List of Canadian writers

This is a list of Canadian Literary figures, including poets, novelists, children's writers, essayists, and scholars.

Lists of Writers by Genre or Type

List of Canadian poets
List of Canadian playwrights
List of Canadian children's writers
List of French-Canadian writers
List of Canadian short story writers
List of Canadian science fiction authors
List of Canadian historians

A

Milton Acorn (1923-1986) poet, has published 18 volumes of poetry
Ian Adams (born 1937)
Linda Aksomitis (nee Demyen) (born 1951?) novels, travel, poetry under pseudonym Sunflower Sue, manual for use of serger.
Charlotte Vale Allen (a.k.a. Katherine Marlowe) (born 1941) romantic novels, expert on child abuse
Grant Allen (1848-1899), The Woman Who Did
Sidney Allinson
George Amabile (born 1936)
Rod Anderson
Hubert Aquin (1929-1977) modernist Quebecois novelist
Gilles Archambault (born 1933)
Jeannette Armstrong (1948- )
David Arnason
Margaret Atwood (born 1939) The Handmaid's Tale (1985), Alias Grace, Surfacing
Margaret Avison (born 1918) poet, has published 8 volumes of poetry
Phillipe-Ignace Francois Aubert du Gaspe (1814-1841), author of the first French Canadian novel.

B

D.F. Bailey
Himani Bannerji
Volodimir Barabash (1900-1989), poet
Bruce Barber
Steve Bareham
Gary Barwin (born 1964) novelist and children's author
Ronald Bates
Bill Bauer
Nancy Bauer
Henry Beissel, (born 1929)
William Bell
Nigel Bennett
Pierre Berton (born 1920) prolific author of Canadian History, journalist and TV personality, popularizer of Canadian history
Dennison Berwick (born 1956), literary travel author now working in fiction
Gerard Bessette (born 1920), Quebecois author
Carol Biberstein, children's book Great Grandma's Rocking Chair
Sandra Birdsell, (born 1942), has published 3 works of short fiction and 3 novels, wrote The Two-Headed Calf
Earle Birney (1904-1995) anti-conventional poet, also wrote novels, short stories, drama
Bill Bissett (born 1939) poet, famous for incorporating sound and the visual into poetry
Neil Bissoondath (born 1955)
Marie-Claire Blais
Clark Blaise (born 1940)
Christian Bok (born 1966), poet, author of Eunoia
Stephanie Bolster
Roo Borson, (born 1952)
Nicholas Boving
George Bowering (born 1935)
Marilyn Bowering (born 1949), poet and novelist
David Boyd
George Elroy Boyd
Catherine Bradford
Karleen Bradford
Max Braithwaite (1911-1995) prairie depression era fiction
Dionne Brand (1953- ) poet born in Trinidad
Di Brandt (1952 - ) Manitoba poet and literary critic
Jacques Brault (1933- )
Brian Brett
Robert Bringhurst (1946- ) poet
David Bromige (1944- ) poet
Bertram Brooker theosophist painter
Nicole Brossard (1943- ) formalist poet
Robert Budde (1966- ) poet and novelist
Margaret Buffie
Bonnie Burnard (1945- ) novelist, The Good House
Mick Burrs
Sharon Butala (1940- )
Anthony M. Buzzelli

C

Barry Callaghan (1937- ) novelist and journalist
Morley Callaghan (1903-1990) novelist and writer of short fiction, wrote A Fine and Private Place
Elspeth Cameron, (1943- ) biographer
Silver Donald Cameron (1937- )
James Cameron (1910- ) poet and critic
Phil Campagna
Bliss Carman (1861-1929) poet, wrote Low Tide on Grand Pre
David Carpenter
Roch Carrier (1937- ) French-Canadian novelist and writer of short fiction, wrote La Guerre? Yes sir? also landmark childerns story The Sweater
Anne Carson, (1950- )
Gillian Chan
Pierre Francois Xavier de Charlevoix (1682-1761), first historian of New France.
Wayson Choy (1939- )
Leslie Choyce (1951- )
Greg Clark (1892-1977), humourist
Austin Clarke (1934- )
George Elliott Clarke (1960- ) poet, U of T professor
Lynn Coady (1970- )
Leonard Cohen, (1934- ), poet and singer
Matt Cohen (1942- )
Samuel Nathan Cohen (1923-1971) drama critic
Helena Coleman
John Robert Columbo (1936- ), poet and compiler of reference books
Karen Connelly (1969- )
Ralph Conner (AKA Charles William Gordon), The Man from Glengarry, Glengarry School Days.
George Ramsay Cook (1931- ), historian
Hugh Cook (1942- )
Michael Cook
Dennis Cooley (1944- )
Doug Cooper
John Paul Copeland
Thomas Costain (1885-1965), historical fiction
Douglas Coupland, (born 1961), Generation X, Girlfriend in a Coma
Isabella Valancy Crawford
Donald Creighton (1902-1979), historian
Claude Cremazie (1827-1879), French-Canadian poet
Lynn Crosbie daring prose stylist
Lorna Crozier (1948- )
Peter Cummings
Alan Cumyn (1960- )
Richard Cumyn
Herb Curtis
Leona Czwartkowski
Annie Charlton Dalton

