Introducing Tanya Lloyd Kyi

Tanya Lloyd Kyi began her writing career as a poet in high school, producing pages and pages of really bad poems that her mother adored. Her love of writing led to the University of Victoria, where she took creative writing and English.

Tanya’s early writing jobs were as a newspaper reporter and brochure writer for the government. She also worked as a dishwasher, busgirl, server (her parents own a restaurant), an aerobics instructor, and, most recently, a graphic designer, before returning to writing full-time.

In her spare time, Tanya likes to run, play ultimate Frisbee, bake, and read. She also harbors a secret love of video games, chocolate chip cookies, and chick flicks. Her favorite meal is breakfast, her favorite color is blue, and her favorite children's book is A Wrinkle in Time.

Tanya grew up in Creston, B.C., and now lives in Vancouver with her husband. She has plenty of ideas for future books, but is taking a short break from writing to spend some time with her two-year-old daughter, Julia, and her baby son, Matthew.

She also enjoys cooking and reading, and would like to add gardening to her list of hobbies but is spending most of her time with her daughter.

Tanya's most recent book, BURN: The Life Story of Fire (2007), explores how fire has shaped our planet, our history, and our imaginations.

Jared Lester, Fifth-Grade Jester (2006), is a charming and humorous tale of a boy's determination to realize his dream of becoming a court jester.

Rescues! (2006), ten remarkable, fast-paced, and tension-filled stories from around the world, is her second book for the True Stories from the Edge series. A fan of non-fiction and fast-paced, action-packed stories, Tanya's husband came up with the idea for Fires! (2004), her first book for the series. Perhaps Tanya was drawn to the idea because of her own experience with fire. In grade eight she and her friend Michelle were working in her bedroom, creating a science fair project about lightning. For the display, they hung a static generator through some cotton ball "clouds." Unfortunately, cotton balls proved flammable -- and so did the bedroom!

The Blue Jean Book (2005), is the story of how denim jeans rose from their origins with hardscrabble miners and cowboys, to their popularity among laborers, rebels, and the incurably hip.