Article

Norman Duncan

Published Online January 23, 2008

Last Edited December 14, 2013

Norman Duncan, journalist, writer, professor (b in Oxford County, Ont 2 July 1871; d at Buffalo, NY 18 Oct 1916). Remembered today for his fiction, Duncan was also a successful journalist and travel writer.

Duncan, Norman

Norman Duncan, journalist, writer, professor (b in Oxford County, Ont 2 July 1871; d at Buffalo, NY 18 Oct 1916). Remembered today for his fiction, Duncan was also a successful journalist and travel writer. He was raised in small-town Ontario and reflects in his writing his love of different places and cultures. After working for the New York Evening Post (1897-1900), he travelled as a McClure's Magazine correspondent to Newfoundland and Labrador, where he met Sir Wilfred GRENFELL and gathered materials for his fictional best-sellers, Doctor Luke of the Labrador (1904) and The Cruise of the Shining Light (1907). Of over 20 published volumes (short stories, novels, travel pieces), a number are suitable for younger readers, particularly the Billy Topsail series. After 1900 he lived primarily in the US, writing about his travels and teaching in universities.