mail	411 Winger Road Williams Lake, BC V2G3S7
ph	250-392-5762
e	annwalshwrites@hotmail.com
web	annwalsh.ca

Biography

As a child Ann lived and went to school in South Africa, Kansas, England, Holland, Saskatchewan and Vancouver, B.C. As an adult, she has lived for many years on 18 acres in the historic Cariboo region of Central British Columbia, where she raised and trained an assortment of pets, two daughters and a husband.

Before becoming a writer, Ann taught in both the public school system and at a local college, as an adult literacy instructor, ESL teacher and English instructor. Her teaching career has also included being a primary grades classroom teacher, a Learning Assistant, a teacher librarian and one harrowing stint as a Teacher On Call.

Ann has written several novels of historical fiction set during B.C.s gold rush. Her trilogy of historical fiction novels, Moses, Me and Murder, The Doctors Apprentice and By The Skin of His Teeth take place in the gold rush town of Barkerville (now restored as a living museum) as does her first novel, Your Time My Time a time travel story with a gentle love interest.

While not strictly speaking historical fiction Shabash! deals with the prejudice faced in 1980 by a young Indo-Canadian boy who is the first non-white player in his small towns minor hockey league.

Ann has also compiled and edited three volumes of short stories. One of these, Beginnings, Stories of Canada's Past was nominated for the Golden Oak award for Adult New Readers. Dark Times is an anthology of stories of young people going through a time of loss and grief and contains Ann's own story about Alzheimer's Disease as well as twelve other stories by Canadian authors.

Ann's poetry and short stories for adults have been heard on CBC and have appeared in magazines and anthologies around the world.

Book types: picture books, juvenile nonfiction, YA fiction, poetry, editors

Guest speaker/presentation information

Ann has been doing workshops and readings for Grades 5 to adult for more than 20 years and she still enjoys them. She loves travelling, and is willing to gear her presentations to the needs and requests of a particular school or classroom. Her sessions are fast paced and entertaining, as well as informative.

As one teacher commented after Ann visited her school, "You made history come alive for my students."

Presentation geographic range: Vancouver, Coast, Lower Mainland, Gulf and Vancouver Islands, Thompson Okanagan, Northern British Columbia, Cariboo Chilcotin Coast, Kootenay Rockies, The Territories, Canada - beyond BC, USA

Presentation audience age groups: grades 4-6, grades 7-8, high school, college/university/adult

Published work

Forestry A-Z (with Kathleen Cook Waldron), Spring 2008, Orca

Historical Fiction Novels and Anthologies

Moses, Me and Murder!
The Doctors Apprentice.
By the Skin of his Teeth
The Ghost of Soda Creek
Beginnings, Stories of Canada's Past (editor)
Winds Through Time (editor)

Other Titles

Flower Power (an Orca Currents novel)
Horse Power (an Orca Currents novel)
Shabash!
Your Time, My Time
Dark Times (editor)
Across the Stillness (poetry)

Awards & recognition

All of Ann's books, including the anthologies she edited, are "Our Choice" award books.

Other award nominations:

The Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction
B.C. Book Prizes
The Silver Birch
The Golden Oak
The Chocolate Lily