Sheree-Lee Olson (born December 11, 1954) is a Canadian

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

and

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

Biography

She was born in

Picton, Ontario Picton is an unincorporated community located in Prince Edward County in southeastern Ontario, roughly east of Toronto. It is the county's largest community and former seat located at the southwestern end of Picton Bay, a branch of the Bay of ...

on the shores of

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border sp ...

and grew up across Canada and in Europe, moving frequently with her family to her father's military postings. Eventually she earned degrees in visual art (

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

), philosophy (Leuven, in Belgium) and journalism ( Ryerson). She was an editor at ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'', Canada's leading national newspaper, from 1985 to 2013. Olson's poetry and fiction can be found in ''Descant'' and ''The Antigonish Review''. Her essays have appeared in ''The Globe and Mail'' and ''Between Interruptions: Thirty Women Tell The Truth About Motherhood'' (2007). In 2007-08 she was the Webster/McConnell Fellow in the Canadian Journalism Fellowships Program at Massey College,

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

. Her first novel, ''Sailor Girl'', was published in 2008 by Porcupine's Quill. It got attention across Canada and received several favourable reviews, including those on CBC Radio One Talking Books and in

. A review in ''Canadian Literature'' journal concludes "Olson has announced herself as one of the new bright lights in Canadian literature." In 2011, Olson received a "Bookmark" - a plaque bearing a selection from a notable Canadian literary work - in Port Colborne at Lock 8 on the Welland Canal, site of a key scene in ''Sailor Girl''. Project Bookmark Canada celebrates locally inspired writing by installing Bookmarks ''in situ''. In 2013, producers Markham Street Films announced that Olson's ''Sailor Girl'' was under development as a feature film with director Anita Doron. The big screen adaption, with screenplay written by Johanna Schneller, begins filming in the summer of 2014.

References

External links

Official site"Like Father, Like Daughter," essay in The Globe and Mail, August 14, 2007Between Interruptions: Thirty Women Tell The Truth About MotherhoodExcerpt of Sailor Girl in The Globe and Mail, June 2, 2008
{{DEFAULTSORT:Olson, Sheree-Lee 1954 births Living people 20th-century Canadian poets 21st-century Canadian novelists 21st-century Canadian poets Canadian women novelists Canadian women poets Canadian people of Swedish descent Writers from Toronto People from Prince Edward County, Ontario Canadian women short story writers 20th-century Canadian women writers 21st-century Canadian women writers 20th-century Canadian short story writers 21st-century Canadian short story writers