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Frederick John Niven

Article by Terrence Craig

Published Online April 10, 2008

Last Edited December 16, 2013

Frederick John Niven, journalist, novelist (b at Valparaiso, Chile 31 Mar 1878; d at Vancouver 30 Jan 1944). Niven is best known for his novels of Scotland and Scots in Canada. Raised and educated in Scotland, Niven wrote about Canada for British papers after an 1899-1900 trip to BC.

Niven, Frederick John

Frederick John Niven, journalist, novelist (b at Valparaiso, Chile 31 Mar 1878; d at Vancouver 30 Jan 1944). Niven is best known for his novels of Scotland and Scots in Canada. Raised and educated in Scotland, Niven wrote about Canada for British papers after an 1899-1900 trip to BC. From 1908 he produced over 30 novels, 3 of which are not only considered his best work but are often thought of as an historically authentic trilogy of western settlement: The Flying Years (1935), Mine Inheritance (1940) and The Transplanted (1944) present Canada's development from the beginnings of the Selkirk settlement to WWII. Niven settled near Nelson, BC, after 1920.

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