Editing Stephen Leacock (section)

== Literary life ==
[[File:Stephen Leacock House Orillia.jpg|thumb|Stephen Leacock House in [[Orillia, Ontario]]]]

Early in his career, Leacock turned to fiction, humour, and short reports to supplement (and ultimately exceed) his regular income. His stories, first published in magazines in Canada and the United States and later in novel form, became extremely popular around the world. Between the years 1915 and 1925, Leacock was the most popular humourist in the English-speaking world.<ref name="Lynch" /><ref>{{cite book|last=McGarvey|first=James A. "Pete" |title=The Old Brewery Bay: A Leacockian Tale|url=https://archive.org/details/oldbrewerybaylea0000mcga|url-access=registration|publisher=Dundurn Press Ltd.|location=Orillia, Ontario|year=1994|pages=[https://archive.org/details/oldbrewerybaylea0000mcga/page/7 7]|isbn=1-55002-216-4}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Leacock|first=Stephen |author2=Bowker, Alan |title=On the Front Line of Life: Stephen Leacock : Memories and Reflections, 1935–1944|url=https://archive.org/details/onfrontlineoflif0000leac|url-access=registration|publisher=Dundurn Press Ltd.|year=2004|pages=[https://archive.org/details/onfrontlineoflif0000leac/page/13 13]|isbn=1-55002-521-X}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Moyles|first=R. G. |title=Improved by Cultivation: An Anthology of English-Canadian Prose to 1914|publisher=Broadview Press|year=1994|pages=195|isbn=1-55111-049-0}}</ref>

A humourist particularly admired by Leacock was [[Robert Benchley]] from New York. Leacock opened correspondence with Benchley, encouraging him in his work and importuning him to compile his work into a book. Benchley did so in 1922, and acknowledged Leacock's encouragement.

Near the end of his life, the US comedian [[Jack Benny]] recounted how he had been introduced to Leacock's writing by [[Groucho Marx]] when they were both young [[vaudeville]] comedians. Benny acknowledged Leacock's influence and, fifty years after first reading him, still considered Leacock one of his favourite comic writers. He was puzzled as to why Leacock's work was no longer well known in the United States.<ref>Anobile, Richard J., The Marx Bros. Scrapbook, New York, Outlet, 1973</ref> 

During the summer months, Leacock lived at Old Brewery Bay, his summer estate in [[Orillia, Ontario|Orillia]], across Lake Simcoe from where he was raised and also bordering [[Lake Couchiching]].  A working farm, Old Brewery Bay is now a museum<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.leacockmuseum.com/|title=Stephen Leacock Museum|work=leacockmuseum.com}}</ref> and [[National Historic Site of Canada]]. Gossip provided by the local barber, Jefferson Short, provided Leacock with the material which would become ''[[Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town]]'' (1912), set in the thinly-disguised [[Mariposa (fictional town)|Mariposa]].

Leacock was awarded the [[Royal Society of Canada]]'s [[Lorne Pierce Medal]] in 1937, nominally for his academic work.

=== Memorial Medal for Humour ===
The Stephen Leacock Associates is a foundation chartered to preserve the literary legacy of Stephen Leacock, and oversee the annual award of the [[Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour]]. It is a prestigious honour, given to encourage Canadian humour writing and awarded for the best at Canadian humour writing. The foundation was instituted in 1946 and awarded the first Leacock Medal in 1947. The presentation occurs in June each year at the Stephen Leacock Award Dinner, at the Geneva Park Conference Centre in Orillia, Ontario.<ref name="slmfh" />