Sandra Birdsell
| Sandra Louise Birdsell, CM, SOM | |
|---|---|
| Born |
April 22, 1942 Hamiota, Manitoba |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Notable works | The Russländer, Waiting for Joe |
| Spouse | Jan Nowina-Zarzycki |
| Website | |
| www |
|
Sandra Louise Birdsell, CM (née Bartlette) (born 22 April 1942) is a Canadian novelist and short story writer of Métis and Mennonite heritage.
Born in Hamiota, Manitoba, she studied at the University of Winnipeg and the University of Manitoba, where she studied under Robert Kroetsch.
In 1996, she moved to Regina, Saskatchewan, where she currently resides.
Birdsell was the fifth of eleven children. She lived most of her life in Morris, Manitoba. They moved there shortly after her birth because her father joined the army in 1943. Her father was a French-speaking Cree Metris born in Canada and her mother was a Low-German speaking Mennonite who was born in Russia.
Birdsell left home at the age of fifteen. At the age of thirty-five, she enrolled in Creative Writing at the University of Winnipeg. Five years later, Turnstone Press published her first book, the Night Travellers. Two years later, Ladies of the House was published. Both books are now published as a single volume as Agassiz stories.
There are two main events that have shaped her worldview and had influenced her writing. The first incident happened when Birdsell was six and a half. Her sister died from leukemia. That left a four-year gap between her and her next older sister. She felt ignored and alone even though she was surrounded by 9 other siblings. Her loneliness led her to ponder by herself to the nearby parks and rivers allowing her imagination to go wild.
The second event that shaped her worldview and influenced her writing was the massive flood of Morris in 1950. Her first three successful stories in Night Travellers are based on that flood.
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