Taylor, Cora (Lorraine) 1936-

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TAYLOR, Cora (Lorraine) 1936-

PERSONAL: Born January 14, 1936, in Fort Qu'Apappelle, Saskatchewan, Canada; daughter of Harvey and Edith (Kalbfleisch) Traub; married Durward Thomas, 1953 (divorced); married Don Livingston, 1958 (divorced); married Russell Taylor (a physician), November, 1973; children: (first marriage) Granger, Wendy; (second marriage) Clancy, Sean. Education: University of Alberta, B.A. and teaching certificate, 1973. Religion: Anglican.

ADDRESSES: Home—#906, 10101 Saskatchewan Drive, Edmonton, Alberta T6E 4R6, Canada. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Coteau Books, #401, 2206 Dewdney Ave., Regina, Saskatchewan S4R 1H3, Canada.

CAREER: University of Alberta, University Hospital, Edmonton, medical secretary, 1964-68; Duffield School, Duffield, Alberta, Canada, teacher, 1973-75; writer, 1975—.

MEMBER: Canadian Authors Association (Alberta vice-president, 1980-86; national award chairman, 1987).

AWARDS, HONORS: Ross Annett Award, Alberta Writers Guild, Book of the Year Award, Canadian Library Association, and Canada Council Award, all 1985, all for Julie; Ruth Schwartz Book Award, Our Choice Award, Children's Book Center, and honorable mention for book-of-the-year award, Canadian Library Association, all 1988, all for The Doll; White Raven Award, International Youth Library, "notable book" citation, Canadian Library Association, both 1992, and nomination for Reading Cup, 1993, all for Julie's Secret; Arts Award, City of Edmonton, 1987; nomination for book-of-the-year award, Canadian Library Association, Ruth Schwartz Award, Silver Birch Award, and Mr. Christie Award, all 1995, all for Summer of the Mad Monk.

WRITINGS:

NOVELS FOR YOUNG ADULTS

Julie, Western Producer Prairie Books (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada), 1985.

The Doll, Western Producer Prairie Books (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada), 1987.

Julie's Secret, Western Producer Prairie Books (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada), 1991.

Ghost Voyages, Scholastic (Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada), 1992.

The Summer of the Mad Monk, Greystone Books (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada), 1994.

Vanishing Act, Red Deer College Press (Red Deer, Alberta, Canada), 1997.

On Wings of a Dragon, Fitzhenry & Whiteside (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2001.

Ghost Voyages II: The Matthew, Coteau Books (Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada), 2002.

Angelique: Buffalo Hunt, Penguin Books Canada (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2002.

OTHER

Parkland Spirit (musical play), 1980.

Dateline: Stony Plain (musical play), 1983.

Out on the Prairie: A Canadian Counting Book, North Winds Press (Markham, Ontario, Canada), 2002.

Theater critic for Allied Arts Bulletin, 1967. Contributor of articles and stories to periodicals, including Chatelaine, Golden West, Heritage, Magpie, and Branching Out. Editor of LifeWasaBowlof Chokecherries, 1980, and Alberta Poetry Yearbook, 1980-86.

SIDELIGHTS: Cora Taylor is a Canadian writer who has won acclaim with her novels for young adults. She began her career in 1985 with Julie, the story of a girl coming to terms with her extraordinary powers of premonition. David H. Jenkinson, writing in Twentieth-Century Children's Writers, called Julie "a haunting story of loneliness, in particular the isolation that can come from being different." Taylor's book secured awards from the Canadian Library Association and Canada Council, and it readily established her as an accomplished storyteller.

In 1987, Taylor followed Julie with The Doll, in which a young girl escapes from her troubled home life by using a magical doll that transports her into the past, where she lives as the daughter of westward pioneers. The Doll brought Taylor further honors, including a Ruth Schwartz Book Award and an Our Choice Award, and it served to confirm her status as a noteworthy writer of works for young adults.

Taylor next published Julia's Secret, a sequel to her debut volume. In the continuation, Julia uses her extra-sensory powers to uncover a murder and solve a kidnapping. David H. Jenkinson, in his Twentieth-Century Children's Writers appraisal, deemed Julia's Secret "competently written," and he summarized it as an "action-adventure story."

Taylor continued to explore the supernatural in Ghost Voyages, wherein a young boy transports himself to the nautical settings represented on commemorative stamps, and Vanishing Act, in which an adolescent girl discovers a spell that renders her invisible. As in Julia's Secret, the heroine of Vanishing Act uses her amazing abilities to solve a crime.

Among Taylor's other works are The Summer of the Mad Monk, in which an adolescent boy comes to believe that a fellow villager is actually Rasputin, the legendary Russian monk, and On Wings of a Dragon, a fantasy wherein a girl uncovers evidence of treachery at a royal castle. Carolyn Cushman, writing in Locus, deemed On Wings of a Dragon "quirky," and Jennifer L. Branch, writing in Resource Links, affirmed that the book "soars with the beauty of the language."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

St. James Guide to Children's Writers, 5th edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1999, pp. 1042-1043.

Twentieth-Century Children's Writers, 4th edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1995, pp. 940-941.

PERIODICALS

Locus, May, 2002, Carolyn Cushman, review of On Wings of a Dragon, p. 35.

Resource Links, December, 2001, Jennifer L. Branch, review of On Wings of a Dragon; October, 2002, Ann Abel, review of Angelique: Buffalo Hunt, p. 15; December, 2002, Laura Reilly, review of Ghost Voyages II, p. 34; February, 2003, Denise Parrott, review of Out on the Prairie: A Canadian Counting Book, p. 7.

Wind Speaker, December, 2002, Cheryl Petten, review of Angelique: Buffalo Hunt, p. 17.*