Event #3: Carrie Mac

Carrie Mac is a sought-after writing mentor, having worked with students at Humber College, SFU’s Writer’s Studio and UBC’s School of Writing, where she earned her MFA. She is the author of several award-winning novels for young adults with her debut novel, The Beckoners, winning the Crime Writers of Canada Excellence Award and a Stellar Book Award, while The Gryphon Project won the 2010 Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize. Known for her frank writing and depictions of contemporary teen life, her books have been banned, censored and challenged. Yet her powerful and honest writing of difficult situations continues to captivate audiences of all ages with Mac unafraid to write what she knows. Her stories grapple with mental illness and the distinct beauty and adversity of young adult life and draws on her experience as a storyteller, mother and paramedic. Her latest work, the literary novel Last Winter, examines the impact of an avalanche on a small BC town. Young Ruby is struggling in school, her mom is in crisis, and she is a survivor of the avalanche that kills almost all of her schoolmates and her father. Last Winter has received much praise since being released this January and immediately became a national bestseller. Called “epically unforgettable” and “deeply raw...insightful and unsparing,” Mac has once again proven she is a writer of great depth and talent.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Carrie Mac’s latest novel is the #1 bestselling Last Winter (Random House Canada), a story of one family’s collapse and a community’s grief in the face of tragedy. She is the winner of several awards, including a BC Book Prize and a CBC Non-Fiction Prize. While she lives in East Van with her kids, the Sunshine Coast is her home “town.”