Showing 865 results

Andrew Lang, classicist, translator, folk-lorist, journalist, poet, historian, and critic was born on 31 March 1844 in Selkirk, Scotland. He was educated at the University of St. Andrews, Glasgow University, and Balliol College, Oxford. He obtained a first-class degree in Classics and was elected a Fellow of Merton College in 1868. In 1875 he moved to London to begin his career in journalism. Shortly thereafter he was elected to the first governing council of the new Folklore Society. His published works are numerous and in many genres. He died on 22 July 1912 in Banchory, Scotland.

Cosmo Gordon Lang, the son of Very Reverend John Marshall Lang, was born on 31 October 1864 and grew up in Fyvie, Aberdeenshire, the seat of his father's country parish. He was educated at Glasgow University and Balliol College, Oxford and ordained in 1890. He served as Archbishop of York, 1908-1928, and Archbishop of Canterbury and Primate of All England, 1928-1942. He played a prominent role in the abdication of Edward VIII. Also an author, Lang published H.R.L. Sheppard: Himself and His Work (1937). Lang died on 5 December 1945.

Margaret Laurence, noted Canadian author, was born Jean Margaret Wemyss in Neepawa, Manitoba on 18 July 1926. She was educated at the University of Manitoba. In 1947 she married John Laurence and they had two children, Jocelyn and David. In 1949, they moved to England and then Africa, where they lived in Somalia and Ghana. The Laurences separated in 1962, and divorced in 1969. During this time she returned to Canada, living in Vancouver, before going back to England, first to London, and then to Elm Cottage in Buckinghamshire. In the early 1970s, she accepted a position of writer-in-residence at the University of Toronto, and settled in Lakefield, Ontario. In 1986, she was diagnosed with lung cancer and passed away, in her home in Lakefield, 5 January 1987.

Laurence twice won the Governor General's Award for fiction, as well as many other literary awards. Her best known works are The Stone Angel (1964), A Jest of God (1966), The Fire Dwellers (1969), A Bird in the House (1970), The Diviners (1974 and many others). Her memoirs, Dance on the Earth, were published posthumously.

Gary Lautens was born in Fort William, Ont., the son of Joe and Bertha Lautens. Shortly thereafter the family moved to Hamilton, Ont. where his father had accepted a position at the Hamilton Spectator. Gary Lautens graduated from Hamilton Central Collegiate Institute and then went on to McMaster University, obtaining a bachelor's degree in history in 1950, while writing for the campus newspaper, the Silhouette. After graduation Lautens joined the Hamilton Spectator and within a few years began to write a sports column, "The Gab Bag". In 1962 he joined the Toronto Star, quickly becoming a columnist. He won a National Newspaper Award in the Sports Writing category in 1965.Then, branching out from sports, he began to write a humorous, general-interest column, often relating the problems and delights of his family. He had married Jackie Lane in 1957 and the couple had three children. He published several collections of his columns in book form during his lifetime, twice winning the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour. In 1982 he was appointed Executive Managing Editor of the Toronto Star, a position he held until 1984 when he became editor emeritus. He was an active supporter of McMaster University. He died in 1992. Two collections of his columns have been published posthumously. Jackie Lautens has written about her husband's life in the introduction to Peace, Mrs. Packard and the Meaning of Life (1993).

Luís de Almeida Portugal Soares de Alarcão d'Eça e Melo Silva Mascarenhas, 2nd Marquess of Lavradio was the 11th Viceroy of the Portuguese colony of Brazil, the second one that ruled the colony after the seat of government moved to Rio de Janeiro. He was the son of a Marquis of the same title, D. António de Almeida Soares e Portugal and his wife, D. Francisca das Chagas Mascarenhas. During the 1762 Spanish invasion of Portugal, he commanded the 1st Cascais Infantry Regiment.

Irving Layton was born in Neamts, Rumania on 12 March 1912. He moved to Canada the next year with his parents Moses and Keine Lasarovitch. He was educated at McGill University. A prolific and controversial poet, he published his first collected poems in 1959, A Red Carpet for the Sun, which won the Governor's General Award for Poetry. His poems have been collected several times since then. Layton died on 4 January 2006.

This organization originated in the 1920s as part of the Communist Party of Canada, from which its founders were expelled in 1928 because of their support for the political positions of Leon Trotsky. Banned during World War II the organization was relaunched in 1945 as the Revolutionary Workers Party, Canadian Section of the Fourth International.

