The man who wrote the Canadian classic Barometer Rising (1941) was born in Glace Bay on March 20, 1907.  His renowned novel about the Halifax Explosion and his "Cross-Country" essay collection (1949) ushered in a new phase in Canadian literature.  He pioneered the use of Canadian scenarios in fiction and as such, opened the world to Canada.

Born into the MacLennan family of Sydney this son of a coal company doctor, lived the first seven or eight years of his live beside Renwick Park in Glace Bay. He started school there and then moved to Sydney for a year, attending Grrade III at Tower Road School. The following year, his family moved to Halifax and in 1917, he survived the Halifax Explosion as a ten year old.

MacLennan's professional writing career began in Halifax and spanned fifty years. He graduated from Dalhousie and went on to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. He completed his PhD at Princeton. MacLennan was on staff at McGill University between 1951 and 1981.

Foremost among his many distinctions are the five Governor General's Awards for literature, a feat unequaled by any other Canadian author. His deeply felt Canadian nationalism is easily recognizable in his many works.

If you happen to be out and about in Glace Bay in the near future, perhaps you'd like to stop in at Newsom church yard and see the monument that is there commorating the life of this great Canadian. Newsom church is on Dominion St, (off Brookside St) next to Renwick Park in Glace Bay, NS and is the site of the MacLennan home. Or perhaps you might like to gaze upon this distinguished author's Order of Canada medal. You can do that at the Beaton Archives at Cape Breton University. Mr. MacLennan's desk is also housed at the Beaton.

On March 20th, spare a moment for a great Canadian and one of our own.