In December 1997, Ms. Landale writes:

"I live in Courtenay, on Vancouver Island, Canada, with my husband, our twelve-year old daughter, an all-black Oriental shorthair cat and a lynx-point Himalayan/Siamese cross. We also have a large shaggy dog who is almost perfect except she drools in the car. I have published three books. Harvest of Salmon (Hancock House), is about the seven years I spent commercial fishing, and Colour of Winter Air (Sono Nis) and Burning Stone, (Ronsdale Press) are poetry.

I've been involved with the literary community as a professional writer for a long time. I've served as President of the Federation of BC Writers, and was founding member of the Vancouver Industrial Writers' Union, and active with them for the thirteen years of our existence. (We were interested in work-related writing, the details of everyday life.) VIWU put on a long-lived reading series, sponsored colloquiums, wrote fiction pieces called grants in order to obtain funding, and met every month to share new writing. The two of us who are now in the Comox Valley region of Vancouver Island immediately formed another writing group. Details of daily life and work still interest me but I'm increasingly drawn to poetry that has a strong grounding in a particular place as well.

My poetry and prose have appeared in major literary journals and in over twenty anthologies in Canada and the US. My work has won awards in three genres; fiction, non-fiction and poetry. The award from Stony Brook was especially significant for me because it was my first major award and it was impartial acknowledgement--from another country yet--that what I was doing as a writer had value. It boosted my confidence tremendously.

I've also won awards for best narrative, fiction or non-fiction, from The Canadian Church Press, Event magazine's Creative Non-fiction Competition, and a National Magazine Award Gold for memoir, as well as best poem for 1997 from The Canadian Church Press, and second prize in the international Stephen Leacock Poetry competition.

I have a Master's degree in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia, and work as a freelance writer for Canadian national magazines such as Harrowsmith Country Life, Chatelaine and Canadian Living. I also help out occasionally in the family building business, do a great deal of cooking, act as chauffeur for our daughter, and design gardens for people. I came close to choosing landscape architecture over writing at university, but writing won out. I also teach creative writing at North Island College, give poetry workshops at local high schools, and have been known to teach writing through e-mail classes.

On bad days, I feel as though I have five part-time jobs. On good days, I am able to relax and be grateful for the time I do get at my computer. I have an interesting life. It's centered about my family, writing, and gardening, and I live in a part of the country I absolutely love, the BC coast.

We moved to the Comox Valley from Vancouver, BC, three years ago and are very happy here. I find the Valley has a high tolerance for artists and eccentrics. I enjoy being accepted by the community. I feel I fit in whereas I never did when we lived in a suburb where owning a bigger and 'better' house seemed the highest goal that people could aim for. In this area I find people are more willing to be themselves and not buy into the system in the same way.

The story 'Dollie and Her Sister' that won the Stony Brook Short Fiction Award came from an earlier portion of my life when I was a commercial fisher. I spent two years fishing the Gulf of Georgia and another five fishing out of Prince Rupert, trolling. The Dollie character came from a woman I met once and couldn't get out of my head. It's pure fiction, me trying to understand what her life must have been and the difficulties she had to contend with. I liked the woman very much and I hope that comes over.

People who want to know more about my work will find books listed through Cune Press in Seattle. Their internet address is: http://www.cunepress.com. Scott David, the editor, published a piece of mine in his new anthology An Ear to the Ground: Presenting Writers from Two Coasts."


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