Sheila Stewart is a poet, essayist, and educator and the author of three poetry collections, If I Write About My Father, The Shape of a Throat, and A Hat to Stop a Train. She grew up in Stratford, Waterloo, and Montreal.

After teaching in Libya and Swaziland, she worked in adult literacy for many years in Parkdale, the west Toronto neighbourhood where she lives. She has a PhD in Adult Education and Community Development from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto. Sheila taught undergraduate courses and in writing centres at University of Toronto.