Louisa McCormack

My mother taught me to read when I was 22 months old so I blame her for everything. My marvellous Polish grandmother let me know what I was destined for in the most matter-of-fact way when I was about thirteen. We'd been entertaining a lively correspondence for years. During one visit she happened to mention, "But Louisee darling, you are a writer." (McCormack is actually my middle name; my last name has so many consonants in a row that everyone stumbles.) I'm the proverbial colonel's daughter. I was born in Montreal and moved eight times before I was eighteen. A couple of those postings were to Europe. I ended up at a British boarding school; I'm writing about that now. As an undergrad I majored in English at Victoria College, U of T. "That's where Margaret Atwood went so that's where you should go." (Mom again) I spent the entirety of my 20's vagabonding then settled down to a Masters in Creative Writing once I turned 30. Soon enough I began to freelance for CBC radio (the Canadian NPR). That led to a TV hosting job. That helped me save up enough money to write a novel that worked, viz "Six Weeks to Toxic." Magazine work kept me going as "The Catch" was underway. Now I've moved to London where I teach EFL at the cutest school imaginable. In Bloomsbury, no less. I consider it my great good fortune to be living in London. It's the New York of Europe in the best polyglot way. But of course there's English, fulsome, articulate English, everywhere. I love English. I'm guessing you do, too.