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About This Author

Lyn Hancock  writing sample
Lyn Hancock Enterprises
8270 Sabre Road, Lantzville, B.C., Canada VOR 2HO
Phone: (250) 390-9075
Fax: (250) 390-9074
Email: lynhancock@shaw.ca

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I have been a full-time author, photojournalist, lecturer, photographer and film-maker since 1970, part-time since 1963. I have had 18 books and many thousands of articles published in newspapers and magazines around the world.
      Curious, enthusiastic and energetic, I enjoy living and communicating in words and pictures what I love and what I learn. I am particularly interested in travel, the outdoors, wildlife, native peoples, and the remote places of the planet. My readers tell me they like my work because it is well-researched, lively, personal, interesting and makes them feel they "are there."

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Topics of Current Interest
  • Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Yukon, western Canada, Australia
  • Kayaking and river rafting
  • Wildlife
Selected Periodical Credits
  • "Anything But Desolate," WaveLength, Feb./Mar. 2002. Lyn has the knack of making even the most horrendous experience a compelling read. Join her paddling around usually idyllic Desolation Sound in gale-force winds as she seeks secluded camping spots.
  • "Lodge in a Miner Key," Up Here, Jan./Feb. 2002. Lyn stalks caribou at a unique lodge housed in an abandoned gold mine on the barrenlands of the Northwest Territories. An unusual marriage of mining and ecotourism, this lodge caters especially to naturalists and families.
  • "The Man Who Wanted to Live in a Barrel," Cottage Magazine, Jan./Feb. 2002. Want to raise a family in a 1,000 square feet of house you build yourself for $6,000 over 20 years? Meet Grant Krause, one of Lyn's more unusual friends, who built his dream house out of a water barrel at the top of a tree.
  • "Glaciers and Grizzlies," Nanaimo News Bulletin, Mar. 14, 2002 and Above and Beyond, Sept. 2002. Join Lyn as she rafts the unique and little-known Alsek River from Yukon to B.C. to Alaska with Nahanni River Adventures.
  • "Historic Nootka Sound," WaveLength, Aug./Sept. 2001. Lyn returns by kayak to Nootka Sound, the birthplace of modern B.C., to look for sea otters, scout paddling routes, and renew friendships with the people of Friendly Cove, first met 31 years before when she cruised these waters in a rubber boat.
  • "Rogue Bear on the Rampage," Reader's Digest, Aug. 1999 (Australia) and Apr. 1999 (North America).
  • "Dream Fishing with the Great Bear," Globe and Mail, Mar. 25, 1995. Family fishing at lodges on Great Bear Lake, written in personal style.
  • "Generations of Tradition," Up Here, Oct./Nov. 1991. Profiles of Dene (Indian) moose tufting artists.
  • "Mining and the Environment: A Win/Win Choice," Mining North, 1995. Steps made by modern mining companies to alleviate damage.
  • "Close Encounters of the Wild Kind," Nature Canada, Summer 1989. Eco-tourism: tour operators bringing people in contact with nature.
  • "Economic Overview: Land Claims are an Emerging Force" Above and Beyond, Winter 1995. How aboriginal land claims money is fuelling the NWT economy.
Book Credits
  • The text for the British Columbia, Yukon and Northwest Territories sections in Reader's Digest Complete Road Atlas of Canada, 2002. Lyn puts her travels to use in a guide and map book.
  • More Great Canadian Fishing Stories That Didn't Get Away, DesPub/David E. Scott, 2001. Co-authored anthology of more humorous personal fishing stories.
  • Western Canada--Travel Smart, Avalon Travel, 2001. A completely revised and updated travel guide of Lyn's favourite places in British Columbia and Alberta.
  • There's a Seal in My Sleeping Bag, Harper Collins, 2000. This best-selling and much-loved personal account of Lyn's zany but productive life as the wife of a wildlife biologist on the west coast of North America has been updated with a new preface and new photographs. A Canadian classic. 249 pp.
  • Nunavut, Fitzhenry and Whiteside, 1998. Learn about Canada's newest territory. Now in affordable paperback, and just in time for Nunavut's birthday on April 1, 1999.
  • Western Canada--Travel Smart, John Muir Publications, 1998. A lively and different guide book to Lyn's favourite places to eat, stay and sightsee. Lyn intersperses travel information with anecdotes from her 30 years' experience in western Canada. 266 pp. Photos.
  • Destination Vancouver, Lerner Publications, Port Cities of North America Series, 1998, with a contributory chapter from Guenther Krueger. Colourful description of Vancouver's ports. Useful introduction for adults as well as children. 80 pp.
  • Winging it--in the North, Oolichan Press, 1996. Entertaining and informative short stories on the author's extemporaneous adventures in the North over 25 years; photos.
  • Great Canadian Fishing Stories That Didn't Get Away, General Store Publishing, 1996. Co-authored anthology of humorous personal fishing stories.
