Introducing Laurie Coulter

Laurie Coulter is the author of five books for young people. Her latest is COWBOYS AND COFFIN MAKERS: One Hundred 19th-Century Jobs You Might Have Feared or Fancied, published by Annick Press. She's also in the LIVEbrary On Demand program, which means you can invite her to your school or library for an Online Classroom Visit. And we've just released a LIVEbrary Lesson Plan to go with Laurie's visit. The plan is designed for World History students at the middle school and junior high school level. Check it out when you have a chance. In the meantime, here's a little background on Laurie Coulter.

Laurie grew up in London and Toronto, Ontario. During winters as a child, she pretended to be a figure skater on a backyard rink, took ballet lessons, and tobogganed in the park across from her house. In the summers at her family's cottage, she and her friends swam, sailed, water-skied, made terrible pizzas, and tried, unsuccessfully, to row around the lake.

Laurie's parents encouraged her to read and draw. When she was a child, she took art lessons and liked drawing more than writing. She loved reading, though, and she and her best friend visited the bookmobile every Thursday after school.

Mrs. Jones, her grade 11 English teacher, encouraged her to write after reading a story she wrote. Laurie began writing poetry at that time as well. In university, she helped a friend with an essay and discovered a second way to play with words -- editing. After graduating from university, she wrote ads and articles for a company that published business magazines. Most of her career, though, has been spent as a book editor, helping authors improve their manuscripts or photographers choose photographs for their books. When she first began writing books, it seemed strange being a book's author rather than its editor!

In her spare time, Laurie likes gardening, canoeing, hiking, visiting zoos and museums, playing badminton and board games, reading, and doing crossword puzzles. Laurie has two children and lives in Toronto, Ontario.