John Reade

Born in Ballyshannon, County Donegal, in 1837, he was educated in Belfast before moving to Canada in 1856. In Montreal he built a career as a poet, writer, and journalist, and became part of the city’s growing literary world.

He is remembered as an early Canadian man of letters who founded the Montreal Literary Magazine and wrote poetry that often drew on national feeling, legend, and landscape. His long life connected the literary cultures of Ireland and Canada at a time when Canadian writing was still finding its voice.

He died in 1919, leaving behind a reputation as a significant figure in 19th-century Canadian literature, especially in Montreal’s intellectual and cultural circles.