Joyce Carman Barkhouse, (born May 3, 1913) is a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 children's writer best known for writing historical fiction

Historical fiction

Historical fiction tells a story that is set in the past. That setting is usually real and drawn from history, and often contains actual historical persons, but the principal characters tend to be fictional...

.

Education and family life

Born in Woodville

Woodville, Nova Scotia

Woodville is a community of less than 200 people located in the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia, north of Cambridge and Waterville and at the foot of the North Mountain in Kings County. Centred along Route 221, Woodville has a fire department, a Baptist Church, two auto body shops, and many...

, Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...

, the daughter of Harold Edwin, a rural family physician, and Ora Louise Killam, Barkhouse was educated in Woodville until transferring to King’s County Academy in Kentville

Kentville, Nova Scotia

Kentville is a town in Kings County, Nova Scotia. It is one of the main towns in the Annapolis Valley, and it is the county seat of Kings County. As of 2006, the town of Kentville had a population of 5,815 people....

 to complete grade twelve. After receiving a Teacher's License from the Provincial Normal College in Truro

Truro, Nova Scotia

-Education:Truro has one high school, Cobequid Educational Centre. Post-secondary options include a campus of the Nova Scotia Community College, as well as the Nova Scotia Agricultural College in the neighboring town of Bible Hill.- Sports :...

 in 1932, she began teaching in Sand Hill. In 1939, she began teaching in Liverpool, Nova Scotia

Liverpool, Nova Scotia

Liverpool is a Canadian community and former town located along the Atlantic Ocean of the Province of Nova Scotia's South Shore. It is situated within the Region of Queens Municipality which is the local governmental unit that comprises all of Queens County, Nova Scotia...

 where she met her future husband Milton Joseph Barkhouse, a teller with the Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada

The Royal Bank of Canada or RBC Financial Group is the largest financial institution in Canada, as measured by deposits, revenues, and market capitalization. The bank serves seventeen million clients and has 80,100 employees worldwide. The company corporate headquarters are located in Toronto,...

. After marrying in 1942, they had two children, Murray Roy, and Janet Louise. Barkhouse and her husband lived in Halifax

City of Halifax

Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...

, Charlottetown

Charlottetown

Charlottetown is a Canadian city. It is both the largest city on and the provincial capital of Prince Edward Island, and the county seat of Queens County. Named after Queen Charlotte, the wife of George III, Charlottetown was first incorporated as a town in 1855 and designated as a city in 1885...

 and Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

. After he died in 1968 she returned to Nova Scotia.

Writing career

Barkhouse began writing in 1932 but didn't publish her first novel, George Dawson: The Little Giant, until 1974. She is best known for writing the novel Pit Pony

Pit Pony (novel)

-Plot summary:In Pit Pony, Barkhouse describes life in a coal-mining town in turn-of-the-century Cape Breton, but also deals with importance of education itself. It is the story of Willie and Gem. Willie is an eleven-year-old boy forced by family circumstances to work as a trapper in a Cape...

, published in 1989, which was produced as a CBC Television

CBC Television

CBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...

 film in 1997, and a Gemini Award

Gemini Award

The Gemini Awards are annual television broadcasting industry awards in Canada.First awarded in 1986, the Geminis celebrate the achievements of TV members of the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television. Essentially, it presents awards for the best television productions in Canada. Awards are...

-winning television series

Pit Pony (TV series)

Pit Pony is a 1999 CBC television series which tells the story of small-town life in Glace Bay, on the island of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia in 1904. The plot line revolves around the lives of the families of the men and boys who work in the coal mines....

 in 1999.

Honours

In 2007, she was awarded the Order of Nova Scotia

Order of Nova Scotia

The Order of Nova Scotia is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Instituted on 2 August 2001, when Lieutenant Governor Myra Freeman granted Royal Assent to the Order of Nova Scotia Act, the order is administered by the Governor-in-Council and is intended to honour...

. In 2008, she was made a Member of the Order of Canada

Order of Canada

The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...

 for "her contributions to children’s literature and the Canadian literary community". She is an honorary life member of The Writers' Union of Canada

Writers' Union of Canada

The Writers' Union of Canada , founded in 1973, describes itself as supporting "the country's authors by advocating for their rights, freedoms, and economic well-being." Its members are professional writers who must have published at least one book through a commercial publisher.The Union addresses...

 and the The Writers' Federation of Nova Scotia.

Selected works

• Smallest Rabbit, illustrated by Barbara Martin (1996)
• Yesterday's Children (1992)
• Pit Pony
  Pit Pony (novel)
  -Plot summary:In Pit Pony, Barkhouse describes life in a coal-mining town in turn-of-the-century Cape Breton, but also deals with importance of education itself. It is the story of Willie and Gem. Willie is an eleven-year-old boy forced by family circumstances to work as a trapper in a Cape...
  
  (1989)
• Anna's Pet with Margaret Atwood, illustrated by Ann Blades (1980)

External links