DATE OF BIRTH: May 10, 1948

PLACE OF BIRTH: North Vanvouver

EMPLOYMENT OTHER THAN WRITING: Field Research Biologist

AWARDS: First Prize NeWest Review Short Fiction Contest, 1998.

BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS: Tom Shardlow grew up in Lynn Valley at the foot of Grouse Mountain. He attended the University of British Columbia and took a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Zoology in hopes of finding an outdoor career studying fish and wildlife. After a short stint as a private biological consultant, he joined the Department of Fisheries & Oceans Canada and spent the next ten years behind a desk seldom seeing a fish. He eventually found a position at the Pacific Biological Station as a field biologist. From there his research on wild salmon took him down many isolated rivers and to remote bush camps near the Yukon where he often spent more time with bears than people. His biological work has resulted in more than thirty articles contributed to international scientific and technical journals.

Shardlow's writing is diverse, ranging from poetry and short fiction published in literary magazines, to book reviews for Quill and Quire and Canadian Geographic. His freelance work, which includes creative drawings and photographs, has also appeared in other magazines and newspapers. Creating bedtime stories for his two daughters inspired Shardlow to write Mapping the Wilderness, his first children's book for Napoleon Publishing. Incorporating some excerpts from David Thompson's own journals, he has also published a condensed biography, David Thompson, A Trail by Stars (XYZ Publishing, 2006). Shardlow lives with his family on Vancouver Island.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

David Thompson: A Trail by Stars (XZY Publishing, 2006) $17.95 1-894852-18-4

Mapping the Wilderness: The Story of David Thompson (Napoleon Publishing, 2006) $18.95 0-929141-85-7

[BCBW 2006] "Biography" "Kidlit"