Sue Farrell Holler

My Story

I grew up climbing trees on Cape Breton Island, falling into the brook that ran behind our house, delivering stunning bouquets of weeds to the “old ladies” of the neighborhood, hunting salamanders, hosting elaborate funerals for dead birds and singing constantly, sure in the knowledge that my talent would one day be discovered as I ambled through the woods. My best days were those in the frigid waters of the Atlantic Ocean, the equally as cold Bras d’Or lakes, or those lovely, lovely days of summer visiting my grandparents on the mainland.

Much of this is captured in journals that began when I was about eight or nine years-old, but my writing career didn’t take off until Grade 4 when I discovered the penpal club in the Archie comic books. I hated writing made-up stories, but I wrote regularly to more than a hundred penpals in North America. A love of writing about what is real took me to journalism school where I earned an honours degree from the University of King’s College in Halifax.

I’ve lived, learned and worked in Nova Scotia, the Northwest Territories and Alberta with my work appearing in local, regional and national publications. For six years, I penned a popular and humorous weekly column about my struggle to raise good kids that was published in then-Sun Media newspapers GP Ink, the Daily Herald-Tribune and other papers.

I have a strong interest in people and an equally strong belief in the power of story to connect us. I think it’s important that we talk to each other, and perhaps more importantly, that we listen.

And, by the way, I have 100 percent, absolutely no singing talent. It could be my singing that killed all of those lovely birds.

Professional Memberships

• Grande Prairie Chapter of the Children’s Literature Roundtable (CLRt)
• Writers’ Guild of Alberta (WGA)
• Young Alberta Book Society (YABS)
• Authors Booking Service
• The Writers Union of Canada (TWUC)

Need more information, or just want to get in touch? Contact me.