author
Angus Mackay
1864–1923
A Scottish-Canadian writer and poet who published under the pen name "Oscar Dhu," he wrote lively verse and frontier tales shaped by the communities of Quebec and the wider Canadian West. His work ranges from local history and clan tradition to wartime songs and adventure storytelling.
1 Audiobook
By Trench and Trail in Song and Story
by Angus Mackay
About the author
Writing as Oscar Dhu, Angus Mackay was a Scottish-Canadian author born in 1864 and remembered especially for his poems, songs, and historical storytelling. Contemporary references to his books show him connected with titles such as Pioneer Sketches, Poems of a Politician, Donald Morrison—The Canadian Outlaw, and By Trench and Trail in Song and Story.
His writing drew on Scottish settler life in Quebec's Eastern Townships as well as broader Canadian frontier themes. In By Trench and Trail in Song and Story, published in 1918, he gathered songs and stories that reflected camp life, travel, and the First World War era, giving his work a strong oral, ballad-like energy.
Mackay died in Seattle in 1923, but notices from the time still described him as a prominent Scottish writer from the Eastern Townships. That mix of local memory, Scottish identity, and storytelling spirit helps explain why his work still appeals to readers interested in regional history and early Canadian literature.