Stephen Leacock

Born in Swanmore, England, on December 30, 1869, he moved to Canada as a child and built a career that stretched across teaching, political science, and literature. He taught at McGill University and became known both as a public intellectual and as a writer with an easy, witty style.

His humor books and sketches made him famous internationally, especially in the 1910s and 1920s. Literary Lapses, Nonsense Novels, and Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town remain his best-known works, admired for their gentle satire and their feel for the absurd side of ordinary life.

He died in Toronto on March 28, 1944. His writing still stands out for being clever without feeling heavy, and for finding comedy in human weakness with more amusement than cruelty.