“(Writing) is like being a director… a set designer, a sound designer, a stage manager. In the theatre, the lights come up on a world, and (as a writer) you have to do that as well.”

Amanda West Lewis of Perth, Ontario is a writer, theatre director, calligrapher, book artist, and instructor. She is the founder and artistic director of Ottawa Children’s Theatre. When Executive Director of The Ottawa School of Speech and Drama, she founded a program for disadvantaged youth, and developed a performance piece for children on the autism spectrum.

Amanda has published six non-fiction titles, introducing young people to different aspects of the arts. She co-wrote Rosie Backstage, with her husband, Tim Wynne-Jones. Her first book of historical fiction, September 17: A Novel, recounts the date in 1940 when a German U-boat torpedoed a ship carrying children away from war in England. In The Pact, she explores World War II from another perspective, following a German boy through the war and the ultimate defeat of Germany – and explores how an intelligent, sensitive youth responds to Nazi propaganda and posturing.

Wayne Grady (Emancipation Day) calls The Pact a compelling novel, adding “showing how rhetoric and propaganda affect young lives on both sides… provides an important lesson for our time.”

Appearing in: 4. The Other Side of the Conflict: WWII Fiction, 16. The Art of the Book: Calligraphy and Book Making

Website: www.amandawestlewis.com
Book: www.reddeerpress.com/Detail/0889955441