Pearl Luke

Pearl Luke was born in Peace River, Alberta, Canada. Her first novel, Burning Ground, about a young woman in love with her best friend, was published in 2000 by HarperCollins. It won the 2001 Commonwealth Writer’s Prize for Best First Book (Caribbean and Canada Region), and was a finalist for the George Bugnet Award, the Chapters/Robertson Davies First Novel Award and the Libris Booksellers Award. Burning Ground was based in part on her experiences working summers on various fire towers while she wrote her Master’s thesis.

The historical novel Madame Zee, published in 2006 (HarperCollins), was more difficult to write than Burning Ground, she says, because of the scope and the research required. Nevertheless, the hours she spent sifting through archival materials, examining personal letters, poetry, and newspaper clippings were some of the most pleasurable hours of the writing process.

She enjoys traveling and combines writing with travel whenever possible. She has visited numerous parts of the globe and on an extended vacation in Mexico, she fell in love with San Miguel de Allende, which led to her taking a position as instructor at Instituto Tecnológico y des Estudios Superiores de Monterrey in nearby Queretaro. Currently, she spends part of every year in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Burning Ground made it possible for Pearl to travel to Accra, Ghana, for the Commonwealth Prize ceremonies. She also accepted an invitation to Taiwan, where she spent three weeks as writer-in-residence for the city of Taipei.

She makes her home on Salt Spring Island, one of Canada's southern Gulf Islands.