Christmas, Jane
Biography
Jane Christmas' writing has earned a devoted international following since the publication in 2002 of The Pelee Project: One Woman's Escape from Urban Madness. It was the first in what has become a series of rollicking travel adventures that stray from the beaten path. The others are What the Psychic Told the Pilgrim: A Mid-Life Misadventure on Spain's Camino de Santiago de Compostela (Greystone Books, 2007) and Incontinent on the Continent: My Mother, her Walker and Italy (to be published by Greystone Books in 2009).
Writing has been in Jane's veins since childhood. She was eight years of age when she first threaded a piece of paper into a Smith Corona typewriter and forged a note from her parents requesting she be excused from gym class. It worked. More gym notes subsequently followed.
Born in Toronto in 1954, Jane's tug toward the written word comes honestly. Both her parents had careers in journalism (John Grimshaw was a reporter and editor with The Canadian Press and the Toronto Telegram before helping found the Ontario Editorial Bureau, the first public relations firm in Canada. Valeria Grimshaw was also a reporter and editor at CP before becoming a columnist with the Don Mills Mirror and a freelancer to home magazines).
After graduating from Carleton University in Ottawa, Jane similarly waded into journalism, but rather than heading into the writing stream (shyness prevented her from applying as a reporter) she instead worked her way through the editing ranks of various newsrooms - the Woodstock-Sentinel-Review, CTV, The Hamilton Spectator, The Globe and Mail, and National Post. She supplemented her income and satisfied the urge to write by penning the occasional essay or feature.
A self-described "super-late bloomer", Jane eventually found her writing voice -direct, authentic, and funny. She zeroes in on the awkward but ultimately inspiring moments of everyday life. She taps into sentiments that are shared but often unexpressed by women and men in mid-life. Her clumsy navigation through social conventions, interactions and relationships has endeared her to readers who see themselves in her writing, and who live vicariously through her madcap adventures. The Pelee Project: One Woman's Escape from Urban Madness established Jane as a fresh voice in the travel writing genre.
In 2006, Jane was signed to Douglas & McIntyre/Greystone Books, who published her second book, What the Psychic Told the Pilgrim: A Mid-Life Misadventure on Spain's Camino de Santiago de Compostela which was released in Canada, the United States and Australia to excellent reviews. It became a bestseller and has been optioned for a feature film. Her third book, Incontinent on the Continent: My Mother, her Walker, and our Grand Tour of Italy, was published in 2009.
Jane has three grown children and lives in Hamilton where she works as media relations manager for McMaster University.
(From: Jane Christmas - the official website of Jane Christmas)
Other Information
Related Websites or Blogs
Jane Christmas Interviews - D&M Publishers
Published Work
2009. Incontinent on the Continent: my mother, her walker, and our grand tour of Italy. Vancouver : Greystone Books. (Non-fiction)
2007. What the Psychic Told the Pilgrim: a midlife misadventure on Spain's Camino de Santiago de Compostela. Vancouver: Greystone Books. (Non-fiction)
2002.The Pelee Project: one woman's escape from urban madness. Toronto : ECW Press. (Non-fiction)
