Jean Blewett

Jean Blewett
Jean Blewett c. 1896
Jean Blewett c. 1896
BornJanet McKishnie
(1862-11-04)4 November 1862
Scotia, Kent County, Canada West
Died19 August 1934(1934-08-19) (aged 71)
Chatham, Ontario
Pen nameKatherine Kent
OccupationNewspaper editor
LanguageEnglish
NationalityCanadian
RelativesEve Brodlique (cousin)
Signature
Jean Blewett, 1926

Jean McKishnie Blewett (pen name, Katherine Kent; 4 November 1862 – 19 August 1934) was a Canadian journalist, author and poet.[1][2]

Biography

Blewett was born Janet McKishnie in Scotia, Kent County, Canada West, in 1862 to Scottish immigrants[3] (some sources say 1872).[4] Eve Brodlique was her cousin.[5]

She attended St. Thomas Collegiate and in 1879, married Bassett Blewett and published her first novel, Out of the Depths.[1] In 1896, she won a US$600 prize from the Chicago Times-Herald for her poem "Spring".[4][6]

Blewett was a regular contributor to The Globe, a Toronto newspaper and in 1898, became editor of its Homemakers Department.[1] In 1919, assisted by the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire, she published a booklet titled Heart Stories to benefit war charities.[1] During this time, she regularly lectured on topics such as temperance and women's suffrage.[2] She used the pseudonym "Katherine Kent" for some of her writing.[6]

In 1925, Blewett was compelled by ill-health to retire her editorship.[1] For two years, she lived with a daughter in Lethbridge, Alberta, before returning to Toronto in 1927.[1] She died in 1934 in Chatham, Ontario.[1]

After her death, fellow female journalist Bride Broder wrote in tribute:

There is a simplicity about Mrs. Blewett's prose and verse that has made a wide appeal, and her gay-hearted attitude to life, the humorous twists she gave to little things, made her very welcome as a speaker at women's gatherings. In all her writings she touched on the things that appeal to women everywhere and, in doing so, won the admiration of men readers also.[3]

Her brother, Archie P. McKishnie, was also a noted writer.[4]

Selected works

  • Out of the depths (novel).[2][4] 1879 or 1890.[note 1]
  • Heart Songs. Toronto: G.N. Morang. 1889. p. 269. ISBN 9780665280948. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
  • The cornflower, and other poems. Toronto: W. Briggs. 1906. pp. 265. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
  • Blewett, Jean (1918). Garvin, John William (ed.). Canadian poems of the great war. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart. pp. 24–26. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
  • Heart Stories. Toronto: Warwick Bros. & Rutter. 1919. p. 40. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
  • Poems. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart. c. 1922. p. 272. Retrieved 15 October 2015.

Notes

  1. ^ Sources differ on the publication date for this novel.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Campbell, Sandra; McMullen, Lorraine (1991). New Women: Short Stories by Canadian Women, 1900–1920. University of Ottawa Press. pp. 139–140. ISBN 9780776603230. Retrieved 16 December 2012.
  2. ^ a b c Gerson, Carole (2002). "Blewett, Jean McKishnie". In New, W. H. (ed.). Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada. University of Toronto Press. p. 128. ISBN 9780802007612. Retrieved 16 December 2012.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. ^ a b "Writer Honors Jean Blewett". Calgary Daily Herald. Canadian Press. 19 August 1934. p. 14. Retrieved 16 December 2012.
  4. ^ a b c d Garvin, John William (1916). Canadian Poets and Poetry. McClelland, Goodchild & Stewart. pp. 190–196. Retrieved 16 December 2012.
  5. ^ Lang, Marjory Louise (1999). Women Who Made the News: Female Journalists in Canada, 1880–1945. McGill-Queen's Press – MQUP. pp. 45, 63. ISBN 978-0-7735-1838-4. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
  6. ^ a b "Jean Blewett, authoress, dies". The Leader-Post. Regina, Saskatchewan. 20 August 1934. Retrieved 16 December 2012.