D

Frank Davey (1940- )
Robertson Davies, (1913-1995) wrote Fifth Business (1970), publisher, professor, journalist
Mazo de la Roche (1879-1961), Jalna saga
Charles de Lint
Sandra Dempsey
Barry Dempster
Alexander Dewdney computer science and philosophy
Christopher Dewdney (1951- )
Kildare Dobbs (1923- ) short story writer
Don Domanski (1950- )
Heather Down
Candas Dorsey (1960- )
William Henry Drummond, (1854-1907), poet, The habitant
Réjean Ducharme (1941- )
Louis Dudek (1918-2001), poet
Dave Duncan (1933- )
Margaret Dyment

E

Howard Engel (1931- ), mystery writer
Marian Engel (1933-1985), novelist
C. J. Everon, (born 1971), historian and novelist: Justice Better Attained

F

Emil Ludwig Fackenheim (1916-2003), historian, philosopher
Edmundo Farolan
Brian Fawcett
Trevor Ferguson (1947- )
Jacques Ferron (1921-1985), playwright
Joy Fielding (1945- ), novelist
B.K. Filson
Timothy Findley, (1930-2002), Pilgrim
Sheree Fitch
Judith Fitzgerald
Barbara Fletcher
Helen Forrester (1919- ), novelist
Cecil Foster
Tess Fragoulis
John Anderson Fraser (1944- ), author former editor of Saturday Night Magazine
Raymond Fraser author of "Rum River", Costa Blanca", etc.
Sylvia Fraser (1935- ), novelist
Louis Fréchette, (1839-1908), poet, essayist, journalist, dramatist
David French (1939- ), playwright
Patrick Friesen
Robert Froetsch
Northrop Frye (1912-1991), influential critic, Shakespeare and Blake scholar
Robert Fulford autodictat, journalist
Nicola Furlong
James V. Fusco

G

Grover Gall
Mavis Gallant (born 1922- )
Francois Xavier Garneau (1809-1866), writer and historian
Saint-Denys Garneau (1912-1943), poet
Hugh Garner (1913-1979), novelist
Pauline Gedge (1945- ), novelist
Graem C. Gibson (1934- ), novelist
Margaret Gibson
William Gibson (born 1948) Pioneering cyberpunk author, Neuromancer, All Tomorrow's Parties
Joanna Glass
Jacques Godbout
David Godfrey
Robert Goldsmith (1794-1861), first English-language Canadian poet
Leona Gom
Phyllis Gotlieb (1926- ), poet and science-fiction writer
Sondra Gotlieb (1936- ), newspaper columnist
Hiromi Goto
Katherine Govier (1948- )
Barbara Gowdy (1950- ) The Romantic; The White Bone and short stories
Neile Graham
George Grant (1918-1988), historian
Grey Owl (1888-1938), conservationist
John Grey
Frederick Phillip Grove (1879-1948)
Richard Grove
Genni Gunn (1949- )
Ralph Gustafson (1909-1995), poet
Sandra Gwyn (1935- ), novelist

H

Joan Haggerty
Roderick Haig-Brown (1941- )
Arthur Hailey (born 1920), indefatigable researcher, author of Hotel (1965), Airport (1968)
Thomas Chandler Haliburton One of Canada's first authros, writer of The Clockmaker series
Jane Hamilton
Claire Harris (1937- )
Marjorie Harris
Elisabeth Harvor
Barbara Haworth-Attard (1953- )
Anne Hebert, Acadian author, educator Kamouraska
Steven Heighton
Louis Hémon (1880-1913), novelist and journalist, Maria Chapdelaine
John Herbert
Tomson Highway (1951- ) native playwright Dry Lips Moved to Kapuskasing
Robert Hilles (1951- )
Jack Hodgins (1938- )
Greg Hollingshead (1947- )
Hugh Hood (1928-2000), Master work is 12 volume novel-series (The New Age).
Cornelia Hoogland (1952- )
Nalo Hopkinson
Jan Horner
Harold Horwood (1923- )
Matt Hughes
Bruce Hunter
Catherine Hunter
Maureen Hunter
Nancy Huston (born 1953)
Hazel Hutchins
Bruce Hutchison

