McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Simmie, Lois, 1932-
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1932-
History
Lois Simmie was born on June 11, 1932, in Edam, Saskatchewan.
She is a Canadian writer, poet, and educator, specializing in children’s literature. She spent her youth in small towns, where her father was a grain elevator agent. This background is reflected in many of her stories. She attended Saskatoon Business College (1951-1952) and the University of Saskatchewan (1973-1977). She taught writing classes for many years, including numerous workshops at the Saskatchewan Summer School of Arts and sessions at the Canadian Authors Association conferences. She was a writer-in-residence at the Saskatoon Public Library from 1987 to 1988. Simmie is the author of many children's books ("Auntie's Knitting a Baby," 1988) and collections of short stories ("Ghost House,” 1976, "Betty Lee Bonner Lives Here," 1993); adult fiction ("They Shouldn't Make You Promise That," 1981), a historical true crime story ("The Secret Lives of Sgt. John Wilson," 1995), radio plays, and a children's play for live theatre. She received numerous awards for her works, including the Saskatchewan Writers Guild's Literary Award for Fiction (1983), the Saskatchewan Book Award for Children’s Literature (1995), and the Crime Writers of Canada’s Arthur Ellis Award (1995).