# John Wilson (Canadian writer)

John Alexander Wilson (born August 3, 1951, in Edinburgh, Scotland) is a Canadian author of historical fiction and non-fiction. He is the author of over 30 books, 300 articles and essays, and 30 poems.

## Biography

Wilson was born in Edinburgh, Scotland on August 3, 1951, to James Annan and Evelyn Victoria Marguerite Wilson. He grew up on the Island of Skye, and in Paisley.
In 1975, Wilson received a Bachelor of Science with honours in geology from the University of St Andrews. After graduation, he worked as a geologist in Zimbabwe before moving to Canada. For nine years, he worked for the Alberta Geological Survey in Edmonton.
In 1991, Wilson began writing full-time.
Wilson now lives in Lantzville on Vancouver Island. He is married to Jenifer Mary Wilson and has three children: Sarah, Fiona, and Iain.

## Awards and honours

A Soldier’s Sketchbook and Death on the River are Junior Library Guild selections.
In 2017, the Chicago Public Library named A Soldier’s Sketchbook one of the best Informational Books for Older Readers of the year.
Awards for Wilson's writing :
| Year | Title | Award | Result |
| 1998 | Across Frozen Seas | Geoffrey Bilson Award | Finalist |
| 1998 | Across Frozen Seas | Sheila A. Egoff Children's Literature Prize | Finalist |
| 2002 | Righting Wrongs | Norma Fleck Award | Finalist |
| 2004 | Discovering the Arctic | Norma Fleck Award | Finalist |
| 2004 | Dancing Elephants and Floating Continents | Sheila A. Egoff Children's Literature Prize | Finalist |
| 2005 | Flames of the Tiger | Manitoba Young Readers' Choice Award | Nominee |
| 2006 | Four Steps to Death | Geoffrey Bilson Award | Finalist |
| 2006 | Four Steps to Death | Sheila A. Egoff Children's Literature Prize | Finalist |
| 2007 | The Alchemist's Dream | Governor General's Award for English-language children's literature | Finalist |
| 2007 | Four Steps to Death | Manitoba Young Readers' Choice Award | Nominee |
| 2007 | Red Goodwin | Forest of Reading Red Maple Award | Finalist |
| 2007 | Where Soldiers Lie | Geoffrey Bilson Award | Finalist |
| 2008 | The Alchemist's Dream | Geoffrey Bilson Award | Finalist |
| 2008 | The Alchemist's Dream | Sheila A. Egoff Children's Literature Prize | Finalist |
| 2008 | Where Soldiers Lie | Forest of Reading Red Maple Award | Finalist |
| 2010 | Crusade | Geoffrey Bilson Award | Finalist |
| 2012 | Shot at Dawn | Geoffrey Bilson Award | Finalist |
| 2012 | Written in Blood | Manitoba Young Readers' Choice Award | Nominee |
| 2016 | Wings of War | Manitoba Young Readers' Choice Award | Nominee |

## Publications
### Fiction

* Across Frozen Seas (1997)
* Adrift in Time (2003)
* Dancing Elephants and Floating Continents: The Story of Canada Beneath Your Feet (2003)
* Ghosts of James Bay (2006)
* Red Goodwin (2006)
* The Alchemist's Dream (2007)
* Lost Cause (2012)
* The Ruined City (2018)
* The Third Act (2018)

#### Caught in Conflict collection

* Lost in Spain (1999)
* And in the Morning... (2002)
* Flames of the Tiger (2003)
* The Flags of War (2004)
* Battle Scars (2005)
* Four Steps to Death (2005)
* Where Soldiers Lie (2007)
* Germania (2008)
* Death on the River (2009)

#### Desert Legends trilogy

* Written in Blood (2010)
* Ghost Moon (2011)
* Victorio's War (2012)

#### Heretic's Secret trilogy

* Crusade / Heretic (2009)
* Quest / Grail (2010)
* Rebirth (2013)

#### I Am Canada books

* Shot at Dawn: World War I, Allan McBride, France, 1917 (2011)
* Graves of Ice (2014)

#### Steve series

* The Missing Skull (2016)
* Lost Cause (2012)
* Broken Arrow (2014)

#### Stolen duo

* Stolen (2013)
* Bones (2014)

#### Tales of War trilogy

* Wings of War (2014)
* Dark Terror (2015)
* A Dangerous Game (2016)

#### Weet trilogy

* Weet (1995)
* Weet's Quest (1997)
* Weet Alone (1999)

### Non-Fiction

* Norman Bethune: A Life of Passionate Conviction (1999)
* Righting Wrongs: The Story of Norman Bethune (2001)
* Discovering the Arctic: The Story of John Rae (2003)
* Desperate Glory: The Story of WWI (2008)
* Bitter Ashes: The Story of WWII (2009)
* Ghost Mountains and Vanished Oceans: North America from Birth to Middle Age (2009)
* Failed Hope: The Story of the Lost Peace (2012)
* The Final Alchemy: A Novel of Murder, Magic and the Search for the Northwest Passage (2012)
* John Franklin: Traveller on Undiscovered Seas
* Lands of Lost Content (2020)
* A Man Exact and Truthful: John Rae and the Northwest Passage (2022)
* The Journal of James Fitzjames (2022)

### Poetry

* Love, Death and Nonsense: A Diversity of Verse (2022)