Grant Allen
Submitted by clelia on January 1, 2011 - 4:30pm
Grant Allen, the inspiration for the Scene of the Crime Festival, was born on Wolfe Island and lived there until he was 13, when his family moved to the United States. Homeschooled during his childhood, Allen went on to attend schools in the US, UK and France. In his 20s, he became a professor at Queen's College in Jamaica. In 1876, he and his wife returned to England, where he took up writing as a career.
A prolific author, Allen wrote scientific books, biographies and criticism, and in his mid-30s he began writing fiction. Between 1884 and 1899, Allen wrote about 30 novels, of which the most celebrated is The Woman Who Did (1895). Allen visited Kingston a few times as an adult, and one of his short stories, "The Reluctant Hangman," is set there. In an 1887 essay, "Among the Thousand Islands" (1887), he offers a description of the region: