Age, Biography and Wiki

Elizabeth Smart (Canadian author) was born on 27 December, 1913 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, is a Canadian poet and novelist. Discover Elizabeth Smart (Canadian author)'s Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. Learn How rich is she in this year and how she spends money? Also learn how she earned most of networth at the age of 73 years old?

Popular As N/A
Occupation Writer
Age 73 years old
Zodiac Sign Capricorn
Born 27 December, 1913
Birthday 27 December
Birthplace Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Date of death 1986
Died Place London, England, United Kingdom
Nationality Canada

We recommend you to check the complete list of Famous People born on 27 December. She is a member of famous poet with the age 73 years old group.

Elizabeth Smart (Canadian author) Height, Weight & Measurements

At 73 years old, Elizabeth Smart (Canadian author) height not available right now. We will update Elizabeth Smart (Canadian author)'s Height, weight, Body Measurements, Eye Color, Hair Color, Shoe & Dress size soon as possible.

Physical Status
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Dating & Relationship status

She is currently single. She is not dating anyone. We don't have much information about She's past relationship and any previous engaged. According to our Database, She has no children.

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Elizabeth Smart (Canadian author) Net Worth

Her net worth has been growing significantly in 2023-2024. So, how much is Elizabeth Smart (Canadian author) worth at the age of 73 years old? Elizabeth Smart (Canadian author)’s income source is mostly from being a successful poet. She is from Canada. We have estimated Elizabeth Smart (Canadian author)'s net worth, money, salary, income, and assets.

Net Worth in 2024 $1 Million - $5 Million
Salary in 2024 Under Review
Net Worth in 2023 Pending
Salary in 2023 Under Review
House Not Available
Cars Not Available
Source of Income poet

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Timeline

1913

Elizabeth Smart (December 27, 1913 – March 4, 1986) was a Canadian poet and novelist.

1937

In 1937, Smart took a job as secretary to the noted Mrs. Alfred Watt, head of the Associated Country Women of the World, an international organization for rural women, travelling extensively throughout the world accompanying Watt to various conferences.

It was during this time that Smart happened across a book of poetry by George Barker, immediately falling in love not only with the poetry, but with the man himself.

After her travels with Mrs. Watt, Smart returned to Ottawa, where she spent six months writing society notes for the women's page of The Ottawa Journal.

At parties she would often ask about Barker, saying she wanted to meet and marry him.

Soon Smart began a correspondence with the poet.

Eager to launch her writing career, Smart quit the Journal and left Ottawa for good.

Traveling on her own, she visited New York, Mexico and California, joining a writers' colony at Big Sur.

While there, Smart made contact with Barker through Lawrence Durrell, paying to fly Barker and his wife to the United States from Japan where he was teaching.

Soon after meeting, they began a tumultuous affair which was to last for years.

1941

In 1941, after becoming pregnant, Smart returned to Canada, settling in Pender Harbour, British Columbia to have the child she would name Georgina.

Barker attempted to visit her in Canada, but Smart's family influenced government officials: he was stopped at the border and turned back because of "moral turpitude".

1943

Two years later, in 1943, during the height of the war, she sailed to the United Kingdom to join Barker.

There she gave birth to their second child, Christopher Barker, and obtained employment at the British Ministry of Defence to support her children.

1945

Her best-known work is the novel By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept (1945), an extended prose poem inspired by her romance with the poet George Barker.

Smart was born to a prominent family in Ottawa, Ontario; her father, Russel Smart, was a lawyer, and the family had a summer house on Kingsmere Lake located next door to the future Prime Minister of Canada, William Lyon Mackenzie King.

Her sister, Jane became a filmmaker, teacher and sculptor.

Smart attended the Ottawa Normal School in her formative years, but was soon transferred to the Elmwood School, a private prep school for girls located in an affluent Ottawa neighbourhood.

She later attended Hatfield Hall in Cobourg, Ontario for secondary school.

At the age of 11, Smart was confined to bed for a year due to a misdiagnosed "leaky heart valve".

She began writing at an early age, publishing her first poem at the age of 10 and compiling a collection of poetry at 15.

In her youth, she often kept regular journals, a habit she would keep up throughout most of her life.

Smart grew up among the social elite of Ottawa through her father's connections as a lawyer.

Her mother often hosted parties for prominent politicians and civil servants.

As a result, Smart socialized with many members of Ottawa's political class who were or would become important figures in Canadian history, including acquaintances such as Graham Spry, Charles Ritchie, Lester B. Pearson, and William Lyon Mackenzie King.

At the age of 18, following graduation from secondary school, Smart traveled to England to study music at the University of London.

During this time Smart produced her best-known work, By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept (1945).

Smart soon returned to the United States and began work as a file clerk for the British embassy in Washington.

Their affair produced two more children (Sebastian, born 1945, and Rose Emma, born 1947).

Through it all Barker, who was Catholic, said he would leave his wife for Smart, but this never happened (he was to have fifteen children by several different women).

They lived a bohemian lifestyle and associated with many of the 'Soho' artists.

Christopher Barker writing in The Guardian about this period noted: "On many occasions through the early Sixties, writers and painters such as David Gascoyne, Paddy Kavanagh, Roberts MacBryde and Colquhoun and Paddy Swift [Swift lived downstairs from Smart and his wife, Agnes, wrote cookbooks with Smart] would gather at Westbourne Terrace in Paddington, our family home at that time. They came for editorial discussions about their poetry magazine, X."

2000

Just 2000 copies of By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept were published in 1945 by Editions Poetry London, and it did not achieve popularity until its paperback reissue in 1966.

It is a fictional work, largely based on Smart's affair with Barker up until that point.

"The power of emotion to transform one's perspective on the world," a recent Open Letters Monthly review of the novel states, "is the theme of this wildly poetic novel. The inspiration for Smart's classic work of prose poetry is just as famous as the book itself.

Smart's mother Louise ("Louie") was not pleased with the book.

Again availing influence with government officials, she led a successful campaign to have its publication banned in Canada.

Of those copies that made their way into the country from overseas, Louise Smart bought up as many as she could find and had them burned.

Barker visited Smart often in London where she worked.

She became pregnant again, and was fired from the Ministry of Information.