Background
Pratt was born in Toronto on March 18, 1921, the only daughter of Viola Whitney, an editor of the magazine World Friends, and poet E.J. Pratt.
Pratt was born in Toronto on March 18, 1921, the only daughter of Viola Whitney, an editor of the magazine World Friends, and poet E.J. Pratt.
She then studied international relations at Columbia University, and art at the Boston Museum of Fine Art and other schools.
Pratt contracted polio at the age of 4 and later developed osteomyelitis, an inflammatory disease of the bone. This affected her for most of her life. She went on to become an editor for Macmillan Canada, the University of Toronto Press, and Harvard University Press,and was senior editor at McClelland & Stewart from 1956-1965.
She retired due to her health issues in 1964 although she continued to freelance for various publishing houses.
She continued her art studies in Toronto and Massachusetts. She published Silent Ancestors in 1971.
This genealogical essay is a tribute to the descendants of the Pratt family, originally from Yorkshire, who settled in Newfoundland. Pratt"s art consisted largely of woodcuts, and there were exhibitions of her graphic art accross North America and in Europe.
Her interest in Japanese graphics stimulated an interest in haiku.
Her work in this style was widely published, often with her own illustrations. Pratt"s work was also stimulated by her father"s poetry, and she use excerpts from his poems in many of her Christmas cards. She also explored the themes and imagery of East.J. Pratt"s work in various works.
Pratt died in 1995.