Please feel free to use any of these bios verbatim or to combine them, or to adapt them to best suit your purposes.

A Short Bio (100 words)

Kathy has loved reading all her life but was almost thirty before she discovered she loves writing too. She has become the author of many picture books that have been published internationally, including the classic Red Is Best, and the award-winning The Man with the Violin. The Rock and the Butterfly was a GG Literary Awards Finalist. She is also a published novelist, short story writer, and poet.

When not reading or writing, Kathy enjoys photography, jigsaw puzzles, word puzzles, and walking in the woods and fields near her home in Rockwood, Ontario.

A Very Short Bio (25 words)

Best known for her award-winning children's books, Kathy Stinson is also a published poet, novelist, and short story writer — and an avid jigsaw puzzler.

A Long Bio (350 words)

Kathy Stinson stuffed envelopes, sorted mail, taught elementary school, led preschool programs, and worked as a waitress before deciding to try her hand at writing.

An argument with her three-year-old daughter led to her first book, Red Is Best, which quickly became a classic.

Kathy has since written a wide range of books: picture books, non-fiction, young adult fiction, historical fiction, horror, biography, series books, stories in anthologies, and poetry.

Among honours heaped on her books:

The Man with the Violin - TD Children’s Literature Award  Winner & Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award Finalist

The Rock and the Butterfly - GG Literary Award Finalist

A Tulip in Winter: A Story about Folk Artist Maud Lewis - Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award Finalist

The Girl who Loved Giraffes and became the World’s First Giraffologist - Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children’s Non-Fiction Finalist

Harry and Walter - Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Book Award Finalist

A Pocket Can Have A Treasure In It - Canadian Library Association Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Award Winner

Red Is Best - Toronto Chapter IODE Award Winner

The Lady with the Books: A Story Inspired by the Remarkable Work of Jella Lepman - a White Raven selection of the International Youth Library

Becoming Ruby - Canadian Library Association Young Adult Book Award Finalist

101 Ways to Dance - Canadian Library Association Young Adult Book of the Year Finalist

What Happened to Ivy - Canadian Library Association Honour Book

Kathy has enjoyed the privilege of meeting with readers in every province and territory of Canada, in the United States, Britain, Liberia, and Korea. She has worked as a freelance editor for a number of writers and publishers, served as Writer-in-Residence for several library systems in Ontario, and led writing workshops all across Canada and in West Africa.

An avid amateur photographer and a retired 20-year volunteer reader and technician for the CNIB, Kathy is the mother of two grown children, stepmother of two, and grandmother of six. She currently lives in Rockwood, Ontario — originally home to the Attawandaron, the Mississaugas of the Credit, and the Six Nations of the Grand River— with her partner, Peter Carver, and their cat Arlo.