Bio

Sharon has been writing off the side of her desk most of her life. Before retiring from her work as a family therapist specializing in working with families of children with disabilities, she had articles and essays published in professional journals and magazines in Canada and the USA.

In 2007 Sharon and her partner, Dennis, moved to Gabriola Island, where she was inspired to write about nature, especially birds. For seven years she wrote Just for the Birds, a monthly column in The Flying Shingle newspaper. She was also published in various magazines, including Cottage Magazine.

In 2010 Sharon self-published Up Close & Personal: Confessions of a Backyard Birder, a compilation of 24 of her columns and 40 colour photos. Up Close & Personal is available at the Salish Sea Market and Art Gallery in Bowser BC. Or use the contact form on this website to email Sharon directly.

In 2012, Formative Years, a personal essay, was included in Writing the West Coast: Artful Identities, an anthology by Key Publishing House.

From 2013 to 2018 Sharon wrote monthly articles for Bird Canada. She is now an occasional guest author there. Read her articles at www.birdcanada.com

On Gabriola Island, Sharon was a member of a grass-roots organization committed to trying to protect the coast of BC from oil spills. It was during these years of activism that she began writing Across a Narrow Strait, her first novel, published in 2018. Read about it here.

In 2019 Sharon and Dennis and Sharon’s mother, Mary, moved to Cumberland on Vancouver Island. There, cradled by mountains, Sharon is at work on a book of personal essays about taking care of her Mom, who had dementia and died in June 2020.

She is also writing short fiction.

SHORT STORIES

In April 2020, Sharon’s short story, A Symphony of Sparrows, took second place in Askew’s Word on the Lake Writing Contest. 

The David and Goliath was published in the Island Writer Magazine in June 2020.

In May 2020, The Neighbour, was shortlisted for the Federation of BC Writers BC/Yukon Short Fiction Contest.

In August 2020, Various Functions of Fire took first place for fiction in the Victoria Writers Society Annual Writing Contest. 

Sharon is an honourary lifetime member of the Federation of BC Writers and a member of the Comox Valley Writers Society.