Donna Besel

Donna Besel loves writing of all kinds, and does workshops and presentations for schools, libraries, universities, conferences, and retreats. She grew up at West Hawk Lake in Whiteshell Provincial Park and her “boreal stories” have won national prizes, appeared in various publications, and earned national recognition. The forests of Eastern Manitoba, where she has always lived, provide endless ideas and settings. Her first book, Lessons from a Nude Man, a collection of short stories, earned several award nominations. In 2021, Manitoba Arts Council presented Besel with their $10,000 Rural Recognition Prize for her work as an artist and a supporter of the arts in rural Manitoba. In the fall of the same year, University of Regina Press published her memoir, The Unravelling: Incest and the Destruction of a Family.