| Sumario: | This essay examines the deliberate role undertaken by the Macmillan Company of Canada to develop a contemporary Canadian literature. It focusses on the period from 1921 to 1973, when first Hugh Eayrs and later John Gray were presidents of the company. Under the direction of Eayrs, Macmillan established itself as a publisher with a culture and interest separate from its parent and affiliate houses in London and New York. Eayrs built a roster of important writers, including Stephen Leacock, Mazo de la Roche, Frederick Philip Grove, E.J. Pratt, Grey Owl and Morley Callaghan, and helped establish an audience for Canadian novels and poetry. After Eayrs's death, Gray continued to publish Canadian writers, among them novelists Hugh MacLennan, Robertson Davies, W.O. Mitchell and Adele Wiseman. Both Eayrs and Gray were visionaries who shared a deep commitment to fostering the literature of Canada, which they often published in difficult circumstances and at considerable financial risk.
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