Author Spotlight - Heather Rath

Since winning a city-wide writing contest for elementary students in Ottawa, Canada, Heather Rath knew writing would be a major part of her life.  When she grew up, she was sequentially a reporter, editor of a weekly newspaper and editor of a monthly business magazine before becoming head of communications for a multi-national company.  During this time, she edited, and contributed to, two anthologies of south-western Ontario writers.

Her award-winning writing has been published widely over the years in various publications and some of her work for children has been translated into Braille. She is a member of CANSCAIP (Canadian Society of Children's Authors, Illustrators & Performers), the Canadian Authors Association, and Crime Writers of Canada.

Heather was a four-time semi-finalist for the John Kenneth Galbraith Literary Award before winning it in 2015 for her short story Stalker.  This success drove her to assemble her short fictional stories and non-fictional accounts of her world travels into a book of the same name.  Stalker: Short Stories and True Adventures was released in 2023.

Stalker invites the reader to take a journey into two worlds: the dark and light sides of life. Frightening, suspenseful moments in award winning short stories coexist with true-life adventure vignettes: a blend of truth and fiction. The stories explore the mind's hidden fear and desires while the vignettes deliver a slice of reality, sometimes with unexpected conclusions. They are snapshots of experiences in different cultures through the eyes – and the writings – of an insightful world traveler.

Heather and her husband are long-time Yucatecan snowbirds, first in Progreso and now in Valladolid.  They have also lived in Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Nicaragua, and Thailand. 

Stalker: Short Stories and True Adventures is for sale on MEL’s Local Author book shelves.