Kathleen McDonnell is the author of nine books of fiction and non-fiction, and has written more than a dozen plays, many of which have had award-winning productions in Canada and the United States. She lives on Toronto Island; a vibrant, mostly car-free community a ten-minute ferry ride from downtown Toronto, where she and her spouse raised their two daughters. A graduate of the University of Toronto, Kathleen is also a musician, deeply involved in the traditional music of her ancestral homeland, Ireland.