Eileen Kernaghan (born January 6, 1939) is a Canadian novelist and three-time winner of the Prix Aurora Award for English-language Canadian speculative fiction. The settings of her historical fantasy novels range from the prehistoric Indus Valley and eighteenth century Bhutan, to Elizabethan England and nineteenth century Scandinavia. She lives in New Westminster, British Columbia.[1]
Eileen Kernaghan grew up on a dairy farm outside Grindrod, B.C., Canada,[2] population 600. The reading material she found on the family shelves - Greek myths, historical novels, G. A. Henty's boys' adventure books, a collection of Weird Tales and Thrilling Wonder Stories - helped to shape her writing career.
Her first published story, written at the age of twelve, appeared in the Vancouver Sun newspaper. It earned her a byline, an illustration, and a check for $12.65. Her next appearance in print, twenty years later, was with a cover story in the New York science fiction magazine Galaxy. She went on to write the "Grey Isles" series, a Bronze Age trilogy based on the origins of Stonehenge.[3] Journey to Aprilioth, Songs from the Drowned Lands and The Sarsen Witch were published by Ace Books during the 1980s.
As for her day jobs, they've included elementary school teaching, arts administration, operating a used bookstore with her husband Pat, and, for many years, teaching creative writing at Shadbolt Centre for the Arts in Burnaby, and Port Moody's Kyle Centre.[4] She has three adult children and four grandchildren.