Rebecca Godfrey is a novelist and non-fiction

Non-fiction

Non-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact...

 writer. She is also a writing mentor with the Creative Nonfiction (magazine)

Creative Nonfiction (magazine)

Creative Nonfiction is a literary magazine based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The journal was founded by Lee Gutkind in 1993 making it the first literary magazine to publish, exclusively and on a regular basis, high quality nonfiction prose...

 mentoring program.

She was born in Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, to writers Dave Godfrey

Dave Godfrey

Dave Godfrey is a Canadian writer and publisher. His novel The New Ancestors won the Governor General's Award for English language fiction in 1970....

 and Ellen Godfrey. As a child her family relocated to Victoria

Victoria, British Columbia

Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...

, British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

. Godfrey attended the University of Toronto

University of Toronto

The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...

 and Sarah Lawrence College

Sarah Lawrence College

Sarah Lawrence College is a private liberal arts college in the United States, and a leader in progressive education since its founding in 1926. Located just 30 minutes north of Midtown Manhattan in southern Westchester County, New York, in the city of Yonkers, this coeducational college offers...

, from which she received a MFA

Master of Fine Arts

A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...

 in Creative Writing. She worked in Toronto and New York as a journalist and editor before writing her first novel, Torn Skirt.

Her first book, Torn Skirt (2001), a novel, was shortlisted for the 2002 Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize

Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize

The Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, established in 1985 as one of the BC Book Prizes, is awarded annually to the best work of fiction by a resident of British Columbia, Canada....

.

Her second book, Under the Bridge (2005), an investigation into the beating death of Reena Virk

Reena Virk

Reena Virk was a resident of Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. Her status as a bullying and murder victim attracted substantial media attention in Canada.Virk was first swarmed by eight teenagers...

, received British Columbia's National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction

British Columbia's National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction

British Columbia's National Award for Canadian Non-fiction is a Canadian literary award. It is awarded annually since 2005 by the British Columbia Achievement Foundation. It is the largest non-fiction prize in Canada, rising from $25,000 2005-2007 to $40,000 since 2008...

 in 2006.

Reese Witherspoon

Reese Witherspoon

Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon , better known as Reese Witherspoon, is an American actress and film producer. Witherspoon landed her first feature role as the female lead in the film The Man in the Moon in 1991; later that year she made her television acting debut, in the cable movie Wildflower...

's Type A Productions have optioned Under the Bridge, with director Catherine Hardwicke

Catherine Hardwicke

Catherine Hardwicke is an American production designer, film writer and film director. Her works include the independent film Thirteen, which she co-wrote with Nikki Reed, the film's co-star, the Biblically-themed The Nativity Story, the vampire film Twilight, and the werewolf film Red Riding Hood...

attached to direct.

External links

• Author site
• HarperCollins Canada site
• http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117964248.html?categoryid=13&cs=1
• http://www.pen.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/114/prmID/521
• http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/03/books/rude-awakenings.html?sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all