  • Yukon, Hello Canada series, Lerner Publications, 1996. Description of Yukon, 76 pp., indexed, 91 colour photos.
  • Northwest Territories, Discover Canada series, Grolier, 1993. Description of NWT, 128 pp., indexed, 162 colour photos.
  • There's a Seal in my Sleeping Bag, HarperCollins, 1992 reprint. Life as the wife of a wildlife biologist on the B.C. coast; photos.
  • Alaska Highway, Road to Adventure, Autumn Images, 1988. Travel along the Alaska Highway; colour photos.
  • Looking for the Wild, Doubleday, 1986. Personal account of a 30,000-mile journey around North America looking for wild places and a comparison with a similar journey taken by Roger Tory Peterson 30 years earlier; illus. by Robert Bateman, photos by Lyn Hancock, indexed.
  • Northwest Territories, Canada's Last Frontier, Autumn Images, 1986. Travel in NWT; colour photos.
  • Tell me, Grandmother, McClelland and Stewart, 1985. Real-life story of Sam and Jane Livingston, first settlers in Calgary; co-authored with Marion Dowler, illus. by Doug Tait.
  • An Ape Came out of My Hatbox, McClelland and Stewart, 1979. Living with a gibbon at home on Vancouver Island and in a grade six Victoria classroom, including effect on children and writing; photos.
  • Vanderhoof, the Town that Wouldn't Wait, Nechako Valley Historical Society, 1979, editor. History of Vanderhoof, B.C.; illus., photos.
  • Love Affair with a Cougar, Doubleday, 1978. Personal account of living with cougars on Vancouver Island and biology of cougars in the wild; photos.
  • There's a Raccoon in My Parka, Doubleday, 1977. Trip by truck to Alaska and rubber boat back to Victoria, B.C. studying area wildlife and the transportation of sea otters from Alaska to the west coast of Vancouver Island; photos.
  • The Mighty Mackenzie, Hancock House, 1974. Rubber boat trip down the Mackenzie River; illus. and photos.
  • Pacific Wilderness, Hancock House, 1974. Stories describing land, plants, animals, native life of B.C. coast; illus., photos.
Other Writing Credits
  • The Milepost, the All-in-One Travel Guide, 2003. Lyn has travelled all the roads in northern and western Canada, many while they were being built. In the 2003 edition, she has updated the Mackenzie Route and written stories on "Ice Roads" and "Paddling the Yukon River." As always, she adds photos.
  • Our Wildlife Heritage: A Century of Use and Management, Centennial Wildlife Society of British Columbia, 1987. Co-authored anthology, stories of cougars and cougar hunters based on Hancock's Master of Arts thesis from Simon Fraser University.
  • Numerous brochures, vacation travel guides, contributions to various anthologies in a variety of disciplines.
Special Writing Expertise
  • Scripts for nonfiction film and TV movies performed/broadcast.
Related Areas of Expertise
~ Editing ~ Marketing/Promotion ~ Photography/Photojournalism ~ Research ~ Lecturing/Public Speaking ~ Audiovisual Presentations ~
Staff/Contract Experience
  • 12 years experience teaching in three countries (Grade 3 to university level).
  • Principal of a privately-owned Academy of Speech and Drama in Western Australia, 1954-59.
Qualifications
  • Teacher's Certificate, Education Department of Western Australia, University of Western Australia (dux), 1956.
  • Teacher's Professional Certificate, B.C. Department of Education, 1977.
  • Associate and Licentiate Diplomas in Mime and Movement, Speech and Drama, Royal Academy of Music, London, University of Western Australia, Trinity College, London.
  • Bachelor of Education, Simon Fraser University, 1977 (thesis: The Controversial Cougar and its Communication).
  • Master of Arts (Communication), Simon Fraser University, 1981 (thesis: A History of Changing Attitudes to Cougars).
Achievements
  • Various awards, bursaries and scholarships for literary and scholastic achievements too numerous to list
  • Pacific Northwest Booksellers' Award for There's a Seal in My Sleeping Bag, 1973
  • Francis H. Kortright Conservation Award for Excellence in Outdoor Writing for There's a Raccoon in My Parka, 1978
  • American Express Travel Writing Award for Excellence in Travel Writing USA competition, 1981
  • American Express Travel Writing Award for Excellence in Travel Writing Canada competition, 1983
  • Francis H. Kortright Conservation Award for Excellence in Outdoor Writing for Looking for the Wild, 1987
  • Canada Council and Northwest Territories Arts Council writing grants
  • Finalist in Western Magazine Awards
  • Numerous writing and photography awards in Outdoor Writers of Canada competitions
Expertise by Subject
~ Aboriginal Peoples, especially Inuit and Dene ~ Animals/Pets ~ Education ~ Environment/Nature ~ History ~ Lifestyle ~ Recreation/Leisure ~ Travel/Tourism ~ Writing/Literature ~ Northwest Territories/Nunavut/Yukon ~
Expertise by Type of Writing
~ Biography/Autobiography ~ Educational/Instructional Writing ~ Feature Articles ~ Interviews/Profiles ~ Reviews ~ Travel Writing ~ Newspapers ~

Lyn Hancock
writing sample

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Last updated: November 3, 2003   *   http://www.islandnet.com/pwacvic/hancoc00.html