(See also Wikipedia entry on Kari Winters.) Kari was born in St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada. Her urge to travel and explore different cultures has led her to live in locations all across North America, including (in roughly chronological order): St. Catharines and Toronto, Ontario; Montreal, Quebec; Ottawa, Ontario; Chapel Hill, NC; Grants Pass and Ashland, OR; and Barrie, Ontario. She now lives in Vancouver, BC (see photo) with her husband Jonah, son Liam, daughter McKenna, and two cats, Cali and Jamaica. She attends the University of British Columbia as a Ph.D. candidate and instructor in the Language and Literacy Dept.

Kari enjoys being in the classroom, as a student, a teacher, and as a presenter. She has recently completed her masters thesis on exploring the efficacy of using the arts to strengthen less proficient students’ reading comprehension (part of her multimedia thesis presentation is available online). Before that, she taught in North Carolina for three years and in Toronto for 2 years. Kari holds a teaching degree from the University of Toronto, in regular and special education for children ages 3-13. She is also a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada (in Montreal), where she earned a certificate in technical theatre.

Orca Book Publishers recently published Kari-Lynn’s first picture book, Jeffrey and Sloth (2007), a tale about a boy who has writer’s block and the imaginary creature he creates to help him write his story, which has received many positive reviews, was nominated for the 2008 BC Book Prize and sponsored tour, and was a top-10 finalist for the Blue Spruce award. Five other picture books have been accepted for publication, including Runaway Alphabet (Simply Read Books, forthcoming 2009) and Punctu-ACTION (Gumboot Books, 2010).

Kari didn’t always consider herself a writer. In fact, many of her elementary school years were spent either resisting composition or struggling to write. It was her love of storytelling and children’s literature that brought Kari to try her skills at writing. Kari’s love of children’s literature continues to grow as she practices writing as a reader, and reading as a writer. See also Kari’s bio at Orca Book Publishers.

Kari has been interviewed on radio and TV for a few projects, see press and media. For more bio information, see Kari’s member’s pages for Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators and Performers and Children’s Writers and Illustrators of British Columbia, or Wikipedia.

See also Kari’s husband Jonah’s businesses Winters Body Works, offering sports and spa massage, and Winters Web Works, creator of this website and Kari’s multimedia thesis. Jonah’s graduate work is in Islamic Studies (University of Toronto, 1997), and when he’s not practicing massage or studying natural medicine he does academic websites.