J. E. (Joseph Edmund) Collins

Born in 1855 in Saint John, New Brunswick, Joseph Edmund Collins became known as a Canadian journalist, lecturer, and prolific writer. He worked for newspapers including the Toronto Globe and wrote on an unusually wide range of subjects, from current events and politics to travel and biography.

Collins was especially drawn to dramatic, public-facing subjects. His books included works on the North-West Rebellion, Louis Riel, Canadian outlaws, and travel, and he also published fiction such as Annette, the Metis Spy. That mix of reportage, storytelling, and popular history helped make him a recognizable literary figure in late 19th-century Canada.

He died in 1892 at only 37. Even with such a brief life, he left behind a varied body of work that captures the energy of Canadian journalism and popular publishing in his era.