Grace Irwin

Grace Irwin (1907-2008) was a Canadian writer who wrote Christian-themed fiction. She also worked as a classics teacher and minister.

Grace Irwin
Born(1907-07-14)July 14, 1907
Toronto, Canada
DiedSeptember 16, 2008(2008-09-16) (aged 101)
Toronto, Canada
OccupationNovelist
NationalityCanadian
Alma materUniversity of Toronto

Biography

Born in Toronto on July 14, 1907,[1] Grace was the youngest of five children of John Irwin, a Methodist lay minister, and Martha Fortune Irwin, a schoolteacher.[2] Grace attended high school at the Parkdale Collegiate Institute before going on to earn a B.A. in 1929 and an M.A. in 1932 in Greek drama and philosophy from the University of Toronto.[3][4] She taught at Humberside Collegiate Institute for many years, serving as head of the Latin and Greek department from 1942 to 1969.[3] Victoria University awarded her an honorary Doctor of Sacred Letters degree in 1991.[3][5] She was also awarded a Canadian Centennial Medal in 1968.[3] After her retirement from teaching, she was ordained by the Christian Congregational Conference of Ontario, and served as a minister in a Toronto area church.[4] She died on September 16, 2008.[1]

Works

Irwin's books reflect the early twentieth century city of Toronto, themes of Christian faith, and her own life as well as the lives of historical figures.[4] Her first work, Compensation, is a romance written in the 1920s but only published in 2003. Three novels focus on fictional pastor Andrew Connington: Least of All Saints (1952), Andrew Connington (1954), and Contend with Horses (1969). In Little Place (1959) tells the story of an unmarried, Christian, female Latin teacher, while Three Lives in Mine (1986) is Irwin's actual memoir. Servant of Slaves (1961) fictionalizes the life of hymn writer and slaver-turned-abolitionist John Newton. Her other historical-biographical novel, The Seventh Earl (1976) describes the life of reformer and evangelical Anthony Ashley-Cooper.[4][2]

Awards named in her honor include the Classical Association of Canada's Grace Irwin Award for secondary teachers in the classics,[3][6] and the Word Guild's Grace Irwin Grand Prize for Christian writers.[7]

Archives at
LocationThomas Fisher Rare Book Library Edit this on Wikidata
Identifiers33 Edit this on Wikidata
SourceGrace Irwin fonds
How to use archival material


References
  1. Scott, Rose Seiler (6 June 2017). "Grace Irwin". Convivium. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
  2. Pell, Barbara (1988). "Grace Irwin". In New, W. H. (ed.). Dictionary of Literary Biography, vol. 68: Canadian Writers, 1920-1959, First Series. Thomson Gale. pp. 184–188. ISBN 9780810317468.
  3. "Grace Irwin (Fonds 33)". E.J. Pratt Library | Special Collections. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
  4. Demers, Patricia (2015). "Toronto the Good in the Fiction and Life of Grace Irwin". In Panofky, Ruth; Kellett, Kathleen (eds.). Cultural Mapping and the Digital Sphere: Place and Space. University of Alberta Press. pp. 181–196. ISBN 978-1772120493.
  5. "Honorary Degrees Conferred by Senate » Victoria University". Victoria University in the University of Toronto. Retrieved 2021-12-02.
  6. "Grace Irwin Award". The Classical Association of Canada. Retrieved 3 December 2021.
  7. "Grace Irwin Grand Prize". The Word Guild. Retrieved 2021-12-02.
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