birth_place nationality notableworks name period residence article_title birth_name
london , england english-canadian '' leisure '' pardon my parka '' , '' repent at joan walker 1950s swastika , ontario joan walker
 joan sutter
joan walker

joan walker , née sutter , was a canadian writer .
she won two noted canadian literary awards in the 1950s , the stephen leacock award in 1954 for `` pardon my parka '' and the ryerson fiction award in 1957 for `` repent at leisure '' .
`` pardon my parka '' was a humorous memoir of her own experiences adapting to canadian culture after moving to canada as a war bride , while `` repent at leisure '' was a novel about a woman trapped in a troubled marriage .
born in london , england , she worked as a fashion artist for harrods , an editor for amalgamated press and newnes-pearson and as a feature journalism writer for `` sunday pictorial '' before marrying james rankin walker , a canadian military officer in the algonquin regiment , in 1946 .
she became a canadian citizen in 1954 .
the couple initially lived in val-d'or , quebec , although by the time of her ryerson award win they had moved to swastika , ontario ; in her later years , walker and her husband lived in oak bay , british columbia .
she was a member of the canadian women 's press club and the canadian authors association .
she contributed a humorous essay griping about unfair author contracts to an issue of `` canadian author & bookman '' , the canadian authors association 's trade magazine , in 1960 , creating a minor crisis for the organization as several publishing companies withdrew their advertising from the magazine in protest .
she published one further novel , `` marriage of harlequin '' -lrb- 1962 -rrb- , a fictional account of the life of richard brinsley sheridan .
she was later a columnist and book reviewer for `` the globe and mail '' .
