Draft:Mary C. Sheppard

Mary C. Sheppard

Mary C. Sheppard is a Canadian author and former journalist whose works in fiction explore the social history of Newfoundland.  

Early Life and Education

Sheppard grew up in a family of nine children in Corner Brook, NL. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from St. Francis Xavier University and a Master of Science in Journalism from Columbia University.

Career

Sheppard spent most of her career working as a journalist for Maclean’s magazine, CBC Radio, the Women’s Television Network, and CBC online news. She wrote her first book while living in Amsterdam in the mid-1990s. After returning to Canada, she taught Broadcast Journalism at The Metropolitan University of Toronto, and then returned to the CBC as the Executive Producer of CBCNews.ca until she retired in 2014.

While at the CBC Sheppard received the Jeanne Sauvé Award for women in broadcasting.

Works in Fiction

Sheppard’s first book, Seven for a Secret, was published in 2001 by Groundwood Books. It is the first in a young adult coming-of-age series, titled Tales from Cook’s Cove, and reflects on Sheppard’s experiences growing up in Newfoundland, where she spent many of her summers visiting an isolated fishing community.

Seven for a Secret follows a young woman and her female cousins living in an outport community in 1960’s Newfoundland, as they face challenges navigating loyalty to family and community versus pursuing a life beyond the island and motherhood. Seven for a Secret won the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Award and was listed as a top ten book by the American Library Association.

One For Sorrow, published in 2008 by Penguin Canada, explores difficult family dynamics and life circumstances through the perspective of a young girl who is unable to read, who dreams of leaving her miserable life in Newfoundland. 

Three For A Wedding, published in 2009 by Penguin, is set in 1980’s Newfoundland. Drawing on the changing dynamics of island life that came with improved roads, the book reconnects with many characters from Seven for a Secret twenty years later.

Sheppard’s latest book, Where The Heart Is, was published in 2024. It is a historical spy/romance story set at the Heart’s Content cable station in Newfoundland during the First World War. It deals with the challenges faced by women in the labour force and social issues of that period.

Personal Life

Sheppard lives in Toronto and is a member of the Writer’s Union of Canada. She is married and has two daughters.