Thelma Ann Brennan, B.A., M.A., is a gifted New Brunswick writer whose diverse body of work ranges from biography to historical novels to collections of poetry. Her publications include The Real Klondike Kate (1990, Goose Lane Editions), a nationally acclaimed biography of the Johnville NB native Katherine Ryan, who became a heroine of the North and made Canadian history as the first female member of the Northwest Mounted Police. The Hawthorn Bush (2005, Borealis Press) is a novel based on the author's ancestral heritage - both "orange and green" - and recounts the Irish contribution to the development of Canada. She has co-authored two collections of poetry, Cameos (1985, Henley Publishing) and Feathers & Shells (2000, Henley Publishing). She is also the author of an unpublished monograph, Thinking Like a Mountain: The Philosophy of Arne Naess and the Deep Ecology Movement, 1972-2005. Her work has appeared in the journals Cormorant, Canadian Women's Studies, Vox Feminarium, and in the book Stories of My Neighbour's Faith: Narratives from World Religions in Canada, edited by Susan L. Scott. Ann Brennan is a founding member of the New Brunswick Writers Federation. She is also a member of Pen Canada, The Writers Union of Canada, and the Canadian Association of Irish Studies. She is a former participant in the New Brunswick's Writers in Schools Program, encouraging youth to discover their heritage through their own research and documentation of local history. Recognized for her many contributions to the arts and cultural communities, Ann Brennan was appointed to the Board of Trustees of the Museum of Civilization in Ottawa soon after it was initiated. Committed to the enhancement of Canadian-Irish relations, she brought together 110 musicians, actors, and historians from both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland for a three-week performing arts tour of New Brunswick in 1991. She led a similar exchange two years later in Northern Ireland in support of the Irish Peace Process. In 2004 she served as an election observer with the Canadian mission to Ukraine. As a writer, Ann Brennan's work has taken her to Ireland where she was a guest lecturer at the Charles Macklin Autumn School in Culdaff, and to British Columbia and the Yukon for an anniversary Klondike Kate book tour. She has studied at Schumacher College in the UK and received a Master's degree in history from the University of New Brunswick in 2006. Ann Brennan is the mother of six children, has eleven grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. She lives with her husband, Raymond, in the historic Irish settlement of Johnville, Carleton County New Brunswick. Her farm home overlooks the agricultural and forested landscape of the Saint John River Valley. She and her family are among the primary organizers of the Johnville Picnic, a community celebration that has been held continuously since the 1880s.