CORA TAYLOR

Place of birth: Fort Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan
Place of residence: Edmonton, Alberta

Cora Taylor's vivid imagination blossomed on her grandmother's farm near Duck Lake, Saskatchewan where she lived until she was 16. With dreams of being a singer and the desire to be independent, she left home, but became a secretary and then a busy mother of four children. While raising her family she managed to take music lessons and creative writing courses. She performed in musical productions and published articles and short works in the Edmonton Journal, Chatelaine and other magazines. She found time to study at the Banff School of Fine Arts, then went on to get a B.A. and teaching certificate at the University of Alberta. She taught school, married her second husband who also had four children, moved to a farm with lots of animals and lots of room, and continued to attend her creative-writing classes. Parts of Julie, her first novel, manifested themselves in class projects, but the impetus to commit to a novel came with the 1982 deadline for a novel-writing competition. Although she didn't win that competition, the novel, when published, won three major children's literature prizes. Cora Taylor is now a full-time writer who writes daily -- a labour of love -- in a room with a view. She spends her free time with her grandchildren and travelling.

Awards

• 1985 Canada Council Award for Children's Literature for Julie.
  
• 1985 R. Ross Annett Juvenile Fiction Award for Julie.
  
• 1986 Book of the Year for Children Award (Canadian Library Association) for Julie.
  
• 1988 Ruth Schwartz Children's Book Award for The Doll.
  
• 1995 Book of the Year for Children Award (Canadian Library Association) for Summer of the Mad Monk.

Selected Bibliography

Books for Children and Young People

The Doll. Toronto: Douglas & McIntyre, 1992 (c1987).
125 p.; 18 cm.
ISBN 1550542184

Ghost Voyages. Richmond Hill, Ont.: Scholastic Canada, 1992.
135 p.; 18 cm.
ISBN 059074058X

Julie. Vancouver: Greystone Books, Douglas & McIntyre, 1995 (c1985).
108 p.: port.; 18 cm.
ISBN 1550544594

Julie's Secret. Vancouver: Greystone Books, Douglas & McIntyre, 1995 (c1991).
145 p.: port.; 18 cm.
ISBN 1550544608

Summer of the Mad Monk. Vancouver: Greystone Books, Douglas & McIntyre, 1995 (c1994).
145 p.: port.; 18 cm.
ISBN 1550544578

Books for Adults

Sixty Singing Years: An Anthology of Canadian Verse Chosen from Selections First Published in the Sixty Editions of the Alberta Poetry Yearbook. John W. Chalmers, editor-in-chief; Cora Taylor, assistant editor, and Elaine Moody, assistant editor. Edmonton: Edmonton Branch, Canadian Authors Association, c1990.
181 p.: ports.; 21 cm.
ISBN 0969008449

Cassettes

So You Want to Write For Children. Ottawa: Canadian Authors Association, 1993?
1 sound cassette: analog.

Prepared 24.06.96