Susan Juby


Susan Juby is a Canadian writer of young adult literature. She is currently residing in Nanaimo, British Columbia, where she is a professor of creative writing at Vancouver Island University.
Juby is most known for her first series that started with Alice, I Think, which was adapted into the television series Alice, I Think by The Comedy Network.

Background

Juby was born in Ponoka, Alberta, and later moved to Smithers, British Columbia at the age of six.
Juby initially attended fashion design school, but dropped out after several months. She subsequently started a degree in English literature at the University of Toronto, transferring to the University of British Columbia after two years. After graduating she became an editor at a book publishing company called Hartley and Marks.

Career

She began her first book as a journal which she wrote on the bus on the way to work and at a local coffee shop. After struggling to find a publisher the young adult publisher Thistledown published her first book Alice, I Think in 2000.
She then completed a master's program in publishing at Simon Fraser University in 2001. After that publication she got noticed by HarperCollins which in turn offered her a contract for three books. Her second book Miss Smithers was published in 2004. To complete the trilogy of Alice, I Think all under one publisher, the original book was bought by HarperCollins and at the beginning of the book was changed before being published again. Her third book under this contact was Alice McLeod: Realist at Last, published in 2005.
In 2016, she won the Stephen Leacock Award for her novel Republic of Dirt.
On February 22, 2020, Juby read excerpts from two as-yet-unpublished works at the Vancouver Island Regional Library's branch. At Your Service is Juby's first crime novel for adults. Me 3 is a middle-grade novel that addresses the #MeToo movement from a child's perspective.

Personal life

Juby is an environmental rights activist in her community. She is a creative writing professor at , in Nanaimo, British Columbia.

Published works

BooksAwards
Alice, I Think
Miss Smithers
  • Winner of the Sheila A. Egoff Award for Children's Literature
  • Finalist for the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children's Book Award
  • Finalist for the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour
  • Selected by the International Youth Library for the White Ravens 2005
    • Another Kind of Cowboy
  • An ALA Best Book for Young Adults
  • Chosen as a Kirkus Best Books for Young Adults 2007
  • An ALA Rainbow List Book
    • Getting the Girl: A Guide to Private Investigation, Surveillance and Cookery
  • A Kirkus Editor's Choice for 2008
  • Selected by the International Youth Library for the White Ravens 2009
    • Nice Recovery
  • Chosen as a Globe and Mail Top 100 books published in 2010