By 1963 it was known as the League for Socialist Action, with members in Toronto and Vancouver. The following year a branch was established in Montreal under the name Ligue Socialiste Ouvrière. A youth wing, the Young Socialists, was established in 1964; its branch in Quebec was known as the Ligue des Jeunes Socialistes. Following a positive response from the New Democratic Party Socialist Caucus during 1967-1968, a section of the League emerged as the "Waffle" Caucus of the N.D.P. in 1969. The "Waffle", however, proved to be a broad, heterogeneous formation, encompassing a wide spectrum of views, from liberal-reformist and patriotic to revolutionary socialist and inter-nationalist and the N.D.P. soon found itself unable to tolerate the more revolutionary Marxist and Trotskyist elements within the party. The main body of the League for Socialist Action and the International Socialists continued working through the N.D.P. but many more extreme members became discouraged by their apparent lack of progress.

In the spring of 1972 the "Waffle" was proscribed as an organized left wing within the party. One section went on to found the Movement for an Independent Socialist Canada while others, wishing to remain inside the party formed the Left Caucus "to continue the struggle". The 1973 convention of the adult organization saw the emergence of a minority grouping, the Revolutionary Communist Tendency, which went on to join the Revolutionary Marxist Group. In 1977 supporters of the Revolutionary Marxist Group and a separate Quebec organization, the Groupe Marxiste Revolutionnarie, united with the League for Socialist Action and the Ligue Socialiste Ouvrière, as well as both youth groups, to form the Revolutionary Workers League. In the late 1980s the League changed its name to the Communist League of Canada.

Timothy Leary was born 22 October 1920 in Springfield, Massachusetts. In the 1950s and 1960s he taught psychology at the University of California at Berkeley and Harvard University. He was a proponent of the drug culture in the 1960s and experimented with consciousness-altering drugs such as LSD.

A prolific author, he wrote an autobiography, Flashbacks (1983). He died on 31 May 1996.

Sir Edwin Hartley Cameron Leather was born in Toronto, Ont. on 22 May 1919, the son of Harold Hamilton Leather and the former Grace C. Holmes. He was educated at Trinity College School in Port Hope, Ont. and the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ont. He married Sheila Greenlees on 9 March 1940; the couple has two daughters. During World War II, he served overseas with the Canadian Army.

After the war he remained in England, becoming a parliamentary candidate in 1945. He was Conservative Member of Parliament for North Somerset from 1950-1964. He was knighted in 1962. In 1973 he succeeded the murdered Sir Richard Sharples as Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Bermuda and remained in this position until 1977. He was for several years an executive and then director of Hogg Robinson Ltd. as well as serving on the board of directors of several other companies. He died in Bermuda on 5 April 2005.

Sir Edwin wrote on politics, business and religion for many newspapers and magazines, as well as being a public speaker and broadcaster. He was also the author of three novels.

Grace C. Holmes, of Toronto, married Harold Leather in 1918 while in England. They had one child, Edwin.

Harold Hamilton Leather was born on 23 May 1893 in Hamilton, Ont., the son of Thomas Edwin Leather and the former Helen McIntyre Skinner. He was educated at Trinity College School in Port Hope, Ont. He served in World War I, joining the Imperial Service Corps in England as a private. He returned to Canada in 1919 with rank of captain.

While in England he married Grace C. Holmes, of Toronto, in 1918. They had one child, Edwin. Harold Leather established his own company, Leather Cartage in 1924 in Hamilton, which was sold in the 1950s, with Leather remaining a director until his death in 1981. During World War II, he was in charge of the Canadian Red Cross parcels scheme. For this service he was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire and received medals from six foreign countries.

After the war, he became chairman of the Canadian Red Cross for six years, and subsequently was named an honorary counsellor of the national organization. Among many other activities, he served on the board of directors of McMaster University and the Stratford Festival until his retirement at the age of 80. He died in Hamilton in 1981.

Alvin Lee was born in Woodville, Ontario. He attended the University of Toronto where he received his Bachelors of Arts, a Master of Arts in English and a Ph.D in English in 1961. Lee began a teaching career at McMaster University as Assistant Professor of English in 1960 and progressed to Associate Professor, Assistant Dean, School of Graduate Studies, Dean of Graduate Studies, Vice-President, Academic and President and Vice-Chancellor from 1980 to 1990. Alvin Lee is the author of several books and articles on Old English literature and is a specialist in Middle English literature. He is currently Professor Emeritus, Department of English, at McMaster University. He served as General Editor of the 30-volume Collected Works of Northrop Frye, published by the University of Toronto Press between 1996 and 2012.

Dr. Lee was elected a Member of the Royal Commonwealth Society (England) in 1962. He was appointed Honorary Professor of English, University of Science and Technology, Beijing and Honorary Professor at Peking University in 1993. He was recognized by the Hamilton Gallery of Distinction in 1996 and achieved the City of Hamilton Award for Lifetime Distinction in Support of the Arts in 2015. He is also the Governor of the Lee Academy (a private elementary school in Lynden, Ontario); and served as Vice-Chair of the McMaster Museum of Art (1998-2005).

