You are here

Brooks, Anne Sutherland

Main entryBrooks, Anne Sutherland
Birth placeGuelph, Wellington, Ontario
Birth date24 July 1900
Death dateFeburary 1996
Identifier0187
Birth nameAnne Sutherland
Married nameBrooks
Marital statusmarried
Religious affiliationPresbyterian
Degree and dateteacher's certificate, Normal School, London, Ontario
BiographyAnne Sutherland Brooks (1900-1996) was born and educated in Guelph, Ontario, where, although Presbyterian, she attended the Loretto Convent as well as the Collegiate Institute. At the London Normal School, she qualified to teach. By her mid-twenties Brooks was beginning to attract attention as a poet and reciter as well as for verses in periodicals ranging from the NEW YORK TIMES to WOMEN'S WORLD. Her associates in the Toronto branch of the Canadian Authors Association awarded her the members' division poetry prize in 1932 and 1933, just a couple of years before she married Canon Edward Arnold Brooks (1907-) in 1935. With her friend and fellow poet Charlotte McCoy, Anne wrote SING A SONG OF CANADA (1937) which was set to music. I MET SOME LITTLE PEOPLE (1941), the last of her seven volumes of poetry, shows some indebtedness to A.A. Milne. In addition to caring for her own children, John Edward Arnold and Anne Elizabeth, Anne enchanted young listeners with recitals of her poetry and radio broadcasts of children's stories. She died in 1996.
Other notesIn a letter to the Ontario Heritage Foundation in January 1987, Anne Sutherland Brooks presented a "plea for a historic plaque to mark the last home of Isabel Valancy Crawford."* She wrote similarly to the Women's Canadian Historical Society of Toronto in April 1987 on "the matter of preserving [Crawford's] Toronto home from destruction." In the first letter, she draws on her friendships with "Charles G.D. Roberts, E.J. Pratt, Marshall Saunders,* etc."
Honours and awards1st place for "To One Mistaking Little Christ," Members' Division (Canadian Authors Association - Toronto, 1932); 1st place for "Blue Dusk," Members' Division (Canadian Authors Association - Toronto, 1933)
ResidencesGuelph, Ontario (1900, 1901, 1911); Hamilton, Ontario
Geographic regionsSouthern Ontario
Primary genrespoetry; non-fiction
BooksWITHIN A WICKER GATE (1927); LITTLE SONGS FOR SALE (1928); A RIBBAND OF BLUE (1929); THE SUNNE-BEAM STAIRE (1930); THE ODD LITTLE SOUL (1933); BLUE DUSK AND OTHER POEMS (1934); SING A SONG OF CANADA (1937); I MET SOME LITTLE PEOPLE (1941)
PeriodicalsAMERICAN FORESTRY MAGAZINE; CANADIAN BOOKMAN; CANADIAN HOME JOURNAL; CANADIAN MAGAZINE; CHATELAINE; CHURCHMAN; GOOD HOUSEKEEPING; HOLLAND'S MAGAZINE; HOUSEHOLD MAGAZINE; NEW OUTLOOK; NEW YORK TIMES; RAINBOW; WOMAN'S WORLD; YOUR HOME
Other publicationsAnthologized in: Benson, MODERN CANADIAN POETS (1930); Garvin, CAP AND BELLS (1936)
OrganizationsCanadian Authors Association, Lyceum Club
Father's nameJohn Sutherland
Life dates of father14 October 1853, Glen Morris, Brant, Ontario - 19 March 1934, Guelph, Ontario; m. 1888
Father's noteinsurance agent for John Sutherland & Sons Ltd. Insurance
Mother's nameAnnie Saunders
Life dates of mother16 May 1867, Paisley, Ontario - 1946, Guelph, Ontario; m. 1888
Mother's noteFrom pioneering families in Beckwith Township and Paisley
Spouse 1Reverend Arnold Edward Brooks
Life dates of spouse 14 August 1907, Barrie, Simcoe, Ontario -
Spouse 1 noteclergyman; went by Edward Arnold
Marriage 1 date30 April 1935
Marriage 1 placeSt. Thomas, Ontario
Children number2
Children's names and datesJohn Edward Arnold (16 May 1937 - 26 December 1992), m. to Mildred Noble; Anne Elizabeth (1942 - ), m. David Walker
Biographical referencesLetter to G.H.U. Bayley, 17 January 1987.; Letter to Frances R.S. McDowell, 30 April 1987; WHO WAS WHO AMONG NORTH AMERICAN AUTHORS (1921-39); Marriage Announcement, ST. THOMAS JOURNAL (1 May 1935); 1901 Census of Canada; 1911 Census of Canada; Ontario, Canada Births, 1869-1911
Bibliographic referencesWatters, CHECKLIST OF CANADIAN LITERATURE...1620-1960 (1970), pp. 25, 26, 121, 605
Research referencescomplete
Image creditsLine drawing by Una Vernelli (Vancouver, British Columbia).
CopyrightThis 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.