Constance Lindsay Skinner

by Jean Barman

"Constance Lindsay Skinner made a living as a writer at a time when few men, and even fewer women, managed the feat. Born in 1877 on the British Columbia frontier, she worked as a journalist in Vancouver, Los Angeles, and Chicago, before moving to New York City in 1912, where she supported herself by her pen until her death in 1939. Despite a prolific output - poetry, plays, short stories, histories, reviews, adult and children's novels - and in contrast to her reputation in the United States, she has remained virtually unknown in the country of her birth.". "Reconstructing Constance Lindsay Skinner's writing life from her papers in the New York Public Library and from her publications, Jean Barman suggests several reasons for Skinner's success. As well as a capacity to respond to market forces by moving between genres, she possessed an aura of authenticity by virtue of her Canadian frontier heritage. As literary device, the frontier also gave her the freedom to tackle contentious issu