Sandra Birdsell facts for kids

Sandra Louise Birdsell, CM (née Bartlette) (born 22 April 1942) is a Canadian novelist and short story writer of Métis and Mennonite heritage from Morris, Manitoba.

Life and career

Born in Hamiota, Manitoba, Birdsell was the fifth of eleven children. She lived most of her early life in Morris, Manitoba, where the family moved after her father joined the army in 1943. Her father was a French-speaking Cree Métis born in Canada and her mother was a Low-German speaking Mennonite who was born in Russia. When Birdsell was six and a half, her sister died from leukemia, which left a four-year gap between her and her next older sister. Her loneliness led her to ponder by herself to the nearby parks and rivers allowing her imagination to go wild.

Her hometown of Morris experienced a major flood in 1950. Her first three stories in Night Travellers are based on that flood. Birdsell left home at the age of fifteen, where she studied at the University of Winnipeg and the University of Manitoba, where she studied under Robert Kroetsch. In 1996, she moved to Regina, Saskatchewan, and currently resides in Ottawa, Ontario.

At the age of thirty-five, she enrolled in Creative Writing at the University of Winnipeg. Five years later, Turnstone Press published her first book, Night Travellers.

In January 2007, Birdsell began a four-month term as the Carol Shields writer in residence at the University of Winnipeg. In 2010, Birdsell was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada and in 2012 she was invested with Saskatchewan Order of Merit (SOM).

She is a mother to three children and a grandmother to four children.

Recognition

Prizes and honours

• 1984 Gerald Lampert Award from League of Canadian Poets, 1984, for Night Travellers
• 1990 Books in Canada First Novel Award (for The Missing Child)
• 1992 Shortlist, Governor General's Award for English-language fiction (for The Chrome Suite)
• 1993 Marian Engel Award
• 1997 Shortlist, Governor General's Award for Fiction (for The Two-Headed Calf)
• 1997 Shortlist, Silver Birch Award; Saskatchewan Children's Literature Award, for The Town That Floated Away
• 2001 Shortlist, Giller Prize (for The Russländer)
• 2001 Saskatchewan Book of the Year, Best Saskatchewan Fiction and City of Regina (for The Russländer)
• 2007 Longlist, International Dublin Literary Award (for Children of the Day)
• 2007 Saskatchewan Best Fiction Award (for Children of the Day)
• 2010 Shortlist, Governor General's Award for English fiction (Waiting for Joe)
• Juno Award nomination for radio play, The Town That Floated Away"

Awards

• Marion Engel Award for meritorious achievements of a woman writer in mid-career.
• The Joseph S. Stauffer Prize, The Canadian Council 1992, for meritorious achievements in the arts.
• Juno Award nomination for radio play, The Town that Floated Away.
• National Magazine Award and nomination for short fiction.
• 45 Below Award, by The Canadian Book Information Center. Chosen as one of ten most promising below the age of 45.
• Awarded writing grant from The Manitoba Arts Council, The Canadian Council and the Saskatchewan Arts Board.
• Nominee for 2010 Saskatchewan Book Award Shortlists: Fiction Award. Waiting for Joe (Random House Canada).

Archives

There is Sandra Birdsell archives at Library and Archives Canada.