Pat Capponi

Patricia Ann Capponi, (July 1, 1949 – April 6, 2020) was a Canadian writer and an advocate for mental health issues and poverty issues in Canada.

Early life and education Pat Capponi was born in Montreal. She attended Dawson College and Sir George Williams University. Her last two books, Last Stop Sunnyside (2006) and The Corpse Will Keep (2008) are mysteries featuring a woman detective in Toronto's Parkdale neighborhood, where Capponi lived. She also wrote and published a newsletter, The Cuckoo's Nest, and hosted a local cable television program, Cuckoo's Nest Cable.

Personal life Capponi moved to Toronto at 18, to escape her abusive family home, and had several psychiatric hospitalizations there. Capponi was openly lesbian. Pat Capponi was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2019, and died with medical assistance at age 70 years, on April 6, 2020, in a Toronto hospital. Lifetime Achievement Award, CivicAction Leadership Foundation (2018) C. M. Hincks Award from the Canadian Mental Health Association

Selected publications

Upstairs in the Crazy House (1992) Dispatches from the Poverty Line (1997) The War at Home (1999) Bound by duty : walking the beat with Canada's cops (2000) Beyond the Crazy House: changing the future of madness (2003) Last Stop Sunnyside (2006) The Corpse Will Keep (2008)