author
Norah M. (Norah Mary) Holland
1876–1925
A Canadian poet, playwright, journalist, and editor, she moved easily between newspapers, magazines, and the stage. Her work is often remembered for its literary connections, including family ties to the Yeats circle and a visit with John Butler Yeats in Ireland.
1 Audiobook
Spun-yarn and Spindrift
by Norah M. (Norah Mary) Holland
About the author
Born in Collingwood, Ontario, on January 10, 1876, she later grew up in Toronto, where she studied at Parkdale Collegiate. She was part of a literary family: her mother, Elizabeth Yeats, was a cousin of W. B. Yeats, a connection that placed her close to an influential cultural world while she built a career of her own.
She worked as a poet, playwright, journalist, and editor, contributing to publications including the Canadian Courier, Canadian Magazine, the Toronto Daily News, and The Globe. In 1904 she traveled in Ireland and England and stayed with John Butler Yeats, who sketched her during that visit.
After her marriage she was also known as Norah Claxton. She died on April 27, 1925, but her writing still offers a glimpse of an energetic Canadian literary life at the turn of the twentieth century.