Rachna Gilmore is the best-selling, critically acclaimed Governor General’s Award winning author of numerous books with multiple honours and awards. Her publications include picture books, early readers, middle grade and young Adult Fiction, as well as adult fiction.

Rachna’s children’s books include her latest release, The Trouble With Dilly, a heart-warming and hilarious novel for ages 8 and up (Harper Collins Canada, Sept 2009); the fantasy novel, The Sower of Tales, (winner of the 2006 National Chapter IODE Violet Downey Book Award; nominated for the 2006 Red Maple Award and Manitoba Young Reader’s Choice Award), the young adult novel, A Group of One, (a Jane Addams Children’s Book Award Honor Book; recommended by the New York Public Library’s Books for the Teen Age List; Bank Street College of Education's Best Books of the Year), as well as the popular A Friend Like Zilla and Mina’s Spring of Colors, both also nominated for several awards. Picture book titles include the Governor General’s Award winning A Screaming Kind of Day, the well-known Gita trilogy, as well as the recently released Making Grizzle Grow (nominated for the Blue Spruce Award and Saskatchewan Young Reader’s Choice Awards).

Rachna’s books are sold internationally with translations in French, Danish, German, Korean, Spanish, Urdu, Bengali, Chinese as well as several other languages. A skilled and experienced presenter, Rachna gives readings and workshops in schools, libraries and conferences across the country as well as internationally.

Forthcoming titles include the picture books Catching Time (Red Deer Press, 2010) and The Flute (Tradewind Books, 2010), and the novel for ages 8 and up, That Boy Red, (Harper Collins Canada, 2011).

Born in India, Rachna has lived in London, England and Prince Edward Island. She now lives in Ottawa where she continues to plark (play, work, lark) at her writing, dreaming up weird and wonder-filled tales.

A 2007 interview with Rachna can be found at Just One More Book!.

To hear how to pronounce her name, please check this Author Pronunciation Guide.

Awards And Distinctions

• Nominated, Blue Spruce Award, 2009 (Making Grizzle Grow)
• Nominated, Saskatchewan Young Reader’s Choice Award, 2009 (Making Grizzle Grow)
• Canadian Children’s Book Centre’s Best Books for Kids and Teens 2009 (Making Grizzle Grow)
• Canadian Children's Book Centre Our Choice 2007 (When-I-was-a-little-girl)
• Canadian Children's Book Centre Our Choice 2007 (Grandpa’s Clock)
• Canadian Children's Book Centre Our Choice 2006 (The Sower of Tales)
• National Chapter IODE Violet Downey Award, 2006 (The Sower of Tales)
• Nominated, Manitoba Young Readers' Choice Award, (MYRCA) 2007 (The Sower of Tales)
• Nominated for Red Maple Award, 2006 (The Sower of Tales)
• Honor Book, 2002 Jane Addams Children’s Book Award (A Group of One)
• New York Public Library 2002 Books for the Teen Age List (A Group of One)
• Cooperative Children’s Book Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Choices, 2002 (A Group of One)
• Bank Street College of Education's 2002 "The Best Children’s Books of the Year." (A Group of One)
• Nominated for 2002 Saskatchewan Young Reader's Choice Award for Grades K-3 (A Gift for Gita)
• Gloucester Arts Award 2000 for Outstanding Artistic Achievement
• Canadian Children’s Book Centre Our Choice Award, 2001 (Mina's Spring of Colors)
• Short-listed: 2001 Silver Birch Award (Mina's Spring of Colors)
• Short-listed: 2002 Hackmatack Children’s Choice Book Award (Mina's Spring of Colors)
• Winner: 1999 Governor General's Literary Award for Children’s Literature Text (A Screaming Kind of Day)
• Chapters Write for Canada Selection, October 1999 (A Screaming Kind of Day)
• Canadian Children’s Book Centre Choice 2000, starred selection (A Screaming Kind of Day)
• Canadian Children’s Book Centre Choice (Fangs And Me, 1999)
• Canadian Children’s Book Centre Choice (A Gift for Gita, 1999)
• Short-listed: Manitoba Young Readers' Choice Award, 1998 (A Friend Like Zilla)
• Short-listed and Regional Winner: Silver Birch Award, 1996 (A Friend Like Zilla)
• Short-listed: Mr Christie Book Award, 1996 (A Friend Like Zilla)
• Short-listed: International Reading Association 1996 Children’s Book Award (A Friend Like Zilla)
• Canadian Children’s Book Centre Choice (Roses For Gita,1996)
• Pick of the Lists, American Bookseller, 1995 (Lights For Gita)
• Canadian Children’s Book Centre Choice (A Friend Like Zilla, 1995)
• Canadian Children’s Book Centre Choice (Lights For Gita, 1994)
• Morningside Book Panel Choice (Lights For Gita, Dec, 1994)
• Short-listed: Ottawa-Carleton Book Award, 1993 (Of Customs and Excise)
• Short-listed: Best First Book, 1992 Commonwealth Book Awards, Canada and Caribbean Region (Of Customs and Excise)
• Canadian Children’s Book Centre Choice (Aunt Fred Is a Witch, 1991)
• Third prize, Carl Sentner Short Story Award, 1990
• Morningside Book Panel Choice (When-I-was-a-little-girl, 1989)
• Second prize, Carl Sentner Short Story Award, 1989
• Third prize, Carl Sentner Short Story Award, 1988

