Félicité Angers. Born January 9, 1845. Died June 6, 1924. This was the pen name of Laure Conan, author of nine novels of French Canadian Life. She was a witness to her time. She was the first French Canadian female novelist. All her novels centered on the 3 driving forces of French Canadian life, family, nation, and religion.

Isabella Valancy Crawford.   Born Dublin, Ireland December 26, 1850. Died February 12, 1887.  Isabella emigrated with her family from Ireland around 1947. After the death of her father in 1875 she began publishing popular verse and serialized novels in publications in Toronto and New York City. She would be the first important woman poet in Canada. A complete collection of her works was published posthumously.)

Josephine Dandurand. nee Marchand Born St John, New Brunswick 1862. 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. He had a reputation as a great orator so it was a strong comparison for Josephine. 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.

Winnifred Eaton. Onoto Watanna Born Montreal, Quebec. 1875. Died April 8, 1954. She was the 8^th 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.

Julia Catherine Hart. (née Beckwith)   Born Fredericton, New Brunswick March 10, 1796. Died November 28, 1867.  She wrote the first work of fiction by a native born Canadian to be published in Canada.  Her novel was called St Ursula’s Convent or The Nun of Canada, Containing Scenes from Real Life” (1824). She wrote this book when she was only 17 years old! She would continue publishing her writings while she raised 6 children!

Gwethalyn Graham (real name Gwethalyn Graham Erichse-Brown).  Born January 18, 1913.  This author would use only her first 2 names. Her novel Earth and High Heaven was the first Canadian novel to top the American bestseller list (1945). This same novel would win a Governor Generals Award, would sell for movie rights (alas it was never to be a movie) and would be translated into Braille and 18 different languages! She continued to write but always in the shadow that she could never do as well with another novel.  She wrote articles on immigration, anti-semitism and women’s issues. Later in her career, she successfully turned her talents to writing TV Scripts.

Emily Pauline Johnson.  Born Six Nations Indian Reserve, Canada West (Ontario) March 10, 1861. Died March 7, 1913. Canada’s first renowned native poet she was also the first native born cultural ambassador. She was working towards unity for all peoples and the land when most settlers were only thinking of human unity.  She took her works all over Europe where she performed her readings in her native dress. Her native name was Tekahionwake. She was the first woman hououred by Canada Post to be featured on a Canadian postage stamp in 1961.

Mitiarjuj Nappaaluk. Born Kangiqusujuaq, Quebec. 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 first author to publish a novel in the Inuktitul language. 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.

Gwendolyn Ringwood.  (née Phares) Born Anatone, Washington U.S.A. August 13, 1910. 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.

Audrey Grace Thomas. Born Binghamton, New York, U.S.A. November 17, 1935. Educated in the U.S.A. and Scotland, this writer taught in England prior to moving to Canada to continue her studies to earn her MA at the University of British Columbia. She has published numerous short stories and full length novels. She was the first Canadian Woman to be invited to serve as Writer in Residence and the University of Edinbourough in Scotland.