Author Valerie Knowles
Author Valerie Knowles
Montreal-born Valerie Knowles has a B.A. (Honours History) from Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts, an M.A. from McGill, University, Montreal and a B.J. from Carleton University, Ottawa.
She now resides in Ottawa, where she writes for newspapers, magazines and Canadian federal government departments. This Canadian writer has published nine non-fiction works, three of which are trade books. One of these, From Telegrapher to Titan: The Life of Wlliam C. Van Horne (Dundurn Press, 2004), has won the University of British Columbia Medal for Canadian Biography for 2004, the City of Ottawa Non-Fiction Award for 2005 and the Canadian Railroad Historical Association Book Award for 2005. Her book, Strangers At Our Gates: Canadian Immigration and Immigration Policy 1540-2006 (the third edition of this immigration history) has been described as a "standard reference tool and the textbook of choice on the always controversial question of which, and how many, people should be allowed into Canada." Michael Molloy, President of the Canadian Immigation Historical Society.
A recent book, Captial Lives (Book Coach press, 2005), is a collection of profiles of thirty-two well-known Ottawans from the past. Many of these individuals, e.g., Marius Barbeau, Senator Cairine Wilson and John Rudolphus Booth, are of national stature. In reference to this work, David Bullock, former City Archivist, City of Ottawa Archives, wrote, "Valerie Knowles provides the reader with insightful portrayals of former Ottawa ctizens from many walks of life whose activities in the 19th and 20th centuries have shaped our community and our nation."
From her Ottawa base, Valerie Knowles continues to write independent non-fiction books and to accept commissioned writing work. Her focus remains on Canadian and Ottawa political and social history.
Contact: Valerie Knowles" <knowles@istar.ca>
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