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I live near Ottawa in a house surrounded by trees and fields and cows and horses. Five days a week, I’m an editorial writer, weekly columnist, and daily blogger for The Ottawa Citizen, the daily broadsheet in Canada’s capital.
Evenings and weekends, I write fiction. I don’t write short stories often, but I’ve had a few published, nonetheless, in places such as The New Quarterly and The Puritan. You can read some of my published work on the Stories page.
In 2007, I was a student of the Humber School for Writers creative writing by correspondence program. I wrote a novel manuscript, The Disappearance of Walter Map, under the mentorship of the very clever Paul Quarrington. It’s the story of a fairy abduction, told in part from the fairy’s perspective. It earned a letter of distinction from Humber.
In his letter of recommendation, Paul called it “an extremely gracefully written novel, masterfully paced and meticulously crafted. It is also – perhaps I should even say ‘more importantly’ – a great deal of fun.”
I’m also polishing up an earlier novel called In the Knot, which is the might-be-true story of a 12-century woman who’s been blamed, on and off, for Ireland’s troubles. You can read the first paragraphs of both novels on the Beginnings page.
And, because I just can’t get enough carpal tunnel syndrome, I’m also working on a brand-new novel. It’s set in Ottawa in the 19th century. And that’s all you get to know about that for now.
I meet once a month with a group of Ottawa fiction writers who have been immensely helpful.
If you’re a regular at the Ottawa International Writers Festival, you might have been to one of the events I’ve hosted.
I was born in 1977 in Kitchener, Ontario. I grew up in Northern Ontario and Manitoba, and spent ten months in Belize after high school. I have a degree in political science from the University of Ottawa and a master of journalism from Carleton University.
When I’m not writing, I practise yoga, or play piano or harmonium, or spend time with my partner, Brent and our two cats. I’ve also recently picked up the gardening bug.
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