Don Sawyer, writer and educator, grew up in Michigan and moved to Canada in the 1960s.

Don has worked with youth and adults from many cultural backgrounds and in a variety of locales. A world of opportunity and experiences opened up after he left a PhD program in Modern Chinese History, from teaching in a small Newfoundland outport, to training community workers in West Africa, to teaching First Nations adults in BC, to designing a climate change action course for Jamaican youth.

Before moving to Ontario, Don lived and worked in Salmon Arm BC for more than thirty years. There he taught adult education, served as the Chair of the Okanagan University College (OUC) Adult Basic Education Department, and acted as the Curriculum Director for the Native Adult Education Resource Centre.

Don also served as the Director of OUC’s International Development Centre, where he managed community development projects in West Africa, including the West African Rural Development Centre, a finalist for the Canadian Development Project of the Year in 2005.

Don is the principal of Northern Education Services Associates and has served as an educational consultant and curriculum developer for over four decades. He has provided in-service workshops throughout North America and is the recipient of Rotary International’s Paul Harris Award for Exceptional Service.

He has published many curriculum collections and books, including the best-selling YA novel Where the Rivers Meet and Tomorrow Is School and I am Sick to the Heart Thinking About It, a non-fiction account of his first teaching experiences in rural Newfoundland. His essays have appeared in most of Canada’s major daily newspapers.

Don was never a very good boxer, but he continues to train in the ring and walk in the woods whenever his hips don’t hurt too much. He currently lives in southern Ontario with his very tolerant wife.

You can read more about Don Sawyer on ABC BookWorld.