Elizabeth Eileen Chater (August 22, 1910 – November 10, 2004)
/ref> was a Canadian writer of novels and poetry, and a professor at San Diego State University."Chater, Elizabeth" "Special Collections & University Archives", retrieved 5 Mar 2010
/ref>"Angela", retrieved 5 Mar 2010
/ref>

Biography

Chater was born August 22, 1910 in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, Canada. Her father was a successful attorney who provided a home with a library filled with books. At a time when women were not encouraged to seek higher education, she attended the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

at sixteen. While there, she was the President of the Debating Society, Vice President of the senior class, and graduated with honors with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree. She was married to Melville Thomas Chater in 1932. They moved to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

while he attended

George Williams College George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd President ...

. Returning to

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, where he worked for the YMCA, they started their family of three children: Elizabeth Patricia, Eve Lynn, an
Kerry Michael
They moved to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in 1952. It was during this time that she started writing and teaching at Palos Verdes College. Under the pseudonym Lee Chaytor, she published several stories in the popular science fiction magazine ''

Fantastic Universe ''Fantastic Universe'' was a U.S. science fiction magazine which began publishing in the 1950s. It ran for 69 issues, from June 1953 to March 1960, under two different publishers. It was part of the explosion of science fiction magazine publishin ...

''. In 1961, she became a professor at San Diego State College (now San Diego State University), and was awarded a master's degree with honors. It was there that she began a pioneering effort by teaching a course in Science Fiction Creative Writing with Greg Bear as her teacher's assistant. Among the faculty at the time were authors Vernor Vinge and

Joan D. Vinge Joan D. Vinge (; born April 2, 1948 as Joan Carol Dennison) is an American science fiction author. She is known for such works as her Hugo Award–winning novel ''The Snow Queen'' and its sequels, her series about the telepath named Cat, and ...

. Patricia Elgin was a student of hers, as was

J. Michael Straczynski Joseph Michael Straczynski (; born July 17, 1954) is an American filmmaker and comic book writer. He is the founder of Synthetic Worlds Ltd. and Studio JMS and is best known as the creator of the science fiction television series ''Babylon 5'' ( ...

. Her classes were enormously popular. In 1968 she won the Distinguished Teacher Award and in 1977 she won the Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award. In 1973 she became the inaugural faculty advisor for the S.T.A.R. San Diego on-campus Science Fiction club. Elizabeth taught for seventeen years, attaining full tenure, and retired as a

Professor Emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

. Her professorial legacy survives in the Special Collections Department of SDSU where the Chater Collection is not only archived, but still used by college professors as a teaching tool. The Chater collection includes a one of a kind original manuscript written by her, and original manuscripts both typed and handwritten by author Joan D. Vinge. There is also her science fiction collection of over 2,500 books and periodicals that she generously donated to the school, a collection that continues to grow through donations from students and faculty. There are now more than 4,000 books in the collection. After the death of her beloved Mel in 1978, and with the help of her former student and great friend Greg Bear, she formed a partnership with the New York literary agent Richard Curtis. She went on to publish twenty-three novels in eight years. During this time, she was also on the lecture circuit giving inspirational talks on history and religion, topics of great interest for her. Elizabeth passed on peacefully on November 10, 2004 at the age of 94.

Personal life

She was the mother of

Gary Puckett and the Union Gap Gary Puckett & The Union Gap (initially credited as The Union Gap featuring Gary Puckett) was an American pop rock group active in the late 1960s. The group, formed by Gary Puckett, Gary "Mutha" Withem, Dwight Bement, Kerry Chater and Paul Whea ...

bassist

Kerry Chater Kerry Michael Chater (August 7, 1945 – February 4, 2022) was a Canadian musician and songwriter who was best known as a member of Gary Puckett & The Union Gap, but he was a successful Nashville songwriter for many years. Musician Chater was ...

, and the grandmother of autho
Christopher John Chater
In 2011 Elizabeth's heirs had her literary rights reverted to the family, and her extensive catalog of books was then published by the family run company, Chater Publishing, headed by Christopher John Chater.

Partial book list

"Elizabeth Chater", retrieved 5 Mar 2011
/ref> * The Elsingham Portrait (1980) * The Gamester (1980) * Milady Hot-At-Hand (1981) * Lord Randal's Tiger (1981) * Gallant Lady (1981) * The Random Gentleman (1981) * A Season for the Heart (1981) * Angela (1982) * Milord's Liegewoman (1982) * A Delicate Situation (1982) * The Marriage Mart (1983) * Emerald Love (1983) * The Reformed Rake (1984) * The King's Doll (1984) * The Earl and the Emigree (1985) * The Runaway Debutante (1985) * Lady Dearborn's Debut (1986) * The Duke's Dilemma (1986) * A Place for Alfreda (1987) * A Time to Love (1987) * Miss Cayley's Unicorn (1988) * The Big Sling (2011 Posthumously)

References

External links

www.elizabethchater.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chater, Elizabeth 1910 births 2004 deaths 20th-century Canadian novelists 20th-century Canadian women writers San Diego State University faculty University of British Columbia alumni Women historical novelists Women romantic fiction writers Women science fiction and fantasy writers Writers of historical romances Canadian women novelists Canadian historical novelists Canadian romantic fiction writers Canadian science fiction writers Writers from Vancouver Canadian expatriates in the United States