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Canadian bookseller. E. de Mille, née Orser, a sixth-generation Canadian, was born on August 1, 1919 on her grandparents' homestead at Tristam, Alberta. Attended high school in Alberta. Began working at Eaton's book department in Calgary in 1945, leaving as its head in 1956 to open Evelyn de Mille Books Ltd. By 1974, when the store was sold, E. de Mille established four other branches, making her the first woman in Canada to found a bookstore chain. In 1980 established Evelyn de Mille Technical Books, specializing in technical and reference materials. E. de Mille has always been actively involved in associations relating to bookselling and publishing, serving on the Board of Directors and as president of the Canadian Booksellers Association and as chair of the annual Canadian Booksellers Association conference in 1973. Other volunteer activities include working with the National Museums of Canada on creation of a publishing policy and as a director of the Alberta Historical Resources Foundation. E. de Mille has made generous donations to several Alberta organizations including a donation in 1985 to the University of Calgary Library of the collection Books on Books, to which she continues to add informative, interesting and rare items.

Canadian actor, director, producer, author and educator, Joyce Doolittle was born in 1928 in Morgantown, West Virginia. Educated in the United States, she began acting in Junior High School and directing at Ithaca College, N.Y. She earned her M.A. in Drama from Indiana University and moved to Canada in 1960 with her husband and frequent collaborator, musician and composer Quenten Doolittle. She immediately became involved in Calgary’s emerging theatre scene, teaching drama to teenagers, initiating a children’s theatre and directing avant-garde plays for the Musicians and Actors Club (MAC), the precursor to Theatre Calgary. She joined the newly established Department of Drama at the University of Calgary in 1965 where she taught Theatre for Young Audiences, Playwriting, Acting, Studies in Canadian Drama and Women in the Arts, and founded the Developmental Drama Division. She retired in 1988 after having directed over twenty main stage productions for the Department as well as acting and directing in professional and amateur theatres in Calgary which she continued doing well into her eighties. In 1972, in partnership with Victor Mitchell, a colleague at U of C, she founded Pumphouse Theatres in an abandoned pumping station, a low-rental facility with two theatres for emerging professional and community groups; in 1984, one of the theatres was named The Joyce Doolittle Theatre in her honour. She co-authored A Mirror of Our Dreams: Children and the Theatre in Canada with Zina Barnieh and edited four anthologies of plays; she was Drama Editor of Red Dear College Press, and Theatre Critic for Newest Review from 1987 to 1992; she was editor of Connect: Annual Newsletter of the Canadian Centre for Drama-in-Education, 1981-1985, and wrote numerous articles and essays about theatre for young people. Doolittle was the first Canadian member of the International Association of Theatre for Children and Youth (ASSITEJ) and served on the executive committee for eleven years; she established the Canadian Centre for ASSITEJ and was founder and editor of the newsletter. Her many awards include an Alberta Achievement Award (1978), the Harry and Martha Cohen Award (1987), a YWCA Woman of Distinction Award in Education, a Betty Mitchell Award and an ACTRA Life Membership.

Canadian composer, teacher, trombonist and conductor Malcolm Forsyth was born in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, on December 8, 1936. Came to Canada in 1968. Died in Edmonton, Alberta, on July 5, 2011. Biographical information available in Encyclopedia of music in Canada. 2nd ed., p. 488-489.

Canadian folklorist, collector, author, civil libertarian and educator Edith Fulton Fowke was born in Lumsden, Saskatchewan, on April 30, 1913. Her parents, Margaret and William Fulton, were immigrants from Northern Ireland. She studied at the University of Saskatchewan, receiving her BA in 1933. That same year, she joined the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) and remained active with them for many years. After graduating from university, Edith taught school for a brief time. She returned to the University of Saskatchewan where she earned an M.A. in English in 1937. While at the University of Saskatchewan, she met Frank Fowke, an engineering student. They married in 1938 and Edith joined him in Toronto. She worked as the editor for the Western Teacher from 1937-1944 and later as an associate editor of Magazine Digest from 1945-1949. From 1950-1963, Edith wrote, produced and co-hosted the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) radio program, Folk Song Time, a weekly program featuring her folk music collection. The program made her a household name in Canada.

Edith was captivated by Canadian folk songs but frustrated by the lack of available material. Her interest in collecting folk music was influenced by eminent Canadian folklorist, Helen Creighton and by American folk music collector, Kenneth Goldstein. She purchased her first tape recorder in 1956 and began making field recordings of folk songs in the county of Peterborough, Ontario. Over the years, Edith would record ca. 2,000 folk songs. One of her prolific as well as her personal favourite informants was O.J. Abbott. Many of her recordings were released by Folkway Records of New York. In addition to collecting folk music, she also wrote and edited books about folksongs and folktales. In 1952, Edith collaborated with folklorist and composer, Richard Johnston, on the book Folk Songs of Canada. She and Dr. Johnston also worked on Chansons Canadiennes Françaises and More Folk Songs of Canada. Edith authored a number of books including Folklore of Canada, Ring Around the Mood, and Family Heritage: The Story and Songs of LaRena Clark. One of her most successful and best known publications was the children’s book, Sally go round the sun.

Edith turned her attention from folk songs to folklore in the 1970s. She continued to write and began teaching, joining the English Department at York University in 1971. During the 1980s, she lectured at the University of Calgary in conjunction with the Kodály summer diploma program. She retired from York University in 1984 and was made professor emeritus. She was made a Fellow of American Folklore Society in 1975 and a member of the Order of Canada in 1977. She received honorary degrees from Brock, Trent and Regina universities. Edith Fowke died on March 28, 1996 in Toronto, Ontario.

Canadian poet and author. Born in 1894 and educated in England. Moved to Calgary, Alta., around 1914. Published work includes poetry, short stories, essays and articles in various periodicals and newspapers; a weekly column, The junior's corner, in the Calgary Herald (1930-1940); and a poetry collection Through the years. Awarded the 1941 Governor General's Silver Medal for poem Recompense. Died in 1964.

Canadian composer, conductor, pianist and educator born June 2, 1929 in Rosario, Argentina. Biographical information available in Encyclopedia of music in Canada. 2nd ed., p. 717.

Canadian poet, essayist, editor and publisher rob mclennan was born in Ottawa, Ontario, on March 15, 1970. He is the author of fifteen poetry collections, three collections of essays, white, a novel, and Ottawa: the unknown city, as well as numerous poetry chapbooks, contributions to anthologies, reviews and a regular blog. He has edited collections of essays on Andrew Suknaski, John Newlove and George Bowering published by Guernica Editions, as well as the ottawa poetry newsletter, ottawater and Poetics.ca. He is the founder of above/ground press and ottawater and the co-founder of Chaudiere Books. In 2007-2008, he was Writer-In-Residence at the University of Alberta. He currently lives in Ottawa, Ontario. Additional biographical information available in Who's Who in The League of Canadian Poets, 1999/2000, p. 100.

Renée L. Paris was literary agent for George Ryga from 1969 to 1976.

Canadian playwright and author Sharon Pollock (née Mary Sharon Chalmers) was born in Fredericton, New Brunswick, on April 19, 1936. Biographical information available in The Oxford companion to Canadian literature, 2nd ed., p. 955-957; and The Oxford companion to Canadian theatre, p. 424-426.