as well as a travelogue.

Jane Marsh Beveridge, sister of author Elizabeth Smart, wrote numerous screenplays and occasional poems.

School teacher Janet Carnochan resided in the Niagara area and published extensively on the region's history.

A life-long resident of the area around Guelph, ON, Janet May Armstrong celebrated farm and rural life in her only book of poems, published in 1935.

Jean Blewett was a popular journalist and poet who was designated a Person of National Historic Significance in 1946.

During her relatively short life, Jean Burton established herself as a versatile and gifted writer with a strong gift for biographies about overlooked women in history.

Jean Kilby Rorison immigrated to Vancouver where she established the Vancouver Shakespeare Society and was known as a prominent local poet.

Jean Makins Powley was based in Stratford, ON, and wrote two murder mysteries in the 1940s. The first, Crazy to Kill (1941), has been frequently reprinted and was turned into an opera in 1989 with...

A telegrapher for the Canadian Pacific Railway, Jean Mitchell Smith published a book of stories in 1911 and regularly contributed verse to the Saskatchewan Poetry Society's annualPoetry Book.

Jean Nealis converted to Catholicism upon her marriage and wrote poetry that reflected her troubled life in New Brunswick and New England.

Ontario-based Jean Newton McIlwraith was a journalist and author of historical fiction and non-fiction for younger readers.

Ontario poet Jean Percival Waddell was born in 1867 and issued three volumes of verse with the Ryerson Press.

Journalist Jean Watts was well-known as a committed left-wing activist who served in the Spanish Civil War.

An art critic and artist, Jean Adeney wrote "Art Notes" for the Canadian Bookman in the 1920s and 1930s.

Teacher Jennet Roy wrote a history of Canada for school use that was reprinted many times after its first publication in 1847.

Jennie Nelson Smith emigrated from Scotland to Halifax, NS, where she published two volumes of poetry in the 1920s.

Known primarily a writer for children, Jessie McEwen gave many public lectures about books and authors.

Jessie Findlay Brown was likely living in Toronto when she published her only book of poetry.

Raised in London, England, Jessie Georgina Sime emigrated to Montreal in 1907, where she became an active member of the literary community. Her collection of stories, Sister Woman (1919), and her...

Jessie Gourlie Hogg spent most of her life in Prince Edward Island, where she published fiction and briefly ran an annual entitled Christmas Chimes.

After immigrating to Ontario, Scottish-born Jessie Kerr Lawson supported her large family by undertaking a successful career in journalism and popular fiction.

Ontario-based Jessie Louise Beattie enjoyed a long and diverse writing life, with publications in many genres.

Jessie Turnbull McEwen was an energetic women's rights activist in Ontario and Western Canada, well known for her periodical articles expressing her views.

Joanna E. Wood was a prize-winning literary star of the 1890s, yet much of her life and work remains shrouded in obscurity.

Josephine Phelan worked as a librarian in Toronto while writing books about historical figures, one of which won the Governor General’s Award for non-fiction in 1952.

Joyce Marshall was a versatile Toronto-based writer who was best known for her short stories and her literary translations.

Juanita O'Connor lived in Halifax where she contributed criticism, poetry, and fiction to local and national newspapers and magazines.