New Brunswick Author Portal

Cath  Collette
Categories: Female AuthorsAnglophone AuthorsAuthors of Juvenile Fiction;Authors of Young Adult LiteratureMiramichi RiverSoutheast

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Source: Author / auteure



Biography

I lived most of my life in Moncton and went to the old MHS [Moncton High School]. I live in Miramichi now. I am also a prize-winning author of short stories.



How has New Brunswick influenced your work?

My beautiful New Brunswick inspired this climate fiction. Living in Albert County when fracking seemed to be on the agenda, I advocated with others to keep the province as green as possible. Thankfully common sense prevailed, but now, ten years later, there is talk of fracking again. Writing is my way of 'speaking for the trees' as Dr. Suess says in The Lorax. I have lived in New Brunswick most of my life and still have not seen all the beautiful spots there are to see. I have meditated beside the water at Fundy [National] Park and watched the fish jump in the Miramichi River. Then I sit down to write.

What is your favourite New Brunswick book, and why?

Pelagie by Antonine Maillet gives a sense of the Acadian struggle that is part of my heritage. The Nine Lives of Charlotte Taylor by Sally Armstrong is a historical fiction. It shows northern NB and the Miramichi area when they were a main shipping port. Charlotte Taylor had an amazing life that the novel follows from Britain to Jamaica and then to New Brunswick which was a well-travelled route in the 1700s.

What do you consider to be the highlight of your career so far?

After shopping at Chapters for so long, I had a book signing there, which was kind of surreal.

The highlight was the support of family and friends that I had pretty much abandoned while writing.


Literary Prizes

Third Place - Quantiphi Books for Young People Prize - 2023 In recognition of: The Climate Changes Terr

Featured Publication


Our Exoskeletons: Our House, Our Car, Our Cave…
(2022)
Excerpt:

Our Exoskeletons: Our House, Our Car, Our Cave… is published by Amazon and is available through Chapters Indigo as well. The teen ecology fiction is set in New Brunswick.

Stan, a teen, and his cave dwelling family live in the Age of the Environment in 2060. They experience the strange luxuries of an elderly couple's home that are from the Consumer Age. Stan's anger makes the situation worse. A storm makes the situation deadly for some.

Fifteen-year-old Stan works on his anger issues that cloud his survival instincts. Stan feels responsible for the safety of his cheerful family that tends to sing silly songs. The teen climate fiction is recommended by a psychologist because of the techniques shown for finding emotional balance in extreme times.


Find this author in the New Brunswick public libraries catalogue.


Source(s): Author.