Catherine Simmons Niven is the award-winning author of A Fine Daughter (Red Deer College Press, 1999). This, her first novel, won several awards including the 1999 Alberta Writer’s Guild Henry Kreisel Award for Best First Book and the Georges Bugnet Award for Best Novel and was named Alberta Trade Book of the Year. The novel was also short-listed for the Chapters/Books in Canada First Novel Award and nominated for the W.O. Mitchell – City of Calgary Book Award. A Fine Daughter won the hearts of Calgarians and was on the Calgary Herald’s best-seller list for over 15 weeks and became a best-seller in its first year of publication.

A natural story-teller who captivates her audiences, Catherine has been invited to discuss her work at numerous book clubs and has taught workshops in high schools throughout Calgary. She has read at several venues including the Distinguished Author Series in the Calgary/Banff 1999,Wordfest and in Toronto as part of the Chapters/Books in Canada First Novel Awards.

Shortly after the publication of A Fine Daughter, Catherine was diagnosed with breast cancer. Although continuing to be a prolific journal writer – charting her path into some understanding of alternative medicine, psychology, yoga, meditation and art therapy – Catherine withdrew from writing fiction. Beyond celebrating simply being alive, she became a certified yoga instructor and for several years has been teaching yoga classes and running creative workshops.

With the grace of time and continued healing Catherine has come to recognize that writing fiction is self-inquiry; it is the journey into mystery. As a result, she has returned to fiction and is currently engaged in bringing to light the story of a 1912 photographer, Mora McLeod, who, caught between two worlds and two men, must eventually confront herself.

In keeping with her pioneer roots, this fourth generation Albertan (with some humour) celebrates her title as the first woman to work on the rigs in Alberta. She lived for a year in Scotland, married a Scot and has travelled extensively.

Catherine divides her time between Calgary and a piece of prairie east of Didsbury, Alberta – The Buffalo – where she and her husband Michael Niven, nurture a blue spruce tree farm and a small apple orchard. A mother of three – two members of the rock band, Stone Iris, and a high-school daughter – Catherine endeavours to balance work, creative efforts and parenting.