Vanessa Winn's non-fiction has appeared in Monday Magazine and her poetry has been published in Quill's Canadian Poetry Magazine and Island Writer Magazine. She has a Bachelor of Arts with a major in English from the University of Victoria. Vanessa also teaches Argentine tango. Born in England, Vanessa now lives in Victoria, BC, with her two daughters. The Chief Factor's Daughter (TouchWood 2009) is her first novel.

Winn's second novel, Trappings (Oakheart Press 2020), based on real people and events, is a story of first love and second chances in a time when women were only given one chance. Born to the Western fur trade and married at 18, Kate Work knows little of her husband's family in Nova Scotia or the reasons they fled its ruling elite. Haunted by a grandmother she barely knew, her own heritage lies hidden in the shadows of the Rocky Mountains. Amid a web of disasters, she is caught in the boom-and-bust town of Victoria during its power struggle in colonial British Columbia. Kate must face the laws and ambitions of men to protect her only legacy -- her daughter.

Winn of Victoria contributed to Métis Matriarchs: Agents of Transition(University of Regina Press $34.95), edited by Cheryl Troupe and Doris Jeanne MacKinnon. The book explores the crucial roles Métis women played in preserving their communities during the transition from the fur trade era to a more industrialized and agrarian economy in Western Canada. Covering the late 19th to mid-20th century, this collection highlights the lives of prominent Métis women, shedding light on how they navigated colonial impacts, and challenging traditional views on Western Canadian settlement and Indigenous displacement.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Vanessa Winn, The Chief Factor's Daughter (Touchwood, 2009) $19.95 978-1-894898-93-5

Trappings (Oakheart Press, 2020) $24.95 978-1-7770408-0-2

Métis Matriarchs: Agents of Transition (University of Regina Press, 2024) $34.95 9781779400116

[BCBW 2025]

Review of the author's work by BC Studies:
The Chief Factor's Daughter