After a twenty-five-year career as a jewellery designer, running a business and raising a family, Claire Finlayson now writes full time. She has always been an essay writer, and occasionally a journalist, but her passion is creative non-fiction. Dispatches from Ray’s Planet, seven years in the making, is Finlayson’s first book, written under the mentorship of Betty Keller. Finlayson lives in Gibsons, BC, and currently serves as vice president on the board of directors of the Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts, Canada’s longest-running literary event celebrating Canadian writers.