A Brief Biography of Merilyn Simonds

I have been gardening almost as long as I have been writing. I learned to write by reading. I learned to garden by digging. In both cases, I was driven by the divine: I wanted to fashion a world all my own.

Over the past thirty years, I have published thirteen books, as well as countless stories and articles and essays, some of which have not yet seen the light of day. I am always writing. And I am always growing things. Writing and growing are my ying and yang, the up and down of the teeter-totter that is life.

I take my books into the garden; I draw my gardens into my books. I have written about gardens directly in The Harrowsmith Salad Garden (Firefly, 1992) and indirectly in my novel The Holding (McClelland & Stewart, 2004), the story of two women who work the soil on the same plot of land a hundred thirty years apart. Bending over my beds stretches muscles grown taut at my desk; I learn again how to see, how to find my place in the physical world.

Although the term frugalista has only recently been coined, it could not be more apt. Work hard and live frugally has always been my motto, but never at the expense of style. Fashion, after all, means to make.

I've been writing these essays for years. It is with great pleasure that I share them with you now.

For a full biography and list of publications, see www.merilynsimonds.com.