Jean Rae Baxter

Jean Rae Baxter: A Biography

Jean Rae Baxter was born in Toronto but grew up in Hamilton. After earning a B.A. and M.A. in English at the University of Toronto, she worked briefly in radio broadcasting before returning to university for a B.Ed. degree from Queen’s in 1971. She was a high school English teacher for several years, during which period she found little time to pursue her own writing

Upon retirement, she returned to Hamilton and began to write full time. She writes fiction for both adults and young adults. Two short story collections A Twist of Malice and Scattered Light and her literary murder mystery Looking For Cardenio comprise the former category. Increasingly she is turning to young adult historical fiction to tell the story of Canada’s past. Freedom Bound (2012), follows The Way Lies North (2007) and Broken Trail (2011), completing her trilogy set during the American Revolution. Baxter’s writing has received numerous awards in both the United States and Canada. These include several Arts Hamilton Literary Awards and the 2010 John Kenneth Galbraith Literary Award. In the United States, she won the Moonbeam Gold Medal for young adult historical fiction in 2011 and the Bronze Medal in 2012. In 2013 she received an honourable mention at Boston’s New England Festival of Writing. All three of her historical novels are listed as “Best Books” by the Canadian Children’s Book Centre.

In May 2013, Marenga Publishers of Tel Aviv released a collection of her stories translated into Hebrew. The title, Hazut Mehugenet, means “Respectable Appearance.”

Her fourth young adult historical novel, The White Oneida, was released in September 2014.