Pearl Luke was born in Peace River, Alberta. Following her parents’ separation when she was three years old, her mother moved several times, and Luke eventually left home at age fifteen. Reading, she says, is what got her through childhood. She also wrote long letters, and secret diaries that recorded her feelings, but not until she was almost thirty did it occur to her that she could be “be a writer.”
Her first novel, Burning Ground, was published in 2000. The book won her the 2001 Commonwealth Writer’s Prize for Best First Book (Caribbean and Canada Region), and was a finalist for the George Bugnet Award, the Chapters/Robertson Davies First Novel Award and the Libris Award. Burning Ground was based in part on her experiences as a student working summers on various fire towers.
The historical novel Madame Zee, five years in the writing and published in 2006, was more difficult to write, she says, because of the scope and the research required. Nevertheless, the hours spent sifting through archival materials, examining personal letters, poetry, and newspaper clippings were some the most pleasurable hours of the writing process.
In addition to writing, Luke enjoys teaching and speaking about her experiences as a writer, combining that with travel when possible. She has explored parts of the U.S., France, Switzerland, Spain, Germany, Holland, England, Mexico, and Thailand. On an extended vacation in Mexico, she fell in love with San Miguel de Allende, which led to her purchasing a home there and taking a position as instructor at Instituto Tecnológico y des Estudios Superiores de Monterrey in Queretaro.
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