Claire Angel Mowat (born 5 February 1933) is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

writer and environmentalist.

Personal life

Born on February 5, 1933, Mowat (née Wheeler) was raised and educated in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. She graduated from

Havergal College Havergal College is a private day and boarding school for girls from Junior Kindergarten to Grade 12 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The school was established in 1894 and named for Frances Ridley Havergal, a composer, author and humanitarian. The ...

and the

Ontario College of Art & Design Ontario College of Art & Design University, commonly known as OCAD University or OCAD U, is a public university, public art school, art university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its main campus is located within Toronto's Grange Park (neighbourh ...

as a

Graphic designer A graphic designer is a practitioner who follows the discipline of graphic design, either within companies or organizations or independently. They are professionals in design and visual communication, with their primary focus on transforming ...

and was married to the late author

Farley Mowat Farley McGill Mowat, (May 12, 1921 – May 6, 2014) was a Canadian writer and environmentalist. His works were translated into 52 languages, and he sold more than 17 million books. He achieved fame with the publication of his books on the Ca ...

. The couple divided their time between

, and

Cape Breton Cape Breton Island (, formerly '; or '; ) is a rugged and irregularly shaped island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18.7% of Nova Scotia's total area. Although ...

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

Career

Mowat began writing

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autob ...

s in the 1960s, leading in 1983 to her first book ''The Outport People'', about the five years she and husband Farley spent at the start of their marriage in the

outport An outport is any port considered secondary to a main port (including a provincial one as opposed to a capital one), and often (especially) a small port built to support the commercial operations of a large port. The Port of Tilbury from the Port ...

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the population ...

community of

Burgeo Burgeo ( ) is a town in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is located mainly on Grandy Island, on the south coast of the island of Newfoundland. It is an outport community. The town is approximately east of Channel-Port au ...

. riginally published 2005-10-15 Her second book ''Pomp and Circumstances'' (1989) arose from witnessing protocol behind the scenes at the Governor General's residence

Rideau Hall Rideau Hall (officially Government House) is the official residence of the governor general of Canada, the representative of the monarch of Canada. Located in Ottawa, the Capital city, capital of the country, on a estate at 1 Sussex Drive, th ...

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

. A 2005 memoir ''Travels with Farley'', describes the couple's life in the

Magdalen Islands The Magdalen Islands (, ) are a Canadian archipelago in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Since 2005, the 12-island archipelago is divided into two municipalities: the majority-francophone Municipality of Îles-de-la-Madeleine and the majority-angloph ...

, following the still-birth of their only child. She has also written a trilogy of

young adult fiction Young adult literature (YA) is typically written for readers aged 12 to 18 and includes most of the themes found in adult fiction, such as family dysfunction, substance abuse, alcoholism, and sexuality. It is characterized by simpler world build ...

: ''The Girl from Away'' (1992), ''The French Isles'' (1994) and ''Last Summer in Louisbourg'' (1998).

Works

* ''The Outport People'' (1983) published by

McClelland & Stewart McClelland & Stewart Limited is a Canadian publishing company. It is owned by Random House of Canada, Penguin Random House of Canada, a branch of Penguin Random House, the international book publishing division of German media giant Bertelsmann. ...

- * ''Pomp and Circumstances'' (1989) published by

- * ''The Girl from Away'' (1992) Illustrated by Malcolm Cullen, published by

Key Porter Books Key Porter Books was a book publishing company based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1979 by Anna Porter, later well known as a writer, the company specialized in Canadian non-fiction, although it published some fiction too. It ceased op ...

- * ''The French Isles'' (1994) Illustrated by Huntley Brown, published by

- * ''Last Summer in Louisbourg'' (1998) published by

- , (2012)

Nimbus Publishing Nimbus Publishing is a publishing company based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The company specializes in subjects relevant to the Atlantic Provinces. Until 2016, the company published an average of 35 to 40 new titles a year, but expanded its outp ...

- , 978-1-55109-910-1 * ''The Girl from Away Trilogy'' (2002) published by

- * ''Travels with Farley'' (2005) published by

- , (2015) Pottersfield Press -

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mowat, Claire 1933 births Living people Canadian non-fiction writers Canadian environmentalists Canadian women environmentalists 20th-century Canadian memoirists Canadian women novelists Canadian women memoirists Canadian women children's writers People from Port Hope, Ontario Novelists from Toronto 20th-century Canadian novelists 21st-century Canadian novelists 21st-century Canadian women writers 20th-century Canadian women writers Claire Havergal College alumni