Agnes Littlejohn (25 September 1865 – 27 December 1944) was an Australian writer.
Life
Agnes Littlejohn was born in
Paddington
Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Padd ...
, New South Wales on 25 September 1865. Her Scottish father, Thomas Littlejohn (d.1906) and his wife Ann Austin Littlejohn (née Orsmond in Tahiti) had migrated to Australia in 1864.
Littlejohn had paintings in the Australian Academy of Arts Exhibition in 1892.
Her first collection of short stories was published in 1907, the year following her father's death, and was reviewed favourably by ''
The Sydney Morning Herald
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...
''. It contained both new stories and others which had previously been published in the ''Presbyterian''. From November 1907 her stories appeared in the "Young Folks" and "Australian Stories" columns of ''
The Sydney Mail
''The Sydney Mail'' was an Australian magazine published weekly in Sydney. It was the weekly edition of ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' newspaper and ran from 1860 to 1938.
History
''The Sydney Mail'' was first published on 17 July 1860 by J ...
.''
Following the outbreak of World War I, Littlejohn began writing patriotic poetry which was published in ''The Sydney Mail.'' It was collected and re-published in a series of volumes during the war years. She also donated earnings from her writing to
patriotic funds.
Her first book of fairy stories for children, ''Star Dust and Sea Spray'', appeared in 1918 and was illustrated by
Sydney Ure Smith and
Percy Leason
Percy Alexander Leason (23 February 1889 – 11 September 1959) was an Australian political cartoonist and artist who was a major figure in the Australian tonalist movement. As a painter and commercial artist his works span two continents.
Ea ...
, while
Pixie O'Harris illustrated her 1924 book, ''The Lost Emerald and other Stories''.
She also wrote the lyrics for the song, "To a Butterfly", composed by
Raimund Pechotsch in 1925. It was dedicated to and sung by
Elsa Stralia.
In 1931 she began to write poetry for ''The Sydney Morning Herald''.
Works
Prose
* ''The Daughter of a Sailor and other stories'' (1907)
* ''A Lapse of Memory and other stories'' (1909)
* ''Mirage of the Desert'' (1910)
* ''The Breath of India'' (1914)
*''The Silver Road and other stories'' (1915)
*''Star Dust and Sea Spray'' (1918)
*''Rainbow Dreams'' (1919)
*''The Lost Emerald and other Stories'' (1924)
*''The Pipes O' Pan and other short stories'' (1939)
Poetry
* ''Verses'' (1914)
*''Patriotic Poems'' (1915)
*''Verses'' (1915)
*''War Poems, dedicated to Australian soldiers'' (1916)
*''The Lady of the Doves and other poems'' (1929)
*''The Guardian of the Gate and other poems'' (1933)
*''The Unforgotten Watch and other poems'' (1935)
*''Drowsy Hours and other poems'' (1936)
*''Lighthouse Keepers and other poems'' (1938)
Prose and poetry
* ''The Sleeping Sea-Nymph'' (1921)
*''Lyrics and Lyrical Prose'' (1927)
* ''Lyrics and Mystic Sketches'' (1928)
*
Later life and death
Littlejohn died on 27 December 1944 at a private hospital in
Epping Epping may refer to:
Places
Australia
* Epping, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney
** Epping railway station, Sydney
* Electoral district of Epping, the corresponding seat in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
* Epping Forest, Kearns, a he ...
, New South Wales. She never married.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Littlejohn, Agnes
1865 births
1944 deaths
20th-century Australian women writers
Writers from New South Wales
Australian people of Scottish descent
20th-century Australian poets