I'm a wife, mother of three children, and dog mom to a mini goldendoodle. I adore books, music, movies, dogs, and my favourite place to be (and write!) is at the lake, in our little cabin in the woods.
I am an avid cook and have been testing out recipes since I was a pre-teen. My children's food allergies necessitated much of the cooking during early motherhood, but I found that I love being able to nourish those I love. Sometimes I think I've been training to be a Ukrainian baba like my grandma for as long as I can remember. (Plus perogies and cabbage rolls, y'all!)
I'm scared of spiders, mice, and losing those closest to me. I'm the least competitive person on the planet and I'll always root for the underdog.
Most of all, I believe we all have a story worth telling and a voice that should be heard. Writing is how I've always made sense of the world and I love helping others find their stories too. xoxoxo Kristine
Please take from the formal bio below for media use: Kristine Scarrow is the author of four young adult novels: Throwaway Girl (2014), If This Is Home (2016), The 11th Hour (2018), and The Gamer’s Guide to Getting the Girl (2019) all published by Dundurn Press. Her short fiction has appeared in The Fieldstone Review, In Medias Res, and the 2022 anthologies Conversations (Unleash Press) and Second Chance Romance (The Writers’ Cache). Her poetry has appeared in In Medias Res and her creative non-fiction appears in the Summer 2022 issue of Capsule Stories.
Kristine has a special interest in writing as a healing art and offers writing workshops to individuals, schools, community-based organizations, and other groups. Through her workshops, she offers a safe, gentle approach to writing and wants others to discover how writing can be a useful tool to help heal and grow. She has also taught Sage Hill Teen Writing Experience for several years and has worked with all age groups through her work as a five-year Writer-in-Residence at St. Paul’s Hospital in Saskatoon. She is the first person in Saskatchewan to be a certified instructor of Journal to the Self, a journaling techniques course developed by world-renowned journal therapy pioneer Kathleen Adams. As well, she is currently in the process of becoming a certified journal facilitator from the Center for Journal Therapy in Colorado.
Her fiction has been shortlisted or won numerous awards including CanLit Top Pick for the classroom for Throwaway Girl and the In the Margins Award for Throwaway Girl. The Gamer’s Guide to Getting the Girl was shortlisted for the 2020 Edna and G. Murray Forbes Foundation Young Adult Award; If This Is Home was nominated for a 2019 Snow Willow Award. She has published dozens of articles and has worked as an editor for both book-length manuscripts and magazines; she has also served as a mentor through The Writers’ Union of Canada.
Kristine has an MFA in Writing from the University of Saskatchewan where she crafted a short story collection and is currently working on another YA novel and an adult fiction novel. She is the Saskatoon Public Library Writer in Residence for 2022-2023. She has worked with over 100 writers on manuscript development and is also serving as a mentor in the MFA in Writing at the University of Saskatchewan.
As a busy mother of three children, she is thrilled to be fulfilling her lifelong dreams of writing and encourages and celebrates other women who are following their dreams. Born and raised in the prairies, Kristine is proud to be from Saskatchewan, a province boasting an incredible writing community and a wealth of talented writers.