I was born in November, 1971 - the ‘surprise’ third child to Gordon and Shirley Pape. That year, the Beatles were recently broken up, “Stairway to Heaven” was newly released, and Walt Disney World had just opened its doors in Orlando, Florida. My family was living in London, England (the biggest city in the world in those days) where my father was stationed as a foreign correspondent for Southam News. My family moved back to Canada when I was two. We lived in Montreal for a few months before settling down in Toronto for the rest of my childhood.

I grew up in the 70’s and 80’s before cell phones, bike helmets, MP3 players and DVDs. Back then, clothes were ugly, disco was hot, computers were primitive, and kids were kids. It was a divinely innocent time to be young.

My childhood drew to a close along with the 80’s. By 1990, I was 18 and graduating from high school. That was also the year I met the love of my life, Jordan Kerbel. It was June 1, the day after my senior prom, and we’ve been together ever since.

In 1993, I graduated from the University of Western Ontario with a B.A. in English Literature. A few years later, I started writing. I’m the author of YA novels, Under the Moon (published in 2012), Lure (2010), Girl on the Other Side (2009), and Mackenzie, Lost and Found (2008). My personal essay, The Curtain was published in the anthology Dear Bully: 70 Authors Tell Their Stories (published by HarperCollins U.S.) in 2011. I’m also the author of Kendra’s Chronicles, the first of a series a middle grade novels published by Stabenfeldt (Germany); and the co-author of Quizmas, Family Quizmas, and Quizmas Carols, all published by Penguin (Canada) and Plume (U.S.A.).

Now, my husband and I live in Thornhill, Ontario with our two children. I’m the recipient of the City of Vaughan’s 2011 R.A.V.E Award recognizing my work as a Mentor and Educator in the Literary Arts. My novels have been shortlisted for the Canadian Library Association’s YA Book of the Year Award and the Manitoba Young Reader’s Choice Award. Recently, Under the Moon has been selected as a finalist for the 2012 Governor General’s Literary Award.