About Brenda

Brenda lives in the bucolic Eastern Townships of Southern Quebec, a region known for its abundant lakes and rivers, set against the backdrop of worn Appalachian Mountains. It's a place where English and French speakers have co-existed for decades, treating each other as friends and neighbours.

Born into a blue-collar family, Brenda's childhood was split between a hard scrabble farm and a small lakeside village. Both were safe neighbourhoods where children were free to gather, bike, swim, or hike the daylight hours away, returning only for meals.

Brenda attended Bishop's University on scholarship, the first in her family to go on to post secondary education. Following convocation, she and a friend hitchhiked across Canada, from Quebec to British Columbia. The same friend accompanied her on a backpacking trip in Britain and Europe.

Photo credit: Ellen Goldfinch

The Pinnacle Photo credit: Ellen Goldfinch

Although she worked short stints in Victoria and Toronto, and spent two and half years working as a group home parent in Calgary, the Eastern Townships of Quebec always felt like home, and so it felt only right to return and settle there when it was time to start a family.

She and her husband, Léo Beaudoin, literally built their home with power tools and their own hands in what was previously a potato field with a view of the lake and rock-faced Pinnacle. There they raised two bilingual/bicultural children, Nola and Nicola, and now share the house with a rambunctious cat named Dali.

Brenda’s writing has appeared in local and regional magazines and newspapers, online, and in Quebec-based anthologies. She has also written copy for several nonprofits in her area. She is a member of the TILT writing group and leads writing workshops. No Wrong Seasons is her debut novel.