author
Charles Mair
1838–1927
A poet, journalist, and public figure in 19th-century Canada, he is remembered for blending literature with outspoken nationalism. His best-known work, the drama Tecumseh, helped mark an early effort to build a distinctly Canadian literary voice.
2 Audiobooks
Through the Mackenzie Basin A Narrative of the Athabasca and Peace River Treaty Expedition of 1899
by Charles Mair
Tecumseh : a Drama
by Charles Mair
About the author
Born in Lanark, Upper Canada, in 1838, Charles Mair studied at Queen’s University before leaving to work in his family’s lumber business. He later became active as a writer and journalist, publishing poetry and taking a visible role in public life.
Mair was closely tied to the Canada First movement, an early nationalist cause, and he became a controversial figure through his opposition to Louis Riel during the Red River and North-West conflicts. Alongside his political and civic work, he wrote poetry, travel writing, and drama.
His literary reputation now rests especially on Tecumseh (1886), a blank-verse tragedy often noted as an important early Canadian historical play. He died in Victoria, British Columbia, in 1927.