Writer and teacher Sharon Butala was born in Nipawin, Saskatchewan in 1940. She was educated in that province, and at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon where she earned a B.A. and B.Ed. degrees. After working as a special education teacher for several years, she gave up teaching to become a novelist, short story writer and writer of creative non-fiction. Her work has appeared in numerous periodicals and she is the author of several books: 'The Garden of Eden' (1998); 'The Perfection of the Morning' (1994); 'The Gates of the Sun' (1994); 'The Fourth Archangel' (1992); 'Luna' (1988, 1994); and 'Fever' (1990), all published by Harper Collins. Butala received the Writers' Choice Award in 1986, the Canadian Authors Award for fiction in 1992, the Saskatchewan Book Award for non-fiction in 1994, and she has been shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize (1991), and twice for the Governor General's Award (1994, 1986).