Hugh MacLennan was born in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, in 1907. When he was seven years old, his family moved to Halifax. MacLennan was 10 years old when two ships collided in the harbour. The resulting explosion, known as the Halifax Explosion, was the greatest man-made explosion in human history prior to the atomic bomb. His first published novel, Barometer Rising, chronicles this event. His next novel and probably his most famous work, Two Solitudes, won him the first of five Governor General’s Awards. In 1951 Hugh MacLennan moved to Montreal and joined McGill University’s Department of English, where he continued to write and publish. Montreal remained his home until he died on November 7, 1990.