Ann Saddlemyer

Eleanor Ann Saddlemyer, (born 28 November 1932) is a Canadian academic, author, and expert in the history of Canadian theatre and Anglo-Irish literature.

Early life and education Ann Saddlemyer was born Eleanor Ann Saddlemyer on 28 November 1932 in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. Her parents were Elsie Sarah (née Ellis) and Orrin Angus Saddlemyer. She was educated at a high school in Humboldt, Saskatchewan. She graduated from the University of Saskatchewan with a BA in 1953, followed by an MA in 1956 from Queen's University. She was awarded her PhD in 1961 from Bedford College of the University of London, and in 1991 received a DLitt from the University of Saskatchewan.

Career From 1956 to 1957 and 1960 to 1971, Saddlemyer taught at the University of Victoria in British Columbia. She was then appointed Professor of Drama and Professor of English in Victoria College at the University of Toronto in 1971. From 1971 to 1977, she served as Director of the Graduate Centre for Study of Drama at the University of Toronto. In 1975, she was the visiting Berg Professor at New York University. She was appointed the Master of Massey College in 1988, and held this post until her retirement in 1996.

Selected publications

The World of W.B. Yeats: Essays in Perspective (1965) In Defence of Lady Gregory, Playwright (1966) The Letters of John Millington Synge (1968) A Selection of Letters from John M. Synge to W.B. Yeats and Lady Gregory (1971) Theatre Business, the letters of the first Abbey Theatre Directors (W.B. Yeats, Lady Gregory and J.M. Synge) (1982) Lady Gregory Fifty Years After (1987) Early Stages: Theatre in Ontario 1800 to 1914 (1990) Later Stages: Essays on Ontario Theatre from World War I to the 1970s (1997) Becoming George: The Life of Mrs. W.B. Yeats (2002) Conversations with Our Past: Stories of North Saanich (2006) W.B. Yeats and George Yeats: The Letters (2011)

Personal life Saddlemyer was a friend of the Irish poet, Seamus Heaney. When she learnt he was considering becoming a full-time writer, she offered him the rental of her cottage in County Wicklow, Glanmore Cottage. The Heaney family lived there, eventually buying the cottage from Saddlemyer in 1988. They remained close friends until his death in 2013.