Susin Nielsen
@susinnielsen
Susin Nielsen got her start writing a spec script for the popular television series Degrassi Junior High. Since then, she has received two Canadian Screenwriter Awards and a Gemini Award, and has written for many television series, including Heartland, Arctic Air, and Robson Arms, which she co-created. She’s written many novels, including The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen, which counted the Governor General’s Literary Award and three Young Readers’ Choice Awards among its many accolades. We Are All Made of Molecules was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Literary Award and longlisted for the Carnegie Medal. Nielsen lives in Vancouver with her husband and son.
Optimists Die First
Petula’s funny, and a crafting genius, but no social star at high school, and it doesn’t help that she’s isolated herself after her adored toddler sister died. Petula feels responsible for this death, though her parents say it was a tragic accident. No one’s fault. But now, Petula sees danger everywhere: every activity and every bite of food could kill you. Then a new boy, Jacob, joins Petula’s group in the school’s lame art therapy program. He has a prosthetic arm and darkness behind his sunny surface. Petula and Jacob become friends, then something more. But a secret behind why he’s in the group could derail them. This touching, hilarious tragi-comedy by award-winning author Susin Nielsen proves that life is out to get you but so is love.