Leslie Smith Dow

Leslie Smith Dow (1962- ) was born in a seemingly quiet Ontario hamlet which, in reality, seethed with deviousness and family intrigue. After graduating from Carleton University's Journalism School, she worked for the Ottawa Citizen, the Hamilton Spectator and the Halifax Chronicle-Herald, and as a freelance writer for numerous newspapers and magazines.

Leslie is a winner of the Canadian Authors' Association Air Canada Award for Most Promising Canadian Writer Under Age 30, a finalist for the Ontario Trillium Award, the Ottawa Citizen Literary Award, the Ottawa-Carleton Literary Award and a winner of the Dartmouth Writers' Award. She has received literary writing grants from the Canada Council and the City of Ottawa. She has published two other books (Anna Leonowens: Beyond the King and I; Pottersfield Press; and Adele Hugo: La Miserable; Goose Lane Editions; trans. French, German and Italian) poetry in local, national and international journals.

Leslie also operates an apiary on the shores of the St. Lawrence River, where bees teach her about life, social harmony and survival skills. She is married with two sons and two dogs.