As a pioneer in Canada in the early 1800s, Catharine Parr Traill was one of the first writers to record the Ontario wilderness in literary and scientific detail, and her stories for young people became part of a new focus on young people. Her books on emigration encouraged other pioneers who struggled with life in a new country. Catharine was a natural storyteller who loved to write. As an adult in Canada, she wrote while she was hungry and fearful for her family’s safety. Her life was one of hardship and adventure, but also of great joy. This biography shows how an English girl called Katie became an adult who gave so much to North America’s early literature.

A former elementary and special needs teacher who turned to writing for publication at one of the (many) changeover periods of her life, Lynn immigrated to Canada from England in 1963. She spent her teenage years in and around Montreal, then married and moved to Toronto, which has since been her home. She has travelled much of Canada, and parts of the U.S. and Europe, and hopes to see more of the world yet. She is the mother of three and a grandmother. She lives happily with her second husband and a springer spaniel. Besides writing, her interests run, in no particular order of priority, to reading, banjo playing, reading, morris dancing, singing, reading, crafts, gardening, and reading anything and everything. Lynn does storytelling programs for young audiences. She is a founding teaching staff member of Centauri Adult Arts Retreat and she teaches creative writing for adults for the Toronto Board of Education. She is a member of the Canadian Society of Children's Authors, Illustrators and Performers, and The Writer's Union of Canada. Other memberships include the Federation of Ontario Naturalists and the Flying Cloud and Acoustic Harvest Folk Clubs. Lynn is the winner of the Frances E. Russell Award for her work on Making it Home: The Story of Catharine Parr Traill. Her other works include: Business In Bangkok (Second Story Press, 2001) and Baggage To London (Annick Press, 1994).

Lynn Westerhout's profile page