Fraser, Sylvia
Biography
Born in Hamilton in 1935, Sylvia Fraser attended Adelaide Hoodless and Central Secondary schools. She studied English and philosophy at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, and graduated in 1957 with an Honour's BA. At a time when women were expected to become secretaries, nurses or teachers, Fraser moved to Toronto to launch a journalistic career because "I yearned to live a footloose and adventurous life." During the eleven years she worked for The Star Weekly, she became an award-winning feature writer, traveling extensively throughout Canada, including the Arctic, the United States, Mexico, Panama, Africa and Europe. "I like to think I researched my fantasies,"
she says of those times.After The Star Weekly folded in 1968, Fraser turned to novel-writing, and in 1972 Pandora was published to rave reviews. While writing five more novels and three books of nonfiction, Fraser taught creative writing at
various university workshops and participated in many reading and publicity tours throughout Canada, the United States and Europe. Because of her tendency to genre-hop, she believes that she is a difficult writer to place. As she explains: "Since my titles are scattered around libraries and bookstores under different headings, rather than standing spine by spine in a neat row, the strong thematic link between them is not apparent to the browser."Fraser lives in Toronto, where she writes occasional magazine articles as a contributing editor to Toronto Life. For many years she was on the board of The Writers' Trust, a charitable organization which supports Canadian writers and writing. She currently serves as Chair of the Circle of Friends of The Survivor Monument Project, dedicated to child-abuse healing and awareness, and fosters cats for The Annex Cat Rescue. Her preferred form of transportation is a bicycle, and she regularly practises yoga and meditation.
Other Information
Related websites or blogs
Sylvia Fraser interviewed in January Magazine
Published Work
2003. The green labyrinth : exploring the mysteries of the Amazon.
Toronto : Thomas Allen Publishers (Non-fiction)
2001. The rope in the water : a pilgrimage to India. Toronto : Thomas
Allen (Non-fiction)
1998.Tom and Francine : a love story. Toronto : Key Porter Books
(Fiction)
1997. A Woman's place : seventy years in the lives of Canadian women.
Toronto : Key Porter (Non-fiction)
1996. The ancestral suitcase. Toronto : Key Porter Books (Non-fiction)
1992. The Quest for the fourth monkey : a thinkers guide to the psychic
and spiritual revolution. Toronto, Ont. : Key Porter Books Ltd.
(Non-fiction)
1992. The book of strange. Toronto : Doubleday Canada (Non-fiction)
1987. My father's house : a memoir of incest and of healing. Toronto :
Doubleday Canada (Non-fiction)
1984. Berlin Solstice : a novel. Toronto : McClelland and Stewart
(Fiction)
1980. The emperor's virgin : a novel. Toronto : McClelland and Stewart
(Fiction)
1978. A casual affair : a modern fairytale. Toronto : McClelland &
Stewart (Fiction)
1975. The candy factory. Toronto : McClelland and Stewart (Fiction)
1972. Pandora : a novel. Toronto : McClelland and Stewart (Fiction)
