author
John Reade
1837–1919
An Irish-born writer who became a major voice in Canadian literary life, he spent decades shaping taste and conversation as a poet, essayist, and longtime literary editor of the Montreal Gazette. His work helped connect early Canadian writing to a wider public.
1 Audiobook
The Prophecy of Merlin, and Other Poems
by John Reade
About the author
Born in Ballyshannon, Ireland, in 1837, John Reade moved to Canada in 1856 and quickly joined Montreal's literary world. Early on he founded the short-lived Montreal Literary Magazine, and over time he also worked as a teacher, an Anglican clergyman, a journalist, and a poet.
Reade is best remembered for his long career with the Montreal Gazette, where he served as literary editor for many years and became a familiar presence in Canadian letters. He contributed widely to magazines and reviews and was once known as the "grand old man of Canadian letters," a sign of how strongly he was identified with the country's developing literary culture.
Alongside journalism, he published poetry and prose on history, exploration, and culture. He died in Montreal in 1919, leaving behind a body of work tied closely to the growth of Canadian writing in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.