Born in Vancouver, Florence McNeil studied with Earle Birney and has published more than ten books since 1967, most notably Swimming Out Of History: New and Selected Poems. Her juvenile fiction includes Catriona's Island, a coming-of-age story set in the Depression, and Miss P. and Me, made into a film in 1984 based on her schooldays in Burnaby. Sail Away, a picture book by Florence McNeil and David McPhail, won the Parents' Choice Fall 2000 Silver Honour Award in the 3-7 years category. Her novel Breathing Each Other's Air follows the work of Elizabeth Morrison, an academic completing a biography of an enigmatic woman who died in a boating accident in the early part of the 20th century. She joins a diving expedition and explores the shipwreck. McNeil has edited Here Is A Poem for the League of Canadian Poets and Do The Whales Jump At Night: An Anthology of Canadian Poetry for Children (Groundwood, 1990).

BOOKS:

Poetry

A Silent Green Sky (Klanak 1967)
Walhachin (Fiddlehead 1972)
The Rim of the Park (Sono Nis 1972)
Emily (Clarke, Irwin 1975)
Ghost Towns (M&S 1975)
A Balancing Act (M&S 1979)
The Overlanders (Thistledown, 1982)
Barkerville. (Thistledown Press, 1984)
Swimming Out of History: Poems Selected and New (Oolichan, 1991)
A Company of Angels (Ekstasis, 1999)
In the Slow Twilight of the Standing Stones: the Barra Poems (Ekstasis, 2001)

Also:

When Is A Poem (textbook, for teaching poetry). (The League of Canadian Poets, 1980).
Miss P. and Me (fiction). (Clarke Irwin, 1982; Harper & Row, 1984).
Here Is A Poem (editor). (The League of Canadian Poets, 1984).
All Kinds of Magic (novel). (Douglas & McIntyre, 1984).
Catronia's Island (novel). (Douglas & McIntyre, 1988).
Do Whales Jump at Night? Poems for Kids. (Editor). (Douglas & McIntyre, 1990).
Breathing Each Other's Air (novel). (Polestar Press, 1994).

Editor of:

Do the Whales Jump at Night. (Groundwood Editions, 1990).

Drama

Barkerville: A Play for Voices (CBC Radio)
Barkerville (New Play Centre)

Awards
National Magazine Award for Poetry, 1980.

[BCBW 2003] "Kidlit" "Poetry"