DEBORAH FROESE lives with her husband and their three sons on a small acreage just north of Winnipeg in St. Andrews, Manitoba.

Deborah has always enjoyed writing, but her first serious attempt at the craft came during adolescence when she spent much of her time with a guitar by her side, immersed in music and poetry. It took her a long time to decide what she wanted to be when she grew up; before pursuing her writing career, Deborah tried her hand at waitressing, surveying, puppeteering, university studies and various forms of art. She spent ten years working as an audio-visual producer, weaving stories from words, photographs and computer generated graphics.
Deborah's first book, The Wise Washerman, (illustrated by Wang Kui) was published by Hyperion Press in 1996. It received favourable responses on various levels. Publications ranging from Publisher’s Weekly to the School Library Journal, reviewed the book enthusiatically. Owl’s Canadian Family magazine listed The Wise Washerman as a top gift choice for Christmas 1996, and The Canadian Children’s Book Centre granted it a starred Our Choice award. Deborah’s book was short-listed for the McNally Robinson Book for Young People award.
Deborah’s second book, Out of the Fire, a novel for young adults, was published in 2001 by Sumach Press of Toronto. It was short-listed for the McNally Robinson Book for Young Readers Award, the Canadian Library Association's Young Adult Canadian Book Award, and it received an MYRCA Honour certificate. The American Library Association included Out of the Fire on its list of Best Books for Young Adults, 2003. It was one of 11 books out of 203 nominations to receive a unanimous vote from the ALA’s Young Adult Library Services Association Committee for inclusion on that list. Beltz Publishers released Out of the Fire as In meiner Haut in Germany in the spring of 2004, and it is currently in its second hard-cover printing there.
For Deborah, workshops are an important part of her career. “It’s great fun sharing what I’ve learned about writing,” she says, “and it’s also very rewarding to help others bring their stories to life through poetry or prose.” WiER holds a special place in her heart. She never leaves a session without feeling that her world has been enhanced by the students and the experience.
Deborah writes a column entitled Ink Well for WordWrap, a magazine published by the Manitoba Writers Guild. She is currently writing another young adult novel, revising a novel for middle readers and dreaming of stories to follow.