I’m a writer and teacher living high in the Gatineau Hills**, Quebec, Canada with my cat Toiyabe (Shoshone for “Great Mountain”) who I rescued in Nevada near “The Loneliest Road in America."

 

​​I’m the author of Milk Fever, a historical fiction novel (Demeter Press) and co-translator from French of a book of poetic prose called Words That Walk in the Night (Véhicule Press). Publishers Weekly said of my novel: "Cowan's debut novel invokes powerful metaphors about devouring ideas, reading people, and cherishing books as if they were human….”

 

Kathy Page, British-Canadian writer and author of Giller-nominated Paradise & Elsewhere, called it "a sensuous and subversive novel, set at a time when printed books were beginning to change the world.”

 

I wrote a children’s book called Adoptive Families Are Families for Keeps that was published by Groundwork Press and illustrated by Stephanie Hill. For my current projects, go here.​​ 

 

An MA in English Studies from the Université de Montréal and a post-graduate diploma in writing and editing from the University of Victoria set the groundwork for me to work in publishing, communications, journalism, writing and editing. For more on my business role as a professional communicator, go here.

 

My publishing experience at a Vancouver publishing house working with writers from concept to completed MS led me to develop three novel-writing courses for the University of Calgary's Creative Writing Certificate Program. I went on to teach hundreds of students and serve as a mentor at that university. 

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​In 2025, I drew on my years of experience as a writer and writing coach and created The Unbearable Lightness of Novel Writing, an online course that guides people through the process of transforming a story idea into the foundation for a compelling novel.

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**Unceded Algonquin Anishinabeg lands

 

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