Martine Bates has always loved fairy tales and fantasy, and grew up reading such authors as Kingsley, Norton and L'Engle. In her last year of high school she picked up a copy of Tolkein's The Lord of the Rings two weeks before her final exams and couldn't put it down. She almost failed. Eventually, when she was much older, she went back to school and graduated from the University of Calgary with an Honors English degree. Martine is married to Greg Leavitt, and is the mother of seven children. She currently lives in High River, Alberta. (from http://www.iblist.com/author8757.htm)
Martine was born in Taber, Alberta, in 1953 to James and Mary Webster. Because her father was in the military, she grew up in various towns and cities across Canada. She moved to Calgary in 1974, married soon after, and over the next eleven years gave birth to six children: Sterling, Sarah, Rachel, Russell, Candace and Derek.
In 1990, as a single parent, Martine attended the University of Calgary and studied Honours English. The Dragon's Tapestry, her first book for young people, was published by Red Deer Press (RDP) in 1992. The Prism Moon (RDP) came out a year later. She began The Taker's Key, the third book in the fantasy trilogy, for her Honours thesis.
Martine remarried in 1995 to Greg Leavitt, and graduated in 1996, first class honours. The Taker's Key (RDP) was published in 1998. She worked for a year, and then quit to have her seventh child, a son named Dallas. She wrote the first draft of The Dollmage (RDP) during her lunch hours at work. It was published in 2001.
Tom Finder was published by Red Deer Press in spring of 2003, the same year she graduated from Vermont College with a Master of Fine Arts degree. She studied under such writers as Carolyn Coman, Brock Cole, Jane Resh Thomas, and M. T. Anderson. Heck Superhero, her creative thesis, was published by Front Street Books in 2004.
Currently, she works as an editor in the marketing department of SMART Technologies, Inc. She writes on the commuter bus. In her free time, she likes to hang out with her six grandchildren and serve in her church.
(from http://www.martineleavitt.com/bio.php)
Leavitt, Martine; Bates, Martine; Martine Leavitt
LDS
LDS (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)
1953
Taber, Alberta, Canada
University of Calgary, graduated (first-class honors), 1996; Vermont College, M.F.A., 2003.
(from http://biography.jrank.org/pages/2293/Leavitt-Martine-1953.html)
Copy editor for SMART Technologies, Inc.; freelance writer.
(from http://biography.jrank.org/pages/2293/Leavitt-Martine-1953.html)
Canadian Society of Children's Authors, Illustrators, and Performers, Writer's Union of Canada.
(from http://biography.jrank.org/pages/2293/Leavitt-Martine-1953.html)
Author
Recipient, Award in Young Adult Literature, 1993, 1998, Association for Mormon Letters
American Association of Mormon Letters Award, for Dragon's Tapestry, The Prism Moon, and The Taker's Key; Our Choice Award, Canadian Children's Book Centre, for The Prism Moon and The Taker's Key; finalist, American Association of Mormon Letters Award, and Best Books for Young Adults designation, American Library Association, 2002, both for The Dollmage; Mr. Christie Award for Young-Adult Literature, Benjamin Franklin Award, and Top Fifty International Best Books for Young Adults designation, all 2004, all for Tom Finder; named laureate, Governor General's award (Canada), 2004, for Heck Superhero.
(from http://biography.jrank.org/pages/2293/Leavitt-Martine-1953.html)
