Formal Education:
- BA, Wilfred Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario (formerly Waterloo Lutheran University) Major: English Literature; Minor: Psychology
- Canadian University Services Overseas: CUSO teacher training and orientation program, St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia. (Ten additional days of study were led by a number of well-known Caribbean authors, actors and artists on the campuses of the University of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica and in Port of Spain, Trinidad.)
Audited Courses:
- “Children’s Literature and Media Interests” (Dalhousie University School of Library and Information Studies, Halifax, N.S.)
- “A History of Children’s Literature, 19th Century” (Saint Mary’s University Extension Services)
Fee-based Courses and Workshops:
- “Writing for Children and Young Adults” (Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia; Course Instructor: Vicki Grant)
- One-Day Workshops sponsored by the Writer’s Federation of Nova Scotia: Leaders have included: Kathy Lowinger, Barbara Greenwood, Deborah Ellis, Marthe Jocelyn, Frieda Wishinsky
- Attended lectures presented over the course of a month by the late children’s and YA author Mollie Hunter while she was Writer-In-Residence at Dalhousie University’s School of Information and Library Sciences.
Awards:
- Honourable Mention for YA Novel, All Shook Up (32nd Atlantic Writing Competition)
- 3rd Place, Middle Grade/YA Novel, The Tale of the Tenth Planet (11th Atlantic Writing Competition)
- Honourable Mentions for Book I of En Route to Orbus (Novel), and for The Tenth Planet. The latter was a short story submitted to the Writing for Children Category of the AWC, which years later, I expanded into the Middle Grade/YA novel mentioned in bullet #2 above.
Other:
- Prince Nicolai and the Empty Box storybook text long-listed in the 2018 Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators and Performers (CANSCAIP) “Writing for Children Competition” (500 entrants)
- Prince Nicolai and the Empty Box long-listed from among close to nine hundred entries submitted to The Writers’ Union of Canada sponsored 2012 Writing for Children Competition. (874 entrants)
- Short-listed from among fifty-five applicants for the WFNS Mentorship Program in 2007 (5 positions available.)
Employment History:
- 1980-1998; 1975-1977: Progressed through several Library Assistant positions with increasing levels of responsibility, working full-time at Saint Mary’s University. Technical duties included original cataloguing, quality control, data management; problem solving using computer library databases and print resources (Library of Congress Classification Tables, LC Subject Headings, LC Rule Interpretations). Information Services duties included reference desk shifts, during which time assistance/and or training was given to patrons and faculty using both print resources and online databases.
- 1967-1969: Teacher of English Language and Literature in Guyana and Jamaica under the auspices of Canadian University Services Overseas (CUSO)
Memberships:
- Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia
- Associate Member of CANSCAIP (Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators and Performers)
