Beatrice Culleton Mosionier

Beatrice Mosionier was born in St. Boniface, Manitoba in 1949, and was the youngest of four children. When she was three, she was separated from her parents, and she and her siblings were placed in different foster homes.

Following the suicides of her sisters, Vivian in 1964 and Kathy in 1980, Beatrice, who had no desire to be a writer, decided to write a book. She needed to try to understand why her sisters committed suicide; why she and her older brother and sisters had to live in foster homes; and why her family had lived with poverty, alcoholism and overwhelming racism.

She wrote about a young Métis woman trying to survive in two worlds - one she rejected and one that rejected her. "In Search of April Raintree" was published in 1983, under Beatrice Culleton, her married name at the time. The novel had such impact that subsequent editions were published for high schools and for universities. The 25th Anniversary Edition launched the Manitoba literacy initiative, On the Same Page: Manitoba Reads, in 2008.

Beatrice previously worked as publisher of Pemmican Publications, has written more works of fiction, a play and a short NFB film. Her book, "Come Walk With Me, A Memoir", was published in October 2009. Today, she lives in the Okanagan Valley, British Columbia.