Katherine Hale (1) (1874–1956)

Katherine Hale was the pen name of Amelia Beers Warnock, who also published under her married name, Mrs. John W. Garvin. She was born to a prominent family in Galt, Ontario, Canada. She attended Galt schools and Glen Mawr, a private school in Toronto, and sang in amateur productions of Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. After graduation, she went to New York City and Europe to study opera. She toured some of the English-speaking world as a recital singer and lecturer. She wrote an article on Wagnerian opera that was published by the Toronto Mail, and it led to her being hired as the literary editor of the newspaper, a post she held until 1912. That year, she married John W. Garvin, a writer and editor. She published her first collection of poems, Gray Knitting and Other Poems, in 1914, followed by five more over the years. She also produced fiction and nonfiction works in several genres including Isabella Valancy Crawford (1923), The Legends of the St. Lawrence (1926), This is Ontario (1937), and Toronto, Romance of a Great City (1956). She served as president of the Ontario Branch of the Canadian Authors' Society and was an honorary member of the Canadian Women's Press Club.