Some Well-known Authors 



There are others, some of whom have not 

 perhaps emigrated, but who are nevertheless 

 equally generally known outside Canada as 

 within a number sufficiently large to disprove 

 utterly the suggestion that there is no Canadian 

 literature. Amongst these can be cited Peter 

 McArthur, Robert J. C. Stead, J. M. Gibbon, 

 Duncan Campbell Scott, Capt. F. W. Wallace, 

 Marjory Pickthall, A. P. MacKishnie, ' Alan 

 Sullivan, Sara Jeannette Duncan, and three 

 charming woman novelists, Isabel Ecclestone 

 Mackay, Mrs. Emily Murphy, author of " Janey 

 Canuck in the West," and Nellie McClung, 

 author of "Sowing Seeds in Danny." 



There is another distinctive note in Canadian 

 literature the French-Canadian. The two-and- 

 a-half million Canadians who speak French as 

 their native language have developed a literature 

 of their own, of which the most distinguished 

 figures are the poets Louis Frechette and Octave 

 Cremazie and the historian Suite. 



The interests of the French-Canadian author 

 are not altogether identical with his English- 

 Canadian brother's; but in spite of this the new 

 Canadian Authors' Association starts its exist- 

 ence with a French-speaking section. 



The objects of the newly formed Associa- 

 tion are to act for the mutual benefit and pro- 

 tection of the interests of Canadian authors and 

 for the maintenance of high ideals and practice 

 in the literary profession; to procure adequate 

 copyright legislation; to assist in protecting the 

 literary property of its members; to disseminate 

 information as to the business rights and interests 

 of its members as authors; to promote the general 

 professional interests of all creators of copyright- 

 able literary material, and to encourage cordial 

 relationship among the members and with 

 authors of other nations. The central office of 

 the Association will be situated in turn in 

 Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Winnipeg, for a 

 period of three years in each. 



Montreal Selected as Headquarters 



Montreal was selected as the first head- 

 quarters, largely on account of the French- 

 Canadian section provided by the constitution. 

 This section acts under the general constitution, 

 but is self-governing under a "president de 

 section," and it was thought that Montreal 

 offered the best opportunities for the co-opera- 

 tion of the main association and the French 

 Canadian section. 



The following resolutions were passed at the 

 convention : 



That in view of the great increase in books and 

 other copyrightable material issued by Canadian 

 Authors, the interests of such Authors would be 

 furthered by the establishment of an Association of 

 such Authors with branches in convenient centres, 



the object of such Association being for mutual 

 benefit and protection and for the maintenance of 

 high ideals and practice, and that a Committee be 

 appointed immediately to draw up a provisional Con- 

 stitution and Bye-laws to be submitted to this Con- 

 vention for approval. 



That vigorous and increasing efforts be made to 

 enlarge the reading public of Canada by the pro- 

 motion and extension of public libraries and the 

 encouragement of booksellers, and that a Committee 

 be appointed to further such purpose. 



That a concentrated effort be made to secure 

 larger attention to current literature from the daily 

 and weekly newspapers of Canada on the ground that 

 the record of human thought as expressed in such 

 literature is of just as much value to Canadian pro- 

 gress as the present extensive records of accidents, 

 murders, hold-ups, political squabbles, municipal 

 scandals, stock movements, baseball scores, small 

 town chronicles, etc., and that a Committee be 

 appointed to further such purpose. 



That the Authors of Canada extend a welcome 

 to Authors of other Nations who come to this country 

 either on a visit or for permanent residence, in the 

 belief that all Authors belong to a common fraternity, 

 the members of which are always benefited by 

 becoming better acquainted with one another. 



A committee was appointed to take up with the 

 Dominion Government the question of the amended 

 Copyright Bill now before the Government. 



The elected officers were: President, Mr. John 

 Murray Gibbon, Montreal; Secretary, Mr. B. K. 

 Sandwell, Montreal; Treasurer, Professor W. S. 

 Wallace, Toronto. Vice-presidents, who repre- 

 sent certain definite districts were elected as 

 follows: Prof. Archibald MacMechan, Halifax; 

 Rev. H. A. Cody, St. John; Professor Stephen 

 Leacock, Montreal; Hon. Thomas Chapais, 

 Quebec; Professor Pelham Edgar, Toronto; 

 R. J. C. Stead, Ottawa; Professor W. S. Allison, 

 Winnipeg; Mrs. Nellie McClung, Edmonton; 

 Mrs. Isabel Ecclestone Mackay, Vancouver; 

 Basil King, United States. The council, with a 

 "President de section" and four members of the 

 French-Canadian section yet to be appointed, 

 consists of Miss Grace Blackburn, London, Ont. ; 

 Bliss Carman, New Canaan, Conn.; Warwick 

 Chipman, Montreal; Rev. C. W. Gordon (Ralph 

 Connor), Winnipeg; Miss Lucy Doyle, Toronto; 

 Hector Garneau, Montreal; Mrs. Florence Ran- 

 dal Livesay, Toronto; W. D. Lighthall, Montreal; 

 Miss Agnes Laut, New York; Dr. Geo. H. Locke, 

 Toronto; Mrs. Madge Macbeth, Ottawa; Sir 

 Andrew Macphail, Montreal; Mrs. E. Macdon- 

 ald (L. M. Montgomery), Leaskdale. Ont.; 

 Louvigny de Montigny, Ottawa; Mrs. Emily 

 Murphy, Edmonton; Frank L. Packard, Lachine, 

 Que.; Miss Marjorie Pickthall, Victoria, B.C.; 

 Lloyd Roberts, Ottawa; Theodore Roberts, 

 temporarily in England; Duncan Campbell 

 Scott, Ottawa; Robert Service, Paris, France; 

 Miss J. G. Sime, Montreal; Arthur Stringer, 

 Chatham, Ont. 



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