Bill Freeman, in his own words

I am a writer rooted in Canada. My writing has been shaped by my family, my partners, the schools I attended, the communities where I have lived and worked and the people I have met, worked and associated with.

I grew up in London, Ontario after the Second World War in a school teacher’s family. We were touched by the war. My father was away in the Navy for three years and when he returned my parents were eager to expand their understanding of the world. I shared in those experiences and benefitted from them.

Some of my fondest memories are of long car trips I took as a boy with my family across Canada. I still remember my first glimpse of the Rocky Mountains gleaming off in the distance, the pounding of the surf at Peggy’s Cove in Nova Scotia and unending Saskatchewan wheat fields. Those images of Canada, and the emotional attachment I feel about the land, remain with me and shape the subjects I choose to write about.

But though I am rooted in the Canadian landscape, I am a man who has lived most of my life in cities. Today I live in Toronto, but I spent ten years as a young man living in Hamilton. The experience of working in this gritty city, spending my time with steelworkers and factory labourers, shaped my perspective. Four of my non-fiction books deal with some aspect of that fascinating city.

It was while I was in Hamilton, doing a PhD in Sociology at McMaster University, that I started writing the Bains series of books for young people. These books are set in Canada during the 1870s. How people relate to the land, their struggles to earn a living and survive, and the diverse types of people that make up our country are built into every one of these books. The books reflect the strength and resilience of ordinary people.

I moved to Montreal in the late 1970s to teach at a CEGEP. The school was a type of community college with students 17 to 20, preparing them for university. It also taught trades like electro-technology and nursing. It was a good teaching experience and it left me with enough time to write in my spare time. But I longed for Ontario where I had family, friends and deep roots.

Returning to Toronto in 1986 I managed to buy a small house on Toronto Island. This proved to be a perfect location for an aspiring writer. I made many new friends on the Island and yet was close enough to Toronto and its book publishing, film and art scene. It gave me the opportunity to work with others and find outlets for my writing.

It was in Toronto that I became a full-time writer, working in book publishing, film, video and theatre. Most of the work that is described on this website was created here, in my Island home.

In my youth I was incredibly restless, but today I feel more settled than ever before. I live in a small community within the largest city of the country. My extended family of children, grandchildren, sisters, cousins and more live not far away. Friends are everywhere.

Most days I get up and spend hours working in my office. Writing is always a struggle. I express it as the effort to make the words “lift off the page.” It is the most challenging thing I do. That’s why I like to do it.