Barbara Haworth-Attard is a native of Elmira, Ontario, presently residing in London, Ontario with her husband and two school-aged sons. June 1995 saw the publication of her first junior novel, Dark of the Moon. It was selected by the Canadian Children’s Book Centre for the 1995-96 “Our Choice” list and was also selected by Resource Links as one of “The Year’s Best” for 1996. It was also nominated for the Manitoba Young Readers’ Choice Award. November 1995 brought the release of a young adult fantasy novel, The Three Wishbells. Her third novel, Truthsinger, was released in September 1996 and was followed by a fourth, Home Child, released in December of 1996. Home Child was shortlisted for the 1997 Mr. Christie Book Award and the Geoffrey Bilson Historical Fiction Award. It is also nominated for the Ontario Library Association Silver Birch Award. Truthsinger and Home Child were selected by the Canadian Children’s Book Centre for the 1997-98 “Our Choice” list. A short story Star to Heaven, appeared in two parts in the November and December 1994 issues of Cricket Magazine.
Prior to entering the fiction field, Ms. Haworth-Attard freelanced, researching and writing non-fiction scripts for filmstrips for a Canadian educational media company.
Ms. Haworth-Attard enjoys visiting schools and libraries to do readings and workshops for children and adults, and estimates she has spoken to over 3,000 children in the past four years.
WHERE DO I LIVE:
I live in London, Ontario, Canada. (Between Lake Huron and Lake Erie – I love the beach!)
WHO LIVES IN MY HOUSE?
In my house there lives myself, my husband, Joe, and my two teenage sons, Jason and Jesse. Jason is 18 and in his last year of high school and Jesse is 14 and just started high school. The favorite member of our family is our cat, Scooter. He thinks he’s a dog. He lies in front of the fireplace toasting his paws before the fire and fetches pipe cleaner pretzels we throw for him. Lately he’s taken to sleeping stretched out on top of my husband in the middle of the night. If he keeps this up, he won’t be my husband’s favorite very much longer. We also share our house with many ladybugs, all year round. We can’t figure out where they come from but we live together quite comfortably. There are also birds living in our attic and also in our stove vent. One day a starling went so far into the vent we had to let him out in the kitchen and chase him around the house until he went out the door. Our cat was very scared of this bird. We have a “scaredycat” I guess, but we still love him anyway.
MY FAVOURITE THINGS TO DO:
Next to writing and reading – I’ll read anything, even the side of cereal boxes, (have learned lots about fat content and preservatives this way) I love to quilt. I love the texture and colour of material and if I’m having a bad day I pull out all my material – and I have lots – and I sort it and I soon feel better. I take great joy in cutting up material and sewing it back together again, watching a bed quilt or wallhanging being born beneath my fingers. Here are pictures of a few of my quilts. You can click on them to see a bigger image.
I also like taking walks in a park near our house, chocolate candy, cake, fudge, cookies, icecream, playing badminton and tennis, playing with my friends (yes even adults play) and being with my family. I like gloomy days when the fog makes everything spooky and bright sunny days. I like Hallowe’en especially when the clouds race across the orange harvest moon and sends shivers up my spine.
MY FAVOURITE BOOKS:
This is a hard one – I love so many books. I like fantasy and mystery and history. You know what – I can’t decide. I will tell you that Canada has many wonderful writers and anything you read by a Canadian writer will be good.
Some of my favourite books…and these are only a few:
The Maestro – Tim Wynne-Jones
The Book of Changes – Tim Wynne-Jones
Fishhouse Secrets – Kathy Stinson
A Handful of Time – Kit Pearson
Out of the Dark – Welwyn Wilton Katz
The Dark Garden – Margaret Buffie
Catherine Called Birdy – Karen Cushman
Hunter’s Moon – O.R. Melling
The Prism Moon – Martine Bates
Plus anything by:
Martha Brooks
Monica Hughes
Katherine Patterson
Cynthia Voight
Madeleine L’Engle
William Bell
WHAT I DON’T LIKE:
Rescue 911 or any television shows that feature people’s innards, or blood or people hurting people.
Liver for supper (or lunch or any meal).
Easter eggs for sale the day after Christmas.
People who are not tolerant.