Sylvia Olsen (born 1955 or 1956)[1] is a Canadian writer and public speaker.

Biography

Olsen was born and raised in a middle-class family in Victoria, British Columbia.[1]

In 1972, Olsen married Carl, who is Coast Salish, and moved to Tsartlip First Nation, where she lived for 35 years.[1] During her time in Tsartlip, she raised her three children, began a few small businesses, and began working in the Tsartlip housing department, a passion that led to a number of career developments later on.[1] Also during this time, she began questioning the differences between her privileged upbringing at those of First Nation Canadians.[1] These questions and life experiences have greatly shaped her art and academic endeavours.[1] In 1996 Sylvia achieved a PHd from the University of Victoria. Her dissertation was on the history of on-reserve housing programs in Canada.

Later, Olsen's family adopted another son from Brazil, and her children have bore her eight grandchildren, most of whom live in Tsarlip.[1][2]

Olsen married her current husband, Tex McLeod, when she was 63.[1] They live in North Saanich on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, just north of Tsartlip.[3]

Career

Olsen has been a founding member at a number of housing organizations for Canadian First Nations communities, including the First Nations Housing & Infrastructure Council for British Columbia. She was also a member of the Assembly of First Nations Chiefs Committee on Housing & Infrastructure.[3]

She also "helped develop the curriculum for and teaches the First Nations Housing Management Certificate Program at Vancouver Island University."[3]

Awards

Year Title Award Result Ref.
2005 White Girl Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize Shortlist [4]
2007 Yetsa's Sweater Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice Award
2011 Working with Wool Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize Shortlist [5]

Winner Lieutenant Governor's Medal for Historical Writing

2010 Counting on Hope Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize Shortlist [6]
2010 Which Way Should I Go? PMC Indigenous Literature Award Winner [7]
2014 Molly's Promise Diamond Willow Award Finalist [8]
2020 Neekah's Knitting Needles PMC Indigenous Literature Award Shortlist [9]

Publications

Children's books

  • No Time to Say Goodbye: Children's Stories of Kuper Island Residential School, with Rita Morris and Ann Sam (2002)
  • Catching Spring (2004)
  • Murphy and Mousetrap (2005)
  • Yetsa's Sweater (2007)
  • Which Way Should I Go?, with Ron Martin, illustrated by Kasia Charko (2008)
  • A Different Game (2010)
  • Sebastian Sasquatch, illustrated by Kasia Charko (2013)
  • Son Who Returns, with Gary Robinson (2014)
  • Neekah's Knitting Needles, with Odelia Smith, illustrated by Sheena Lott (2020)

Young adult novels

  • The Girl with a Baby (2003)
  • White Girl (2004)
  • Just Ask Us (2005)
  • Yellow Line (2005)
  • Middle Row (2008)
  • Counting on Hope (2010)
  • Molly's Promise (2013)
  • Breathing Fire, with Sarah Yi-Mei Tsiang (2014)

Nonfiction

  • Working with Wool: A Coast Salish Legacy and the Cowichan Sweater (2010)
  • knitting stories (2014)
  • life cycle of a LIE (2014)
  • Growing Up Elizabeth May: The Making of an Activist, with Cate May Burton (2021)
  • Unravelling Canada: A Knitting Odyssey (2021)

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Sylvia Olsen". Sylvia Olsen. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
  2. ↑ "Sylvia Olsen". Goodreads. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
  3. 1 2 3 "About". Sylvia Olsen. 2020-03-30. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
  4. ↑ "Sheila A. Egoff Children's Literature Prize: 2005". Canadian Books & Authors. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
  5. ↑ "Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize". Canadian Books & Authors. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
  6. ↑ "Sheila A. Egoff Children's Literature Prize". Canadian Books & Authors. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
  7. ↑ "First Nation Communities Read Archives". Canadian Children's Book Centre. Archived from the original on 2021-08-02. Retrieved 2022-03-18.
  8. ↑ "2014 Diamond Willow Finalists". Saskatchewan Young Readers' Choice Awards. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
  9. ↑ "2020-2021 First Nation Communities READ PMC Indigenous Literature Award : Award Winners". Toronto Public Library. Archived from the original on 2022-02-08. Retrieved 2022-03-18.
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