John Busteed Lee, educator, poet, and editor, was born on 24 November 1951 in Highgate, ON, son of George and Irene Lee. He received a B.A. in English at the University of Western Ontario, in 1974, followed by a B.Ed. in English and theatre arts in 1975 and an M.A. in Teaching English in 1985 at the same institution. Lee taught at Waterford District High School in Norfolk County from 1975 to 1987, at which time he made the decision to earn a living exclusively through writing, performing and teaching poetry.

A prolific writer, he is the author of over forty of books and chapbooks of poetry, including Pig Dance Dreams and Stella’s Journey. His poetry, which has appeared in over 500 publications, has earned Lee many grants and awards, most significant of which have been the CBC Tilden Award and the People’s Poetry Award (twice). He has also written children’s books, plays, short stories, reviews, a writer’s guide, and memoirs, and has edited numerous anthologies of poetry, including Smaller than God. In addition to writing and editing, Lee was writer-in-residence at Kitchener Public Library in 2001 and has given many public readings of his work and facilitated poetry workshops for school children. In 2005 he was named Poet Laureate of Brantford, ON in perpetuity. Lee is married to Cathy Jean Morden, and they have two sons, Dylan and Sean-Paul.

Christopher Levenson - poet, translator, editor, and professor of English and creative writing - was born in London, England in 1934. He lived in the Netherlands, Germany and the United States before moving to Canada in 1968. His first book of poetry, In Transit was included in New Poets (1959). In 1960 he was the first recipient of the Eric Gregory Award. He was co-founder and editor of Arc magazine, and from 1981 to 1991 founded and organized the Arc reading series in Ottawa. Since living in Canada, he has published many articles and books of poetry. He has published two volumes of translations from seventeenth-century Dutch poetry and individual verse translations in European journals. He taught English and creative writing at Carleton University and was Series Editor of Harbinger Poets, an imprint of Carleton University Press, devoted exclusively to first books of Canadian poetry. He was for a year Poetry Editor of the Literary Review of Canada. He lives in Vancouver.

C.S. Lewis was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland on 29 November 1898 and educated at Oxford. He was a literary scholar, critic and novelist, fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, 1925-1954 and afterwards professor of Medieval and Renaissance English at Cambridge. In addition to scholarly works, he wrote popular religious and moral books such as The Problem of Pain (1940).

However, he is best known as an author of children's books — most notably the Chronicles of Narnia, the most popular of which is The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950). He died at The Kilns, Headington Quarry, near Oxford on 22 November 1963.

David Lewis was a political leader, labour lawyer, and university professor.

David was born in Svisloch, Poland on June 23, 1909. He was the son of Rose (nee Lazarovitch) and Moishe Losz, a prominent labour leader in Poland and Canada.

David immigrated to Montreal with his family in 1921. He attended Baron Byng High School where he befriended Irving Layton, A.M. Klein, and his future wife, Sophie Carson.

He attended McGill University from 1927-1931. While at McGill, he helped found the Montreal branch of the Young People’s Socialist League, and founded a campus magazine, The McGilliad.

In 1932, David was awarded a Rhodes scholarship and attended Oxford University. At Oxford, he was active with the Oxford Union and developed a reputation as a leader and a talented speaker.

Following his return to Canada, he practiced law in Ottawa. In 1935, he became the national secretary for the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation. With the CCF, he helped draft the Winnipeg Declaration of 1956.

In 1943, he co-authored Make This Your Canada with F.R Scott.

In 1950, David resigned as national secretary and moved to Toronto to practice law in partnership with Ted Joliffe. Through his support of Tommy Douglas, David played a role in the founding of the New Democratic Party in July 1961. He was elected as Member of Parliament for York South in 1962. He lost his seat in the 1963 general election but returned to the House of Commons in the 1965. He was re-elected in 1968 and became the federal leader of the party in 1971.

David lost his seat in 1974 and resigned as leader. In his post-political life, he became a professor at the Institute of Canadian Studies at Carleton University.

David was named as a Companion of the Order of Canada in 1977. His memoirs, The Good Fight: Political Memoirs 1909-1958 (Toronto: MacMillan) were published in 1981. He died on May 23, 1981.

David is the father of Stephen Lewis, the diplomat and former leader of the Ontario NDP, Michael Lewis, Janet Solberg and Nina Libeskind.

Stephen Lewis is a politician, humanitarian, global activist, diplomat, and public speaker. He is a Companion of the Order of Canada, was named “Canadian of the Year” by Maclean’s in 2003 and has received countless awards and recognition for his humanitarian work in the fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa.

