Susanna Moodie: Iconic Canadian Chronicler!

Susanna Moodie is well known to English lit majors from Cape Breton to Vancouver Island, but her full life story is even more interesting than the years depicted in her famous book Roughing It in the Bush suggest. Abolitionist, successful writer, independent lady, Ontario brush clearer, and now Canadian icon: Susanna Moodie probably didn't mean to help define the Canadian identity, but she's right up there with Sir John and Gordon Lightfoot!

Further Reading:

• Susanna Strickland Moodie (Dictionary of Canadian Biography)
• Roughing It in the Bush full text (Project Gutenberg)
• Susanna Moodie biography and poetry (Poetry Foundation)

LM Montgomery: Patron Saint of Spunky Redheads

Prince Edward Island is well-known for its red dirt, its potatoes, and for being the birth-place of a certain polite commonwealth nation. But Anne of Green Gables is what draws in thousands of tourists from around the world every year. This week we look at Anne's witty, intrepid, and complicated creator, Lucy Maud Montgomery, one of Canada's best-known and most beloved literary heroes.

Further Reading:

• L.M. Montgomery Institute (University of Prince Edward Island)
• Jane of Green Gables (Jane Austen Society of North America)
• Suicide secret of Anne of Green Gables author (The Guardian)
• Revisiting Anne of Green Gables and Her Creator (The Looking Glass)