Marie Green Duncan McPhedran, (October 29, 1900 – September 1, 1974) was a Canadian novelist and writer of short stories for children. Her book ''Cargoes on the Great Lakes'' won the

1952 Governor General's Awards In Canada, the 1952 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit were the sixteenth such awards. The awards in this period had no monetary prize and were just an honour for the authors. Winners *Fiction: David Walker, ''The Pillar''. *Poetry or ...

for juvenile fiction.

Biography

McPhedran was born as Marie Willard Green in Sault Ste. Marie in 1900. She attended the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...

in 1921 but left before finishing her degree to help put her brothers through university. In 1927 she married Gordon George Duncan, a mining engineer. She and her husband settled in

Flin Flon Flin Flon (pop. 5,185 in 2016 census; 4,982 in Manitoba and 203 in Saskatchewan) is a mining city, located on a correction line on the border of the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, with the majority of the city located within M ...

Manitoba , image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg , map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada , Label_map = yes , coordinates = , capital = Winn ...

. McPhedran was one of the first women to live there, and it was through her experiences there she drew on to begin writing. Her husband died in 1932 due to kidney failure. She was left alone to raise her daughter, Kittie-Marie. She married again in 1936 to Harris McPhedran, a medical doctor. She relocated to Toronto where McPhedran was practicing medicine. By the time of her second marriage she had already started to write and had published a short story about her experiences in the north. Over the next decade she wrote a large number of short stories for children but had difficulty finding publishers. Her breakthrough came with her first novel, Golden North, the runner-up for the 1948 Governor-General's Award for juvenile fiction. Other books followed, including Cargoes on the Great Lakes, for which she won the 1952 Governor-General's Award. Later she began work on a biography of

Jeanne Mance Jeanne Mance (November 12, 1606 – June 18, 1673) was a French nurse and settler of New France. She arrived in New France two years after the Ursuline nuns came to Quebec. Among the founders of Montreal in 1642, she established its first hospit ...

, but never completed it. She died on 1 September 1974.

Works

* ''Golden North'', (1948) * ''Cargoes of the Great Lakes'', (1952) Source:

References

External links

McPhedran/Duncan/Green Family fonds
{{DEFAULTSORT:McPhedran, Marie 1900 births 1974 deaths 20th-century Canadian novelists Canadian women novelists People from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario Writers from Ontario 20th-century Canadian women writers