Frances Greenslade (born 1961 in

St. Catharines St. Catharines is the largest city in Canada's Niagara Region and the sixth largest urban area in the province of Ontario. As of 2016, it has an area of , 136,803 residents, and a metropolitan population of 406,074. It lies in Southern Ontario ...

, Ontario) is a Canadian writer. She grew up with four sisters and one brother playing among the orchards of the

Niagara Peninsula The Niagara Peninsula is an area of land lying between the southwestern shore of Lake Ontario and the northeastern shore of Lake Erie, in Ontario, Canada. Technically an isthmus rather than a peninsula, it stretches from the Niagara River in the ...

. The family moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba, when she was ten. Greenslade earned a degree in English at the University of Winnipeg before moving to Vancouver, British Columbia, where she completed her MFA in Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia in 1992. In 2005 Frances and her family moved to Penticton, in the southern Okanagan, where her love of British Columbia's landscape flourished and was a source of inspiration in writing ''Shelter,'' her first novel.''Shelter'' by Frances Greenslade
, Random House Canada Greenslade now lives in

Penticton, British Columbia Penticton ( ) is a city in the Okanagan, Okanagan Valley of the British Columbia Interior, Southern Interior of British Columbia, Canada, situated between Okanagan Lake, Okanagan and Skaha Lake, Skaha lakes. In the 2016 Canadian Census, its pop ...

, where she teaches English Literature at

Okanagan College Okanagan College is a public, post-secondary institution with over 120 certificates, diplomas, degrees and programs including apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship trades programs. Its largest campus is located in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada ...

. Arts Department English Faculty
Okanagan College

Writing

''Shelter'' ( Random House Canada 2012) is Greenslade's first novel and was published as part of Knopf and Random House Canada's renowned New Face of Fiction program.New Face of Fiction Program
, Random House Canada Greenslade says of the book during an interview with the

Winnipeg Free Press The ''Winnipeg Free Press'' (or WFP; founded as the ''Manitoba Free Press'') is a daily (excluding Sunday) broadsheet newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It provides coverage of local, provincial, national, and international news, as well as ...

, "''Shelter'' looks at the expectations we have of our mothers, our first shelter, and the shock that comes when we realize they are more than just our mothers, but women with lives that don't always include us."Out of Town Authors: Frances Greenslade
''Winnipeg Free Press'' ''

The National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central and western Canada. The paper is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with Mo ...

'' called it, "a slow, quiet, addictive read. Once you get caught, you find yourself caring about these characters, wanting to know what they will do next, how they will survive"Open Book : ''Shelter'' by Frances Greenslade
, ''National Post'' and the

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

said, "''Shelter'' is a beating heart of a book, alive with Greenslade's fierce imagination, her acute descriptions of the natural world, her sure hand with narrative."Review of ''Shelter'' by Frances Greenslade
''The Star'' ''Shelter'' was shortlisted for the Ontario Library Association's 2012 Evergreen Awards and was named one of the best books of 2012 by the United Kingdom book chain, Waterstones.Frances Greenslade's ''Shelter'' Named one of the Best of 2012 by UK Book Chain Waterstones
''The Star'' Greenslade is also the author of two non-fiction books, ''By the Secret Ladder: A Mother's Initiation'' (

Penguin Penguins (order (biology), order List of Sphenisciformes by population, Sphenisciformes , family (biology), family Spheniscidae ) are a group of Water bird, aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: on ...

2007)''By the Secret Ladder: A Mother's Initiation''
Amazon.com and ''A Pilgrim in Ireland: A Quest for Home'' (Penguin, 2002).''A Pilgrim in Ireland: A Quest for Home''
Amazon.com ''A Pilgrim in Ireland: A Quest for Home'' was awarded the 2003 Saskatchewan Book Award for non-fiction. Quill & Quire reviewed it as "Rich with research and anecdote, the book functions as a primer to Irish lore, the peculiarities of

Irish Catholicism , native_name_lang = ga , image = Armagh, St Patricks RC cathedral.jpg , imagewidth = 200px , alt = , caption = St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh. , abbreviation = , type ...

, and to

Irish history The first evidence of human presence in Ireland dates to around 33,000 years ago, with further findings dating the presence of homo sapiens to around 10,500 to 7,000 BC. The receding of the ice after the Younger Dryas cold phase of the Quaterna ...

."Review of ''A Pilgrim in Ireland: A Quest for Home''
Quill & Quire Greenslade's work has also appeared in ''GRAIN'', ''NeWest Review'', and '' Room''.FrancesGreenslade.com
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References

External links

Book Trailer for ''Shelter''

Quill & Quire Review of ''Shelter''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Greenslade, Frances Canadian women novelists University of British Columbia alumni 21st-century Canadian novelists 1961 births People from St. Catharines Writers from Ontario Living people 21st-century Canadian women writers