Frances Backhouse is a former biologist whose wide-ranging curiosity about the world and love of literature enticed her into a writing career. With a passion for stories about nature, history, and the rich textures of the overlap zone, she writes for both adults and children. She has won the City of Victoria Butler Book Prize and Sunshine Coast Writers and Editors Society Book Award for BC Authors and been shortlisted for many other honours, including the Edna Staebler Award for Creative Nonfiction, the VanCity Book Prize, the Lane Anderson Award, the City of Victoria Children’s Book Prize, the Green Earth Award, the Yellow Cedar Award and the Red Cedar Award. Frances holds an MFA in creative nonfiction from the University of Victoria and has been a Writer in Residence at the Berton House Writers’ Retreat. She lives in Victoria, BC, with her partner, writer Mark Zuehlke.