In addition to her twenty-four books, L.M. Montgomery published over a thousand shorter works throughout her career, between 1890 and 1942.
These shorter works consist of roughly five hundred poems, five hundred short stories, and one hundred miscellaneous pieces (memoirs, essays, sketches, and letters). These items make for fascinating reading, not only because Montgomery used them to perfect her craft and in many cases to test out characters and plot points she would later rework into her novels, but also because during the early days of her career she published her work under several alternate signatures, including “Cynthia” and “Maud Cavendish.” The majority of these items appeared in a wide range of mainstream periodicals from all over North America—some for women, some for children, some for people in farming communities, and some for the general public.
Within her lifetime, Montgomery revised many of her shorter works for inclusion in some of her books: twelve short stories in Chronicles of Avonlea (1912), ninety-four poems in The Watchman and Other Poems (1916), fifteen short stories in Further Chronicles of Avonlea (1920), and forty-one poems and fifteen short stories in her rediscovered final book, The Blythes Are Quoted. In addition, over one hundred short stories and almost as many poems have appeared in trade collections published after Montgomery’s death.
L.M. Montgomery’s output of shorter works forms the basis of The L.M. Montgomery Library, a series of books from which three volumes are already available: A Name for Herself: Selected Writings, 1891–1917 (2018), A World of Songs: Selected Poems, 1894–1921 (2019), and Twice upon a Time: Selected Stories, 1898–1939 (2022). An earlier book, The L.M. Montgomery Reader, Volume 1: A Life in Print (2013), includes several essays, interviews, and miscellaneous pieces that Montgomery published as part of her career as an internationally best-selling novelist.
Shorter Works by Type
Short Stories by Title | Short Stories by Date | Poems by Title | Poems by Date
Miscellaneous Pieces by Title | Miscellaneous Pieces by Date
Alternate Signatures | Periodicals | Posthumous Collections | Anthologies
Shorter Works by Date
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