Jim Elliot was born in a coal-mining town. He attended eleven different schools as his family moved from mining camp to mining camp. Following six years at the University of Alberta, Jim graduated and was ordained as a United Church minister. The next forty years were split between Alberta and British Columbia as he worked in rural areas, suburbs, First Nations communities and finally as head of a large inner-city mission in the downtown eastside of Vancouver. On retirement he moved to the Sunshine Coast, spent some time volunteering with the local hospice community and then joined a writing group. He and his wife, Geniene, have five children and eight delightful grandchildren.
Bogi Bjarnason was born of Icelandic parents in North Dakota in 1888. Between 1913 and 1927 he owned three Saskatchewan newspapers. During that time he saw action in WWI with the US Army and was gassed twice. Between 1927 and 1945 he lived in Manitoba, where he published two Icelandic papers and the Treherne Times. In 1933 he bought and flew a Pietenpol aircraft. He lived and wrote in Vancouver from 1945 until his death in 1977.
Louis Druehl is a splitter of firewood and whacker of brush. He is also the editor of The New Bamfielder newspaper and author of Pacific Seaweeds (Harbour Publishing). As a marine botanist, Dr. Druehl was involved in establishing the Bamfield Marine Station, where he also taught and conducted research.
He created Cedar, Salmon and Weed in his office located in a small shed on the waterfront, looking up each morning to see a young First Nation worker boat by. They would wave to each other and slowly the young man became the novel’s character, Ben.
Gary’s relationship with animals began when he was seven, and soon he was connecting with other like-minded souls around the world. It was many years until he finally established Cinemazoo, a refuge for animals located in Surrey, outside Vancouver. From the 30 years since Cinemazoo was established, the number of exotic animals in his care has risen to over 300.