More About Me

I was born in New Delhi (now called Dilli), India, in 1953, and lived in Bombay until I was fourteen, when my family moved to London, England. As a child, I read avidly and as I was lucky enough to live across the road from a library, I was well supplied with books.

Some of my favourite books were Anne of Green Gables and Little Women. One day, after reading these books for the umpteenth time, I was struck with the idea that maybe I, too, could write, as Jo did, and as Anne also occasionally did. It seemed like a wonderful idea. It felt right. It would be such fun. But on the other hand, I loved reading so much, that I thought maybe it was taking the easy way out, and that I should do something serious and real and become a doctor, like my mother. And hey, smart girls were encouraged to study the sciences, so that’s what I did.

In England, when the time came to apply to university, I knew Medicine was not right for me, but being already set in the path of the sciences, I stumbled into a biology degree. I had a lot of fun in university and despite that, graduated with an honours degree from King’s College, University of London. But what kind of work could I do? The thought of rushing into a PhD in some area of biology, as most of my friends were, was unbearable.

So, after graduating, I travelled, and came to Canada. I got married and settled in Prince Edward Island, where I obtained a B.Ed from the University of Prince Edward Island. I worked at a mundane job, but fed my creative energies by setting up a pottery studio and occasionally scribbling down stories and ideas as they came to me, always thinking that one day, I would become a writer.

Meanwhile, I had two wonderful children, and I delighted in reading to them. Again and again, I hoped and dreamed about writing seriously, but other than fantasize and scribble down the odd idea, I didn’t do much about it, until I turned thirty. Then, one day, while walking on the beach, a conversation with my husband helped me to realize that the reason I kept putting off writing was because at some level, I was afraid I wouldn’t succeed. That was a real jolt – I realized, too, that I didn’t want to wake up one morning and find myself eighty years old, and still just dreaming about being a writer, and wishing and wishing that I had started years ago.

So, I took a leap of faith, and ignoring the negative little critic whispering in my ear, which, I suspect all writers have, I started to write regularly and to submit for publication.

And I’ve never looked back. My Mother is Weird was published in 1988 and since then there have been over a dozen children’s books, as well a collection of adult short stories published.

In 1990, my family moved to Ottawa, where we still live. I have finally figured out that making a career out of writing is definitely not taking the easy way out – it requires dedication, concentration and sustained effort to succeed at it, as it does to succeed at anything, so I’m better off doing something I love, because it is easier, and more joyful to put in the necessary effort and time. I also know that I am doing something real, and something that matters, especially when I get letters from kids and adults who enjoy my books. A lot of people say that if they win a million dollars, they’ll quit their jobs. Not me. No way. I am lucky enough to love what I do, to really plark at it. Plark is a term I’ve coined that I think best conveys the process of writing for me – a mixture of play, work and lark.

Currently, I’m plarking on more fantasy novels. I love the way these books stretch me and allow me to explore intangibles. Writing is very much a process of exploration for me. I like to write about what intrigues me, about what I don’t know, so I can grow and stretch and dream and wonder. Often, my books don’t provide answers, so much as help pose more questions, which is really part of the lifelong process of living and learning.

So what will I write next? Who knows. I have several ideas and characters simmering, dancing, and occasionally leaping out at me...and I guess I’ll have to go with the ones that are most insistent, the ones that grab hold of my imagination and heart, and refuse to let go.