Sheila Philip Cochrane Burnford née Every (11 May 1916 – 20 April 1984) was a Scottish writer. She is best known for her novel '' The Incredible Journey'' about two dogs and a cat traveling through the Canadian wilderness.

Life and work

Burnford was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

and lived in

Ayrshire Ayrshire (, ) is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county, in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. The lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area of Ayrshire and Arran covers the entirety ...

during her teenage years. She attended St. George's School, Edinburgh, and

Harrogate Ladies College Harrogate Ladies' College is a private boarding and day school located in the town of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England. Founded as a girls' senior school in 1893, the college includes Highfield Prep School and educates girls from ages 2 to 1 ...

. She also attended schools in France and Germany. In 1941 she married Dr. David Burnford, with whom she had three children. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Burnford worked as a volunteer ambulance driver. In 1951 she emigrated to Canada, settling in

Port Arthur, Ontario Port Arthur was a city in Northern Ontario, Canada, located on Lake Superior. In January 1970, it was amalgamated with Fort William and the townships of Neebing and McIntyre to form the city of Thunder Bay. Port Arthur became the district seat ...

. Burnford is best remembered for '' The Incredible Journey'', published by

Hodder & Stoughton Hodder & Stoughton is a British publishing house, now an imprint of Hachette.H ...

with illustrations by

Carl Burger Carl V. Burger (June 18, 1888 – December 30, 1967) was an American "artist and writer of children's books about animals and natural history." He is known for his children's and youth literature illustrations of '' The Incredible Journey'' by Sh ...

in 1960. The story of three animal pets traveling in the wilderness won the

Canadian Library Association Book of the Year for Children Award The Canadian Library Association Book of the Year for Children Award was a literary award given annually to recognize a Canadian children's book. The award was given to a book written in English by a citizen or permanent resident of Canada and pub ...

in 1963 and the ALA Aurianne Award in 1963 as the best book on animal life written for children ages 8–14. It is marketed for children, but Burnford has stated that it was not intended as a children's book. It was a modest success commercially and became a bestseller after release of the 1963 Disney film, '' The Incredible Journey'' (which was remade in 1993 as '' Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey''). Another book, ''Bel Ria'', about a dog's survival in wartime, was based on her own experiences as an ambulance driver. Burnford later wrote other books on Canadian topics, including ''One Woman's Arctic'' (

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

) about her two summers in

Pond Inlet, Nunavut Pond Inlet () is a small, predominantly Inuit community in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada, located on northern Baffin Island. To the Inuit the name of the place "is and always has been Mittimatalik." The Scottish explorer Sir John Ros ...

Baffin Island Baffin Island (formerly Baffin Land), in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, is the largest island in Canada, the second-largest island in the Americas (behind Greenland), and the fifth-largest island in the world. Its area is (slightly smal ...

with

Susan Ross This is a list of characters who appeared on ''Seinfeld''. This list features only characters who appeared in main roles or multiple episodes; those that appeared in only one are not included here. Overview ;Overview : = Main cast (credited) : ...

. She traveled by komatik, a traditional

Inuit Inuit (singular: Inuk) are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Russia, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwe ...

dog sled A dog sled or dog sleigh is a sled pulled by one or more sled dogs used to travel over ice and through snow, a practice known as mushing. Numerous types of sleds are used, depending on their function. They can be used for Sled dog racing, dog sl ...

, assisted in

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

excavation, having to thaw the land inch by inch, ate everything offered to her, and saw the migration of the

narwhal The narwhal (''Monodon monoceros'') is a species of toothed whale native to the Arctic. It is the only member of the genus ''Monodon'' and one of two living representatives of the family Monodontidae. The narwhal is a stocky cetacean with a ...

s. Burnford died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

in the village of

Buckler's Hard Buckler's Hard is a hamlet in the civil parish of Beaulieu, in the New Forest district, in the county of Hampshire, England, on the banks of the Beaulieu River. With its two rows of Georgian cottages running down to the river, Buckler's Ha ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

at the age of 67.

Works

* '' The Incredible Journey'', illustrated by

(Toronto and London: Hodder & Stoughton; Boston: Little, Brown, 1961); also published as ''Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey'' or ''Homeward Bound'' * ''The Fields of Noon'' (1964) * ''Without Reserve: Among the Northern Forest Indians'' (1969), illus. Susan Ross * ''One Woman's Arctic'' (Hodder & Stoughton, 1972) * ''Mr. Noah and the Second Flood'', illus. Michael Foreman (1973) * ''Bel Ria'' (1977); also published as ''Bel Ria: Dog of War''

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

and

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the O ...

library records do not clearly show any other works published as books (six, as of 2018). WorldCat records show four of Burnford's books published in the US as

Atlantic Monthly Press Grove Atlantic, Inc. is an American independent publisher, based in New York City. Formerly styled "Grove/Atlantic, Inc.", it was created in 1993 by the merger of Grove Press and Atlantic Monthly Press. As of 2018 Grove Atlantic calls itself " ...

books, then an imprint of Little, Brown.

References

* W. H. New, ed. ''Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada.'' Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002: 166.

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Burnford, Sheila 1918 births 1984 deaths People educated at St George's School, Edinburgh English women novelists Deaths from cancer in England People educated at Harrogate Ladies' College 20th-century English women writers 20th-century English novelists

Life and work

Works

See also

References

External links