Lynne Kositsky

Who is Lynne Kositsky?

Lynne Kositsky is an award-winning Canadian author of poetry and young adult historical fiction. Kositsky, who was born in Montreal and grew up in London, England, now lives in the Niagara region of Ontario. As of 2010 she has published ten novels, set in such varied historical contexts as Ireland during the potato famine of the 1840s, Nova Scotia during the early 19th century, Elizabethan London, and the Holocaust.

Her books often have in common the theme of a youthful protagonist surviving social disruption or ostracism in a world dominated by the mistakes of adults. Her four books in the Our Canadian Girl series issued by Penguin all focus on an African Canadian ex-slave, Rachel, who is forced to relocate with her parents to Nova Scotia after the Revolutionary War. Like many of Kositsky's other books, the Rachel series received critical acclaim. The first and fourth books of the Rachel series, in the series were both nominated for the prestigious Hackmatack Award, and A Mighty Big Imagining won a White Raven Award, given by the International Youth Library in Munich to books which "contribute to an international understanding of a culture and people."