Biography
Cathy Ostlere was born in Portage La Prairie, Manitoba into an air force family that moved between Manitoba and Ontario military bases. Her family of six eventually settled in Winnipeg, home to her Ukrainian roots, where Cathy completed high school and a Bachelor’s degree in Literature at the University of Manitoba. Post-graduation she worked in Toronto for Warner Publisher Services as Canadian Marketing Director.
In 1983, she began a journey that would take her through sixteen countries in eighteen months. A chance encounter with a sailing crew allowed her to visit thirteen of the Greek islands and cruise the coastline of Turkey. In 1984, she continued traveling, going east to India, South East Asia, Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific. Upon her return to Canada in 1985, she settled in Calgary. Over the next ten years she was an at-home parent for three children and a freelance writer.
Cathy Ostlere’s first book, Lost: A Memoir (2008), began as a series of poems but grew into creative non-fiction essays. Essays excerpted from Lost: A Memoir have been short-listed for the National Magazine Awards, Western Magazine Awards, and the CBC Literary Awards. Lost was a finalist for the 2009 Edna Staebler Creative Non-fiction Award.
In 2010, she co-wrote with Dennis Garnhum, Artistic Director of Theatre Calgary, Lost: A Memoir, a 90 minute one-woman play performed in Calgary and scheduled to tour Canada over the next two years.
Her first YA novel, Karma, a verse novel written for the young adult audience, will be released in March 2011 by Penguin Group Canada/USA and in October 2011 by Penguin Books India.
She lives in Calgary, Canada.