Stephen was born in Ottawa on November 11, 1937. He is the son of Sophie and David Lewis, the former leader of the federal New Democratic Party. He is married to Michele Landsberg, author and columnist for the Globe and Mail and Toronto Star, with whom he has three children, Ilana Landsberg-Lewis, Avi Lewis, and Jenny Lewis.

Stephen received post-secondary education at the University of Toronto and the University of British Columbia. Before he could finish his degree, he entered politics and was elected to the Ontario Legislature in 1963 as a member of the New Democratic Party.

Between 1970 and 1978, Stephen was the Provincial Leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party. Following his political career, he became involved in broadcasting. He received the Gordon Sinclair ACTRA Award for broadcasting in 1982 and his CBC radio documentaries were published as Art Out of Agony: The Holocaust Theme in Literature, Sculpture and Film (Toronto: CBC Enterprises, 1984).

In October 1984, Stephen was appointed as Canada's Ambassador to the United Nations by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. He chaired the committee which drafted the five-year UN Programme on African Economic Recovery and the first International Conference on Climate Change in 1988. In September 1986, the UN Secretary General appointed Stephen as his Special Advisor on Africa.

In July 1988, Lewis resigned from his ambassadorship. He continued to act in a personal capacity as Special Advisor to the UN Secretary General on Africa.

In May 1992, Stephen was appointed as Special Advisor on Race Relations to the Premier of Ontario. In 1993, Stephen joined the UN Secretary General’s Advisory Group on the Fourth World Conference on Women, which was held in Beijing in September 1995.

Between 1994 and 1996, Stephen was coordinator of a two-year study commissioned by the UN on the impact of armed conflict on children, led by Graça Machel.

On October 25, 1995, Stephen was appointed Deputy Executive Director (External Relations) of the United Nations Children’s Fund. He resigned January 6, 1999.

In 1998, Stephen was selected by the Organization of African Unity to participate on the International Panel of Eminent Personalities to Investigate the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda and the Surrounding Events. Between 1999 and 2001, Stephen acted as Consultant to UNAIDS, UNIFEM, and the Economic Commission for Africa.

Between 2001 to 2006, Stephen was appointed as the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa.

Stephen is board co-chair of the Stephen Lewis Foundation, a charity he co-founded in 2003 that supports community-based organizations working on the frontlines of the AIDS pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa. From 2007 to 2021, he was co-director of the advocacy organization AIDS-Free World which he co-founded with Paula Donovan.

Stephen is the author of Race Against Time (Toronto: House of Anansi Press, 2005), a publication of lectures delivered during his Massey Lecture Tour.

On July 1, 2006, Stephen was named McMaster University’s first Social Sciences Scholar-in-Residence.

Stephen holds 40 honorary degrees from Canadian and American universities. His first honorary doctorate was given at McMaster University in 1979.

Wilmarth S. Lewis was an important American collector, particularly noted for his collection of Horace Walpole.

William Douw Lighthall, lawyer, historian, novelist, poet, philosopher, anthologist, and editor was born on 27 December 1857 in Hamilton, Ontario. He was educated at McGill University. He practised law in Montreal from 1881-1944, became a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1902, Mayor of Westmount, Quebec from 1900 to 1903, and president of the Canadian Authors Association in 1930.

His first novel, The Young Seigneur; or, Nation-making, using the pen name of Wilfrid Châteauclair, was published in 1888. The next year his poetry anthology, Songs of the Great Dominion: Voices from the Forests and Waters, the Settlements and Cities of Canada was published. His Canada: A Modern Nation was published in 1904. In 1933 The Person of Evolution: The Outer Consciousness, The Outer Knowledge, The Directive Power, Studies of Instinct as Contribution to a Philosophy of Evolution was published. Lighthall died on 3 August 1954.

Manya Kantorowicz was born in Bialystok, Poland in December 1906. The youngest daughter of nine children; her mother was a baker, and her parents were secular Jews in the Haskalah (Jewish Enlightenment) tradition. She developed an early interest in Communist politics. At age 13, she left Bialystok, Poland and joined the Twelfth Children’s Work Commune in Vitesbsk, Russia; and entered the Teachers’ Seminary there in 1923. In 1926 she immigrated to Montreal where her brothers had earlier settled. She joined the Young Communist League in Montreal immediately following her arrival. She married Sam Lipshitz on 20 January 1930. They moved to Brunswick Street in Toronto, and she began a 25-year career teaching Yiddish and Jewish History at the Morris Winchevsky School, operated by the United Jewish People’s Order (UJPO). In 1977, Manya published a memoir of her recollections of Jewish life in Russia and immigrating to Canada, titled Bletlekh fun a shturmisher tsayt. It was published in translation as Time Remembered: A Jewish Children’s Commune in the Soviet Union in the 1920s (Toronto: Lugus Publications, 1991).