Susanna Moodie: Pioneer Author

Susanna Moodie (1803-1885) has come to epitomize the pioneer experience of emigrating to Canada in the nineteenth century. But Susanna Moodie was also a pioneer in another way – as an early Canadian literary voice.rnShe was already a published author when she left England to emigrate to Upper Canada with her husband John and baby Katie in 1832. The Moodies were seeking financial security and a better life in the colony, but they found themselves struggling to make a living on a bush farm. Susanna gave birth to four children while living in the bush.rnrnDespite her primitive life in the backwoods and the demands of caring for her children, Susanna persevered in her dream of being a writer. She contributed to the family income by writing and publishing poems, articles, and eventually books. In 1852 her best-known book, Roughing It in the Bush, was published.rnrnRoughing It in the Bush has endured both as a valuable social document of the Canadian pioneer experience and as a work of literature. Several contemporary Canadian writers, including Margaret Atwood, have acknowledged Susanna Moodie’s influence on their work.