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Isabel Ecclestone Mackay
1875–1928
A Canadian poet and novelist with a gift for atmosphere, she moved from Ontario to Vancouver and became a lively literary presence on Canada’s West Coast. Her work ranged from poetry to fiction, and she was remembered in the 1920s as a leading woman of letters in the region.
3 Audiobooks
Fires of Driftwood
by Isabel Ecclestone Mackay
Up the Hill and Over
by Isabel Ecclestone Mackay
The Window-Gazer
by Isabel Ecclestone Mackay
About the author
Born Isabel Ecclestone MacPherson in Woodstock, Ontario, on November 25, 1875, she later became known as Isabel Ecclestone Mackay after her marriage to Peter John Mackay. She wrote in several forms, especially poetry and novels, and is regularly described in reference sources as a Canadian poet and novelist.
Her career connected central and western Canada: after beginning life in Ontario, she settled in Vancouver and became an important literary figure there. ABC BookWorld recalls that she was seen as the "First Lady of Literature" on the West Coast in the 1920s, a sign of how visible and respected she was in British Columbia’s cultural life.
Mackay’s writing belongs to an important period in early 20th-century Canadian literature. Reference sources note her among writers active in the years around and after the First World War, and her books included both poetry and fiction. She died on August 15, 1928, but her name still appears in accounts of Canada’s literary history as part of the generation that helped shape it.