About

My grandfather holds my hand, and we walk through the forest. He tells me of growing up in an older, very different Vancouver: days spent hunting pheasants with a slingshot in the old growth forests along the Fraser River — it’s a golf course now. Days spent with his dog, Mickey, and his pet screech owls: Morley, Fezziwig and Scrooge. Days spent learning the warp and weft of the forest and its beings. There were other stories too: stories told at bedtime about best friends Danny the Mouse and Sam the Dinosaur fighting the creatures of the Terrible Forest. He and his stories have inspired me all these years since.

Check out my piece about the Jasper Fire here:

“The next time I pass Jasper, I see the spires of charred trees lined up against the horizon like spent matches. As I get closer, I’m relieved to see sprigs of green pushing through the blackened earth. Along the shoulder graze Jasper’s famed elk. If you’ve ever visited, you’ve probably seen “the ladies” walking along the highway or passing through town. They’ve made it safely through the fire. Grazing near them are two mule deer. I’ve never seen deer and elk graze together. “Amidst the ashes, life finds a way,” quipped Jasper National Park on X.“

I won my first writing competition when I was sixteen: Access Radio’s Alberta High School Storytellers. My story, “The Christmas Gift,” was produced as a radio play, I was interviewed on air and paid $150, a fortune for me then. That gave me the confidence to keep writing.

I’ve written for textbooks, periodicals, weeklies, online publications, and anthologies (see my Bibliography). In 2013 I completed my MA in Environmental Education and Communication through Royal Roads University, and now I teach in the Bachelor of Communication Studies program at MacEwan University in Edmonton. My book, Weaving a Malawi Sunrise: A Woman, A School, A People, was released by the University of Alberta Press in November 2015.

My most joyful writing development has been joining two small groups of writers who each meet once a month to critique each other’s stories. The groups have re-energized my storytelling.

My artwork is inspired by my desire to tell stories too. Nature is the most exciting place I can imagine. Every day holds new discoveries and adventures, and my art allows me to share these with you.

Read more about my writing projects here.

Weaving a Malawi Sunrise is available for purchase through the University of Alberta Press, Chapters/Indigo, and Amazon.com.

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“In the end, our society will be defined not only by what we create, but by what we refuse to destroy.”

John c. sawhill