Kings County native Joyce Barkhouse died last week in Bridgewater at the ripe old age of 98.
A much-loved Maritime author, she was born a Killam in Woodville, daughter of what she called a “horse and buggy” family physician. After attending a two-room school, Barkhouse transferred to Kings County Academy in Kentville to complete Grade 12.
She was first published at the age of 19 while a teacher in a one-room school in East Aylesford. Payment for the piece was $1.
She taught all subjects in a one-room school with students in 11 grades during those early years.
Barkhouse received her teacher’s license in 1932 and continued teaching for another decade. After marrying and starting a family, Barkhouse gained confidence and honed her skills writing Sunday school materials and stories for children.
For many years, her short stories appeared in magazines, school readers, newspapers, like the Family Herald, and anthologies. She did not publish her first, full-length book until she was 61 and a grandmother. It came out in 1974 and was entitled George Dawson: The Little Giant.
The non-fiction children’s book told the story of Dawson, a tiny hunchback who contributed to early knowledge of the geology, biology and ethnology of Canada's Northwest. Both Dawson City and Dawson Creek were named after him.
She also wrote books about two other Nova Scotians, Abraham Gesner, a Kings County-born geologist who developed kerosene and Thomas Raddall, the author of historical fiction about Nova Scotia.
Barkhouse eventually had eight to her credit.
In 1980, she and her niece, Margaret Atwood, wrote Anna’s Pet, which became a Mermaid Theatre play. Moving back to Nova Scotia in 1968 after the death of her husband, Barkhouse began spending summers at her cottage on the Bay of Fundy.
She remains best known for her work of young adult fiction Pit Pony. Published in 1989, Pit Pony was produced as a CBC-TV film in 1997. The film co-starred Ellen Page and garnered three Gemini Awards, including best writing in a dramatic program or mini-series. Two years later, the movie was spun off into a 44-episode mini-series for children.
The story of a boy and his horse working in the coalmines of Cape Breton, her most popular book drew letters from people living in mining communities and from horse lovers across the country.
After growing up surrounded by horses, Barkhouse learned of the wild horses of Sable Island and conceived the story when she found out they were used in the coalmines in Cape Breton due to their small stature.
Pit Pony was considered notable by the Canadian Library Association. It received the first Ann Connor Brimer Award in 1991 for "outstanding contribution to children's literature in Atlantic Canada" and had international distribution.
Barkhouse had a strong belief that she could engage young readers by telling them true stories about their own communities. Many of her works reflected life in Nova Scotia and remain as her legacy.
She was an honourary life member of the Writers' Federation of Nova Scotia and of the Writers' Union of Canada. The region’s prize for children’s writing is named after Barkhouse. She contributed to the Canadian Children’s Book Centre, the International Board on Books for Youth and the Canadian Authors’ Association.
Recognized during her lifetime, Barkhouse received the Order of Nova Scotia in 2007 and two years later she became a member of the Order of Canada.
Her niece Margaret Atwood twittered about the loss of her beloved aunt on Feb. 2, but all of Canada has lost a much-admired author and storyteller supreme.
