Catharine Parr Strickland Traill

Born in England in 1802, Catharine Parr Traill became one of the best-known early writers about life in what is now Canada. After emigrating in 1832, she drew on her experiences as a settler to write about the forests, seasons, wildlife, and everyday challenges of making a home in the bush.

She is especially remembered for books such as The Backwoods of Canada and later nature writing that reflected her deep interest in botany. Her writing is valued not only as literature, but also as a record of pioneer life and of the natural world she observed so closely.

Traill lived a long life, dying in 1899, and remains an important figure in Canadian literary and environmental history. She is also often remembered alongside her sister Susanna Moodie, another major writer whose work grew out of immigrant life in Canada.