Tanna Patterson-Z has a B.A. in Environmental Studies from the University of Waterloo and a Renewable Resources Diploma from Lakeland College in Vermilion, Alberta. Her first book, Exploring the Creston Valley, published in 1989 by Waterwheel Press, is a guide to hiking, bicycling, and canoeing in the Creston Valley. She has also dabbled in children's stories and contributed articles to the Creston Valley Advance and the newsletter of the conservation group, Wildsight. Her father Claude, and her teacher-librarian mom, Genevieve, gave her a life-long love for books. She shares the Kootenay lifestyle with her husband Gene, two grown sons Jan and Sebastian.