| Main entry | Grayson, Ethel Kirk |
|---|
| Birth place | Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan |
|---|
| Birth date | 20 March 1890 |
|---|
| Death place | Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan |
|---|
| Death date | 27 November 1980 |
|---|
| Identifier | 0295 |
|---|
| Birth name | Ethel Kirk Grayson |
|---|
| Marital status | single |
|---|
| Religious affiliation | Methodist; United Church of Canada |
|---|
| Degree and date | BA, University of Toronto (1910); MA, University of Manitoba (1914) |
|---|
| Paid work | lecturer (English) College |
|---|
| Other work | lecturer; concert reader |
|---|
| Biography | Ethel Kirk Grayson (1890-1980) was born in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, where she died ninety years later. After receiving her basic education in Moose Jaw public schools, she obtained a BA from the University of Toronto (1910) and an MA from the University of Manitoba (1914). She also attended the Curry School of Expression in Boston, Massachusetts, for a year (1917). Her academic career included lecturing on English Literature at Alberta College in Edmonton (1913), Mount Allison Ladies' College in Sackville, New Brunswick (1918-1921), and MacMurray College for Women in Jacksonville, Illinois, where she was assistant professor (1924-1928). A frequent contributor of prose and verse to periodicals, she had received seven literary prizes by 1947. One novel, "The Seigneur's Daughter," was serialized in WOMEN'S CENTURY (c1920); three others appeared in book form, along with a volume of verse and a memoir. She also published one play, "Flower of the Storm," in WILLISON'S MONTHLY in 1926. Her name is sometimes confused with that of her cousin, Ellen Vaughan Kirk Grayson (Mrs. Arthur Mann), who wrote textbooks on art appreciation. Ethel died in 1980. |
|---|
| Travel | San Francisco, 1909; Hong Kong and Honululu, 1913; New York, 1932; England, 1959 |
|---|
| Other notes | 1901 Census records birth date as 28 May 1892. |
|---|
| Honours and awards | Four-time winner of Canadian Poetry Prize Award (19--); Awards from THE WRITER and SHARDS |
|---|
| Residences | Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan (1890-1913); Sackville, New Brunswick (1918-1921); Jacksonville, Illinois (1924-1928); Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan (1928-80) |
|---|
| Geographic regions | Saskatchewan |
|---|
| Primary genres | fiction; poetry; non-fiction; life-writing |
|---|
| Books | WILLOW SMOKE (1928); APPLES OF THE MOON (1933); FIRES IN THE VINE (1942); BEGGAR'S VELVET (1948); UNBIND THE SHEAVES: A PRAIRIE MEMOIR (1964) |
|---|
| Periodicals | ALBERTA POETRY YEAR BOOK; AMERICAN COURIER; CANADIAN AUTHOR AND BOOKMAN; CANADIAN FORUM; CANADIAN GEOGRAPHICAL JOURNAL; CANADIAN HOME JOURNAL; CANADIAN POETRY MAGAZINE; FIDDLEHEAD; GLOBE AND MAIL; NATIONAL HOME MONTHLY; OVERLAND MONTHLY; SATURDAY NIGHT; SHARDS; THE TANAGER; WILLISON'S MONTHLY; WINNIPEG FREE PRESS; THE WRITER |
|---|
| Other publications | Anthologized in: Creighton and Ridley, NEW CANADIAN ANTHOLOGY (1938) |
|---|
| Organizations | Canadian Authors Association |
|---|
| Father's name | William Grayson |
|---|
| Life dates of father | 6 March 1856, Bradfield, England - 9 June 1926, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan; m. 1885 |
|---|
| Father's note | lawyer; Dean of Saskatchewan Bar |
|---|
| Mother's name | Ellen Babb |
|---|
| Life dates of mother | 14 November 1861, Mitchell, Ontario - after 1941, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan |
|---|
| Biographical references | CREATIVE CANADA, vol. 1; 1891 Census of Canada; 1901 Census of Canada; 1906 Canada Census of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta; 1911 Census of Canada; Border Crossings: From Canada to U.S., 1895-1956; Honolulu, Hawaii, Passenger and Crew Lists, 1900-1969; UK Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960 |
|---|
| Bibliographic references | Wagner, BROCK's BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CANADIAN PLAYS (1980); Watters, CHECKLIST OF CANADIAN LITERATURE...1620-1960 (1970), pp. 80, 301; University of British Columbia Library |
|---|
| Research references | complete |
|---|
| Archival references | correspondence about FIRES IN THE VINE, Macmillan Papers, McMaster |
|---|
| Image credits | Image from Alan Creighton and Hilda M. Ridley, eds., A NEW CANADIAN ANTHOLOGY (Toronto: Crucible, 1938). |
|---|
| Unverified titles | THE MODERN IRISH DRAMA (1914) |
|---|
| Copyright | This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/. Please cite Canada's Early Women Writers. SFU Library Digital Collections. Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada. 1980-2014. |
|---|