Hugh MacLennan, John H. Wrenn, and Margaret Robb

Canadian author and essayist Hugh MacLennan (1907-1990) is best known for his focus on aspects of contemporary Canadian life. We wrote Barometer Rising (1941), an account of the 1917 Halifax explosion in Nova Scotia he survived as a child, Two Solitudes (1945), an examination of English-French tensions in Québec, The Precipice (1948), an examination of puritanism in small-town Ontario, and Each Man's Son (1951), a study of the Cape Breton mining community. Among his later works are The Watch that Ends the Night (1959), Return of the Sphinx (1967) and Voices in Time (1980). MacLennan was a five-time recipient of the Governor General's Literary Award, the Royal Bank Award in 1987, and Princeton University's James Madison Medal.

John H. Wrenn (1920 - ) is a former Professor of English at the University of Colorado at Boulder. A scholar of American writers from the Midwest, Wrenn wrote manuscripts on Edgar Lee Masters and John Dos Passos, both of which are available in Norlin Library.

Begun in 1930, the Writers' Conference was held during the summers at the University of Colorado, Boulder, as part of the Summer School program. The conference was established to provide professional training by experienced writers. Margaret Robb, who taught English and sponsored Associated Women Students at the University of Colorado, Boulder, directed the summer Writers' Conference. Robb was a recipient of the University of Colorado's Robert L. Stearns Award (awarded yearly for extraordinary achievement or service) in 1967.

From the guide to the Hugh MacLennan, Margaret Robb, and John H. Wrenn Correspondence (MS 213), 1959-1963, (University of Colorado at Boulder Libraries. Special Collections Dept.)