Evelyn M. Richardson (1902–1977)

Evelyn May Richardson, née Fox, was born on Emerald Isle, a remote island off the northeast coast of Newfoundland, Canada, and raised on Cape Sable Island off Nova Scotia. Her parents were Arthur Douglas Fox, a teacher, and his wife Hattie Larkin. When Evelyn was a teenager, the family lived in Bedford and she commuted by railway to Halifax to attend high school. After graduation, she went to Dalhousie University, where she earned a bachelor's degree. She taught at several schools before marrying Morrill Richardson in 1926 and moving with him to Massachusetts. In 1929, they returned to Nova Scotia, where her husband had purchased tiny Bon Portage Island (also known as Outer Island). He became the keeper of the lighthouse there, aided by his wife, over the next 35 years. While also raising their three children, Evelyn began a writing career, producing several award-winning books and numerous articles, both fiction and nonfiction. Many of her works described her life on the island, the most famous being We Keep a Light (1945), recipient of the Governor-General Award for Creative Nonfiction that year. Evelyn and her husband retired and left the island in 1964 when the light was mechanized, and moved to Barrington, Nova Scotia. She held offices in the Shelburne Historical Society and the Cape Sable Historical Society. The Evelyn Richardson Literary Prize was established in 1977, shortly after her death, to honour the best published non-fiction written by a native or resident Nova Scotian.