Canadian writers, 1920-1959. First series

Between World War I and 1959, Canadian literature went through evolutionary changes related to cultural, economic and political events. The effects of the war just ended and the realities of the next, response to the Great Depression, and sporadic civil unrest were obvious sources of change. So, too, were the establishment of a national broadcasting system (the CBC and its francophone counterpart Radio-Canada) in the 1930s and the National Film Board a decade later. Other agents for literary change, cited in the volumes foreword by editor W.H. New, included a group of Toronto-based painters known as the Group of Seven; new literary journals that presented verse and opinions of English- and French-speaking writers; Quebecs separatist movement; and the push by the nations ethnic minorities to establish multi rather than biculturalism.

63 entries include: Patrick Anderson, Ernest Buckler, Morley Callaghan, George Elliott, Robertson Davies, Northrop Frye, Anne Hebert, A.M. Klein, Dorothy Livesay, Hugh MacLennan, Farley Mowat, Gabrielle Roy, Ethel Wilson.