Hello, I'm Andrea Spalding
Motto:
A book a day keeps boredom at bay
I was born many years ago in Manchester England and came to live
in Canada in 1967.
I've done many jobs in my life. I've been an actor, a teacher,
a folk singer a storyteller and now I'm a writer.
When I first came to Canada as a young woman, I lived in
Edmonton Alberta with my husband David Spalding. We stayed there
for 24 years and had 3 children Jane, Penny, and Lucy.
Alberta is a prairie province with long winters. We loved the
winters and tried to have a picnic outside at least once a month
no matter what the weather. Sometimes we had to dig the snow out
of the fire pit before we could cook the hot dogs and
marshmallows. My favorite memory from my years in Alberta is our
family skating outdoors on a beautiful lake, under a bright blue
prairie sky and glorious sunshine but with our breath rising like
steam in the freezing air.
I started to write in Alberta, but I didn't write books, I
wrote radio and television Scripts. I also acted and sang. David
and I performed in a TV program called Storytime. I wrote the
scripts and we acted and sang the songs and interacted with a
puppet and a storyteller. It was lots of fun. Storytime ran
nationally every Saturday morning for four years. It was a show
for little kids and at first it really embarrassed our teenagers.
Then they realized their friends thought it was neat so they they
were able to show they were proud of us.
Jane, Penny, and Lucy are now grown up. All are married and
have children of their own, David and I are proud grandparents of
Jesse, Charles, Anthony, Tosh, Brandy, Jack, Ethan and Charlotte.
I love to share my stories with our grandchildren. You can look
for their names on the dedication page of my books.
The Most
Beautiful Kite in the World was my first children's book, I
followed it with A
World of Stories, and Finders
Keepers. All these books reflect my love of the prairies.
Then Dave and I moved the the coast of BC to live on a tiny
Island called Pender Island. At first I couldn't write on Pender.
I had too much to learn as the lifestyle was so different from the
prairies and I wasn't sure how I fitted in.
My favorite Pender Island memory is sitting on a friend's deck
one afternoon and watching a pod of Orcas (killer whales) swim up
the channel. They paused in the bay and frolicked and played for
half and hour. They rolled around and breached completely out of
the water, several times. It was a wonderful sight. Someday I hope
to write a book involving whales.
I write on a small laptop computer that I can easily carry
around with me. I can write anywhere, on the beach, on the ferry,
in bed - actually I often do my writing in bed - and when I'm
traveling. I find that interesting places often give me an idea
for a story so I like to travel.
I hope to carry on writing for a long time. I love to travel
and visit new places. Who knows, maybe I’ll visit your area
next. Watch for me!
Andrea is featured on Beach Holme's website.
Visit the 'Resources for Teachers' for the links to this publisher
and others.
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