Valerie Kingsmill

Valerie was born in Kent, England during the Second World War, where she lived in a mostly rural area until her family emigrated to Australia when she was twelve. She spent her teen years near the beaches outside Sidney, then later lived in Melbourne until 1973 when she took a vacation in Canada. Valerie fell in love with that country, and has lived there ever since, mostly on the Canadian prairies.

Valerie and her Canadian family have spent more than 30 years near Redberry Lake, northwest of Saskatoon. The author has been a restauranteur (Emmett's Tea Rooms) and – with her husband Peter – was the owner of the Shearwater riverboats which have worked the river in Saskatoon since 1996. In 2012, she retired from the business and returned to her early passion: painting and writing about the prairies, Redberry Lake, and the creatures (real and imagined) who live there. Valerie works mostly in oil, but has done a number of pieces in pen and ink. She is also the author and illustrator of the Redberry Tales series of story books for young children.

Front page photo:  ABANDONED AT THE FOOT OF THE BAY

All Valerie's paintings and sketches have a deep sense of place, whether from her favourite prairie places she now calls home to her memories as a youngster visiting the south coast of England or the beaches near Sydney Australia.