Ethel Wilson
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Ethel Davis Wilson (January 20, 1888 - December 22, 1980) was a Canadian writer of short stories and novels.
Born in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, she moved to England in 1890 following the death of her mother. In 1898, after the death of her father, she was taken to live with her maternal grandmother in Vancouver, British Columbia. She received her teacher's certificate in 1907, and for thirteen years taught in Vancouver elementary schools. In 1921 she married Wallace Wilson, President of the Canadian Medical Association and professor of medical ethics at the University of British Columbia.
In the 1930s Wilson published a few short stories and began a series of fictionalized family reminiscences which were later published as The Innocent Traveller (1949). Her first published novel, Hetty Dorval, appeared in 1947, and was followed, seven years later by Swamp Angel (1954), generally thought of as her most accomplished work. Her final book was Mrs Golightly and Other Stories (1961).
Wilson is the subject of one work of criticism, Ethel Wilson by Desmond Pacey, and two biographies, The Other Side of Silence: A Life of Ethel Wilson by Mary McAlpine and Ethel Wilson: A Critical Biography by David Stouck.
The Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize is named in her honour.
[edit] Bibliography
- Hetty Dorval — 1947
- The Innocent Traveller — 1949
- The Equations of Love — 1952
- Swamp Angel — 1954
- Love and Salt Water — 1956
- Mrs. Golightly and Other Stories — 1961
- Ethel Wilson: Stories, Essays, and Letters — 1987 (edited by David Stouck)
[edit] Awards and recognition
For her contribution to Canadian literature, Wilson was awarded the Canada Council Medal in 1961 and the Royal Society of Canada's Lorne Pierce Medal in 1964. In 1970, she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada "for her contribution to Canadian literature". [1]
