Wendy Phillips’ first novel, Fishtailing, won several awards, including the Governor General’s Literary Award for Children’s Writing and the Moonbeam Award for Innovative Storytelling. She began writing at age 11, inventing wilderness adventures while hiking in the sagebrush hills around Kamloops. An enduring love of words took her through a journalism degree from Carleton University, volunteer teaching in Lesotho, and freelance writing in Zimbabwe. Returning to the West Coast, she enjoyed a new career as a high school English teacher and librarian.Now she lives on beautiful Gabriola Island, writing full time, reading just about anything, and celebrating the possibilities of words, wood, ocean, and music. For more about her writing, see Wendy’s blog at www.writingwendy.com.