author
Norah M. (Norah Mary) Holland
1876–1925
A Canadian poet, playwright, journalist, and editor, she wrote with a lively literary voice and moved easily between magazines, newspapers, and the stage. Her work links early 20th-century Canadian writing with a wider transatlantic world of poetry and criticism.
1 Audiobook
Spun-yarn and Spindrift
by Norah M. (Norah Mary) Holland
About the author
Born in Collingwood, Ontario, in 1876, she grew up in a family with literary ties and later settled in Toronto, where she was educated at Parkdale Collegiate. She went on to work in journalism and publishing, contributing to periodicals and newspapers including the Canadian Courier, The Canadian Magazine, the Toronto Daily News, and The Globe.
Alongside her editorial and journalistic work, she built a reputation as a poet and playwright. Her writing appeared in books such as Spun-Yarn and Spindrift and When Half Gods Go and Other Poems, and she was known as part of Canada's early modern literary scene.
Her life also had a strong connection to the Yeats family through her mother, a cousin of W. B. Yeats, and during travels in Ireland and England she spent time with painter John Butler Yeats. She died in 1925, leaving behind a body of work that reflects both Canadian literary culture and a wider world of artistic exchange.