Sylvia Olsen

Sylvia Olsen (born 1955 or 1956) is a Canadian writer and public speaker.

Biography Olsen was born and raised in a middle-class family in Victoria, British Columbia.

Olsen married her current husband, Tex McLeod, when she was 63.

Career Olsen has been a founding member at a number of housing organizations for Canadian First Nations communities, including the First Nations Housing & Infrastructure Council for British Columbia. She was also a member of the Assembly of First Nations Chiefs Committee on Housing & Infrastructure. 2007 Yetsa's Sweater Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice Award 2011 Working with Wool Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize Shortlist Winner Lieutenant Governor's Medal for Historical Writing 2010 Counting on Hope Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize Shortlist 2010 Which Way Should I Go? PMC Indigenous Literature Award Winner 2014 Molly's Promise Diamond Willow Award Finalist 2020 Neekah's Knitting Needles PMC Indigenous Literature Award Shortlist Publications

Children's books

No Time to Say Goodbye: Children's Stories of Kuper Island Residential School, with Rita Morris and Ann Sam (2002) Catching Spring (2004) Murphy and Mousetrap (2005) Yetsa's Sweater (2007) Which Way Should I Go?, with Ron Martin, illustrated by Kasia Charko (2008) A Different Game (2010) Sebastian Sasquatch, illustrated by Kasia Charko (2013) Son Who Returns, with Gary Robinson (2014) Neekah's Knitting Needles, with Odelia Smith, illustrated by Sheena Lott (2020)

Young adult novels

The Girl with a Baby (2003) White Girl (2004) Just Ask Us (2005) Yellow Line (2005) Middle Row (2008) Counting on Hope (2010) Molly's Promise (2013) Breathing Fire, with Sarah Yi-Mei Tsiang (2014)

Nonfiction

Working with Wool: A Coast Salish Legacy and the Cowichan Sweater (2010) knitting stories (2014) life cycle of a LIE (2014) Growing Up Elizabeth May: The Making of an Activist, with Cate May Burton (2021) Unravelling Canada: A Knitting Odyssey (2021)