Life
I was born in Toronto, Ontario in 1956.
When I was a kid, I loved books and going to the theatre. With my brothers and sister, I performed many plays and circuses in the backyard.
I went to high school in Toronto, but decided to work instead of going to college. I had lots of different jobs before becoming a writer, including a theatre usher, a cookie seller, a waitress, a sailor, a photo stylist and a toy designer. I had my own company, called Jesse Design, for fifteen years.
I lived in New York City for thirty years, but am now back in Canada, in Stratford, Ontario, where my parents grew up.
I have two daughters named Hannah and Nell.
Favourite Childhood Books
ELOISE IN MOSCOW
by Kay Thompson
THE WOLVES OF WILLOUGHBY CHASE
(and everything else) by Joan Aiken
HALF MAGIC
by Edward Eager
MINNOW ON THE SAY
Phillipa Pearce
MISS MASHAM'S REPOSE
by T.H. White
Favourite Illustrators
Edward Ardizzone
Isabelle Arsenault
Jean de Brunhoff
Elisa Klevin
Hilary Knight
Lois Lenski
Julie Morstad
Julia Noonan
Tom Slaughter
Melissa Sweet