In Search of April Raintree

Born in St. Boniface, Manitoba, Beatrice Mosionier is a Métis writer best known for her novel In Search of April Raintree, first published in 1983. A school edition, April Raintree, followed in 1984. The youngest of four children, Beatrice was three years old when the Children's Aid Society of Winnipeg took her from her family. Losing both of her sisters to suicide--Vivian in 1964 and Katherine in 1980--compelled Beatrice to use her experiences growing up in foster homes to write In Search of April Raintree. Since then, it has become a beloved classic, read by generations of Canadians. Most recently, she wrote the foreword for Overcome, Stories of Women Who Grew Up in the Child Welfare System, by Anne Mahon. She has written several other books, including a play and a short film, and she is the former publisher of Pemmican Publications. She now lives in Enderby, British Columbia. Cheryl Suzack is a Ph.D. candidate in English at the University of Alberta and a member of the Batchewana First Nations of Ojibways. She is currently working on a dissertation entitled, "Strategies for Cross-Cultural Exchange: Native North American Women's Writing and the Politics of Location.