John Coulter | The Canadian Encyclopedia

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John Coulter

John William Coulter, writer (b at Belfast, Ire 12 Feb 1888; d at Toronto 1 Dec 1980). Coulter is best known for his historical trilogy Riel (written and produced 1950; publ 1962), The Crime of Louis Riel (1968) and The Trial of Louis Riel (1968). Most of his other plays are on Irish subjects.

Coulter, John William

John William Coulter, writer (b at Belfast, Ire 12 Feb 1888; d at Toronto 1 Dec 1980). Coulter is best known for his historical trilogy Riel (written and produced 1950; publ 1962), The Crime of Louis Riel (1968) and The Trial of Louis Riel (1968). Most of his other plays are on Irish subjects. Among them, The House in the Quiet Glen (1937) won the Dominion Drama Festival Bessborough Trophy and The Drums Are Out was premiered at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, Ireland, in 1948. With composer Healey WILLAN he created the first 2 operas commissioned and broadcast by the CBC: Transit through Fire (1942) and Deirdre of the Sorrows (1944). His nondramatic works include a biography of Winston Churchill and a record of his courtship, Prelude to a Marriage (1979).