Canadian literature: Quick Facts

Written and fact-checked by

The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Photos

The Handmaid's Tale

Michael Ondaatje

Rohinton Mistry

Margaret Atwood, 2005

Anne Carson sits onstage holding a microphone, wearing glasses, a dark pinstripe suit, and sneakers, speaking at The Shed arts center event in New York City.

Port Royal, Nova Scotia

Histoire de la Nouvelle France

upper St. Lawrence River

See All Images →

Topics

Prairie literature Quebec Movement Parti pris 13 Great Indigenous Writers to Read and Celebrate Governor General’s Literary Awards Canada literature Western literature English literature French literature African literature American literature Arabic literature Italian literature German literature Spanish literature Japanese literature Latin American literature

Dig Deeper: More Articles That Discuss This Topic

Canada: Literature

Key People

default image

Pamphile Lemay

Canadian author

default image

Martha Ostenso

Canadian author

default image

Laure Conan

Canadian author

Anne Carson

Anne Carson

Canadian poet

Margaret Atwood smiling at the camera, wearing a red scarf with butterfly patterns and a black top, in front of an orange background with inspirational words.

Margaret Atwood

Canadian author

default image

Robert Lepage

Canadian writer, director, designer, and actor

Alice Munro

Alice Munro

Canadian author

Louise Penny, 2018

Louise Penny

Canadian author

default image

Lisa Robertson

Canadian poet and essayist

Michael Ignatieff

Michael Ignatieff

Canadian political leader

default image

Joseph Boyden

Canadian novelist and short-story writer

default image

Anne Michaels

Canadian poet and novelist

Michael Ondaatje

Michael Ondaatje

Canadian writer

default image

Thomas King

American-born Canadian writer and photographer

Malcolm Gladwell wearing glasses, a light blue shirt, and a dark blazer, looking at the camera with a neutral expression.

Malcolm Gladwell

Canadian journalist and writer

Leonard Cohen sits on a railroad track wearing a dark beret and brown leather jacket.

Leonard Cohen

Canadian musician and author

Dany Laferrière

Dany Laferrière

Haitian-born Canadian author

default image

Sue Goyette

Canadian poet and novelist

default image

Alistair MacLeod

Canadian author and educator

Naomi Klein

Naomi Klein

Canadian author and activist

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) only confirmed photograph of Emily Dickinson. 1978 scan of a Daguerreotype. ca. 1847; in the Amherst College Archives. American poet. See Notes:

Poetry: First Lines

4:043 Dickinson, Emily: A Life of Letters, This is my letter to the world/That never wrote to me; I'll tell you how the Sun Rose/A Ribbon at a time; Hope is the thing with feathers/That perches in the soul

Famous Poets and Poetic Form