Sara Jeannette Duncan

Anna Snaith (Independent Scholar - Europe)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.1.2: Canadian Writing and Culture (Anglophone): The Twentieth Century and beyond, 1900-present.
Vol. editors: Sarah Henzi (Simon Fraser University), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Glen Nichols (Mount Allison University), Wendy Roy (University of Saskatchewan), Denis Salter (McGill University), Karis Shearer (University of British Columbia)

Dates

Born 22 Dec 1861
Died 22 Jul 1922
Activity 1880-1922

Places

Born in Canada
Active in Canada; England; India; United States

Cultural Identities

Feminist

Activities

Primary

Journalist
Novelist
Political writer

Other

Autobiographer
Essayist
Story-writer
Travel writer

Resources

Duncan's Works

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Sara Jeannette Duncan was born in December 1861 in Brantford, Ontario, Canada. Her mother and father had emigrated from Ulster and Scotland respectively. Charles Duncan ran a prosperous dry-goods business, and the large family enjoyed a comfortable existence. Duncan, educated at local schools and in Toronto, trained to become a teacher, but always wanted to be a writer. In 1880, when her first article appeared in

The Canada Monthly

, her journalistic career was launched. Her coverage of the 1884 New Orleans Cotton Exposition led to jobs on the

Washington Post

(1885-6), the

Toronto Globe

(1886-7) and the

Montreal Star

(1887-8). Duncan was the first woman to hold an editorial position on a major Canadian newspaper. Her ambition and her belief in women's emancipation lay behind her success in…

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740 words

Citation: Snaith, Anna. "Sara Jeannette Duncan". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 January 2001 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1349, accessed 26 November 2024.]