I

J

Donald Jack (1924-2003)
J. Robert Janes (born 1932)
K.V. Johansen (1968- )
Pauline E. Johnson
Andy Jones comedic playwright and performer
Terry Jordan
John Joyce

K

Surjeet Kalsey
Smaro Kamboureli
Alan Kane (1954- ), Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies
Welwyn Wilton Katz
Guy Gavriel Kay fantasy genre fiction
Lionel Kearns (1937- )
Adam Kidd
Crawford Kilian
Crad Kilodney
W.P. Kinsella (1935- ), writes novels about baseball and natives Field of Dreams
Thomas King (1943- )
Alex Kizuk
Raymond Knister
Joy Kogawa, Obasan
Lawrence Kootnikoff
Gordon Korman
Myrna Kostash
Henry Kriesel
Robert Kroetsch (1927- )
Robert N.Kucey, (1940- )

L

Tim Lander
Patrick Lane (1939- ), poet
Evelyn Lau (1971- )
Margaret Laurence (1926 - 1987) novelist, wrote "The Stone Angel"
Irving Layton (1912- )
Stephen Leacock, (1869-1944), McGill University economics and political science prof. text book writer and intenational renowned humorist
Dennis Lee (1939- ) - writer of children's poetry
Sky Lee
Mark Leiren-Young (1962- )
John Lent
Dorothy Livesay
Malcolm Lowry, (1909-1957) wrote Under the Volcano in Canada (1947)

M

Agnes Maule Machar
Ann-Marie MacDonald
Bernell MacDonald, (1950-)
Hugh MacDonald
Jake MacDonald
Gwendolyn MacEwen (1941-1987)
Isabel Ecclestone Mackay
Hugh MacLennan (1907 - 1990) novelist and essayist, wrote Two Solitudes and Barometer Rising
Alistair MacLeod, (1936- )
Antonine Maillet (born 1929), Acadian author, educator
Kevin Major (1949- )
Eli Mandel
Miriam Mandel
Lee Maracle
Daphne Marlatt (1942- )
John Marlyn, (1912-1985)
David Margoshes (1941- )
Nicole Markotic
Paul Marlowe
Yann Martel, (born 1963), 2002 Booker Prize Winner
Carol Matas (1949)
Shirlee Smith Matheson
Steve McCaffery
Nellie McClung crusanding journalist, MP,
John McCrae, (1872-1918), ("In Flanders' Fields")
David McFadden
James McIntyre, (1827-1906), the "Cheese Poet," known as the worst poet in Canadian history
Don McKay poet
Rhonda McLean
Marshall McLuhan, (1911-1980), English professor and media studies author
Susan McMaster
Robert McNeil
Sylvia McNicoll
John Metcalf (born 1938)
Anne Michaels
Christine Michels
Roy Miki
Rohinton Mistry, (born 1952), Such a Long Journet, A Fine Balance
Jane Mitchell
Jared Mitchell
W.O. Mitchell (1914-1998), Who has Seen the Wind
Lucy Maude Montgomery, (1874-1942), Anne of Green Gables
Susanna Moodie (nee Strickland), (1803-1885), Roughing it in the Bush
Brian Moore (1921-1929)
Keith Moreau, (born 1951), writer and illustrator of children's books like ABC Fun Things Book
Edythe Morahan de Lauzon, poet
Bernice Morgan
Kim Morrisse
Colin Morton
Daniel David Moses
Tara Moss (1973- ) - wrote Fetish
Erin Moure
Farley Mowat, (1921- ) Never Cry Wolf, My Discovery of America
Karen Mulholland
Robert Munsch (born [[1945), American born writer of children's stories
Allison Muri
Alice Munro, (1931- )
John Murrell (playwright)
Jai Murugan
Susan Musgrave (born 1951), poet and novelist

N

Brian Nation
Émile Nelligan, (1879-1941), French-Canadian poet
John Newlove
George D. Nicholls
Kimberlley Nickmann
bpNichol (1944-1988), poet
James Norman
Alden Nowlan (1933-1983)

