ABSTRACT
On 21 December 1920, William Talbot Allison—Assistant Professor at the University of Manitoba, literary critic, and one of the founding members of the Canadian Authors Association—wrote to Vancouver schoolteacher Margaret Cowie in response to a letter forwarded to him by the Vancouver Daily World. Earlier that month Cowie had written to praise the publication of a literary supplement that had been syndicated in seven newspapers across Western Canada and that included reviews of recent Canadian publications, brief sketches of Canadian authors, and an introductory article by Allison in which he encouraged readers to purchase books for holiday gift-giving. 1 In his response, Allison told Cowie that, as the compiler of the supplement, he was greatly pleased by the tone of her letter and gratified by her recognition of his work. He concluded by telling her that she “must be a very unusual person,” adding that “[i]t is very rare to find a school-teacher, or college teacher for that matter, so keenly interested in our national literature.” He enclosed with his letter a copy of the supplement as published by the Calgary Daily Herald, which he assured Cowie contained more biographical information than the version that had appeared in the Vancouver World, as well as a copy of his pamphlet, Blazing a New Trail, issued earlier in the year by the Canadian publisher Musson to promote its books by Canadian authors. 2
