CANSCAIP Members

Ainslie Manson

Author

4768 The Highway
West Vancouver, B. C.
V7W 1J5
Phone: (604) 926-3825
Fax: (604) 925-0358
Email:

Born: October 31, 1938. Montreal, Que
Married to David Manson, three sons, Graeme, Murray and Gavin

Biography

I grew up in Hudson Heights (near Montreal). I had a happy outdoorsy kind of childhood. I rode horses at a farm across the road. I rode my bike to school, and to the store and to the library. We didn't have a family car until I was ten.

I loved books as a child but because of the war, I had few of my own. (A little like Sally in my story, Just Like New.) I had really poor eyesight (a little like Allison in my story Ballerinas Don't Wear Glasses) and when I was in about Grade Four, an eccentric eye doctor informed my mother that I should be reading nothing but essential school work. Probably because of that skimpy beginning, I now read voraciously. In my school days, I spent a great deal of time staring out the window, deep in daydreams. I was extremely shy and hated it when the teachers asked me questions. I was happiest when we had a subject called Composition. I loved making up stories. I also kept a diary. Writing in my diary was like sharing secrets with a best friend.

After high school I could have (and probably should have) gone right on to university, but in those days it meant taking more math. I couldn't face that! So instead, I worked and then traveled. I didn't cover the whole world, but I saw a good deal of it. And I wrote about my experiences every night.

Back in Montreal, I met my husband. He was a Vancouverite and had come to Montreal to do his medical internship. During his training we lived in the States for several years and it was while we were there that I finally realized I wanted to make some sort of writing into a full time career. Full time university was out because I had a day job, so I took a three year creative writing course that I could work on in the evenings. We eventually settled in Vancouver where I wrote (badly) for magazines, and then (better) for newspapers. It wasn't until my life was totally chaotic with three active sons and hardly any free time that I found my true genre: writing for kids.

The boys are grown up now, but there is still a lot of coming and going at our house. Fortunately I have my own study and I always want to stay when I step in the door. Two dogs usually lie sleeping by my fireplace. On my favorite kind of day, I get up early, walk the dogs along the sea, then come home and write. I can see the sea from my study, so I STILL stare out the window and daydream!

Published Works

Books

Leaving The Log House, Early Chapter book, for 7-13 year olds. Orca Publishing. Spring 2003

Alexander Mackenzie, From Canada by Land. Biography. Groundwood, January 2003.

House Calls, The True Story of a Pioneer Doctor. Historical fiction. Illustrated by Mary Jane Gerber, Groundwood, 2001.

Ballerinas Don't Wear Glasses, fiction, picture book. Illustrations by Dean Griffiths. Orca Book Publishers, Spring 2000

Baboo, The story of Sir John A. Macdonald's daughter, Groundwood Publishing, 1998. Picture book. Illustrations by Bill Wand. Bound: ISBN 0-88899-329-3

Just Like New, fiction, picture book, Groundwood, Division of Douglas & McIntyre, Fall 1995. Illustrations by Karen Reczuch. Bound: ISBN 0-88899-228-9 U.S. edition: 1996.

A Dog Came, Too Story of the dog that crossed Canada with Alexander Mackenzie. Groundwood, Division of Douglas & McIntyre, March l992. Illustrations by Ann Blades. Bound: ISBN 0-88899-140-1 Pbk: ISBN 0-88899-187-8 U.S. edition: Margaret K. McElderry Books, Macmillan Publishing Co., N. Y., 1993. ISBN 0-689-50567-1, also in CORNERSTONES, Canadian Language Arts Anthology 4A, Gage Education Publishing Co., 1998. ISBN 0-7715-1200-7

Simon Fraser, (biography) published by Grolier Limited, Toronto, January l991, for Canadian Pathfinders Series. Hardback. Bound: ISBN 0-7172-2569-0 (remainder distributed through Nelson)

Alexander Mackenzie, (biography) published by Grolier Limited, Toronto, l988, for Canadian Pathfinders Series. Bound: ISBN 0-7172-2508-9; Pbk: ISBN 0-7172-2947-5 (Out of Print)

Mr. McUmphie Of Caulfeild Cove, Queenston House Publishing Ltd., Winnipeg, 1982. (British Columbia adventure story for 7 - ll year olds.) Fiction. Bound: ISBN 0-919866-72-7; Pbk: ISBN 0-919866-75-1 (Out of Print)

Magazine articles

Placename series, Canadian Children's Magazine, 1978-79

Newspaper series

Vancouver Province, seven series on Education Page, 1980 - 1985

Awards

Short list: B.C. Book Prizes, The Sheila A. Egoff Prize. 1993 for A DOG CAME, TOO.
Short list: Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People. 1993 for A DOG CAME, TOO.
Short list: Tiny TORGI award, Canadian National Institute for the Blind. 1994 for A DOG CAME, TOO.
American Bookseller, "Pick of the Lists", A DOG CAME, TOO, l993.
Short list: Mr. Christie Award, JUST LIKE NEW, 1996
Amelia Francis Gibbon Award (CLA) for illustration JUST LIKE NEW 1996
The Five Owls Book of Merit (U.S.) JUST LIKE NEW,1996.
OUR CHOICE, Canadian Children's Book Centre: A DOG CAME TOO, 1992, JUST LIKE NEW, 1996, BABOO, 1998; BALLERINAS, 2001

Other Memberships

The Writers' Union of Canada
A founder of CANSCAIP-WEST. and Chairperson CANSCAIP 1986-1989;
Western Rep., CANSCAIP 1994 - present
CWILL BC (Childrens' Writers and Illustrators of B.C.)
Federation of B.C. Writers'
IBBY
PEN
Canadian Children's Book Centre
Vancouver Children's Literature Roundtable

Available For

Talks, readings, workshops, and conferences


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