O

Sheldon Oberman
Michael Ondaatje, (1943- ) wrote The English Patient (1993)
Kenneth Oppel

P

P.K. Page (born 1916)
Len Peterson
Marjorie Pickthall
Ted Plantos
Simone Poirier-Bures
Daniel Poliquin
Sharon Pollock (born 1936)
Jacques Poulin, "The "Jimmy" Trilogy" (translated titled)
E.J. Pratt, (1883-1964) poet
Robert Priest poet
E. Annie Proulx, The Shipping News
Jean Baptiste Proulx, (1846-1904), dramatist and essayist
Al Purdy (born 1918), poet

Q

Darlene Quaife
Paul Quarrington (born 1953)

R

Thomas Raddal (1903-1994, historical novelist
Gurcharan Rampuri
Nino Ricci (born 1959)
David Adams Richards, (1950- )
Mordecai Richler, (1931-2001) The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1959)
Gwen Pharis Ringwood
Ringuet (Phllipe Panneton) (1895-1960)
Sir Charles G.D. Roberts (1860-1943) author of a number of "animal stories"
Ken Roberts
Paul William Roberts
Spider Robinson American born Science-Fiction/humour writer, "Callahan's Crosstime Saloon"
Don Rogalski
Richard Rohmer (born 1924)
Linda Rogers
Leon Rooke (born 1934)
Sinclair Ross 1908-1996, renowned short story author
Gabrielle Roy, (1909-1983)The Tin Flute
Jane Rule (born 1931)
George Ryga (1932-1987), playwright and novelist

S

Rick Salutin (born 1942), political writer, essayist editor
John Ralston Saul, (born 1947) businessman, essayist, diplomat
Robert J. Sawyer, (born 1960)
Andreas Schroeder
Alvin Schwartz
Duncan Scott (1862-1947), poet
Frank Scott (1899-1985), poet
Shyam Selvadurai
Robert Service (1874-1958), poet of the Yukon
Ernest Thompson Seton (1860-1946)
Mark Shainblum
Murphy O. Shewchuk
Carol Shields, (1935-2003)
Marsha Skrypush
Joseph Skvorecky (born 1924), Czechoslovakian born Canadian novelist, English professor
Joshua Slocum (1844-1909), sailor and author
Beverly Slopen]
Elizabeth Smart, (1913-1986)
Russell Smith
Taylor Smith
Raymond Souster (born 1921), poet
Esta Spalding
Birk Sproxton (1943- )
Richard Stevenson
Kathy Stinson
Anne Stone
Samuel Strickland, (1804-1867) Twenty-seven Years in Canada West
Rita Summers
james L. Swanson
Robert Sward
Mark Swartz
George Swede
Anne Szumigalski

T

Kevin Taylor
Yves Theriault (1915-1983)
Sharon Thesen
Audrey Thomas
Ernest Thompson Seton (1860-1946) wrote about the Canadian wilderness
John Thompson
Elizabeth Thornton
Morley Torgov (born 1927)
Catharine Parr Traill (nee Strickland) (1802-1899), Life in the Backwoods of Canada
Rhea Tregebov
Michel Tremblay (born 1942)
Dietmar Trommeshauser
Maxine Trottier
Stuart Douglas Trueman
Elise Turcotte
Michael Turner

U

Jane Urquhart (born 1949), novelist

V

W.D. Valgardson, The Girl with the Bottecelli Face
Edo Van Belkom
Guy Vanderhaeghe (1951- )
Kees Vanderhayden
Brain Vanderlip
Aritha Van Herk (1954- ),
A.E. Van Vogt (1912- ), science fiction writer
M.G. Vassanji

W

Fred Wah
Bronwen Wallace
Ted Warnell
David Watmough
Sheila Watson (1909-1998),
Alison Wearing
John Weier
Elizabeth Wellburn
Frank Westcott
Mavis West
Thomas Wharton
Rudy Wiebe (1934- ), novelist
Diana Wieler
Ethel Wilson (1888-1980), Swamp Angel, Hettie Dorval, "The Window"
Rob Winger
Adele Wiseman (1928-1992), novelist and poet
Beverly Wood
George Woodcock (1912-1995), poet, critic and anarchist, author of Anarchism
Patrick Woodcock
Lance Woolaver
Eric Wright (1929- ), children's mystery writer
L.R. Wright

Y

Scott Young (1918- ), novelist

Z

Robert L.J. Zenik
Jan Zwicky

See also: Lists of authors