Lyn Hancock was born and raised in Western Australia, hitchhiked through Africa, taught school in Australia, England and Canada, got several degrees in English, education, communications and drama, and chose to live in Canada since the 1960s. In BC she spent a decade raising orphaned seals, raccoons, cougars, bears, apes and other creatures which eventually populated the pages of books such as the classic THERE'S A SEAL IN MY SLEEPING BAG (revised and updated in 2000), THERE'S A RACCOON IN MY PARKA, LOVE AFFAIR WITH A COUGAR, AN APE CAME OUT OF MY HATBOX and TABASCO THE SAUCY RACCOON. Her last book THE RING: MEMORIES OF A METIS GRANDMOTHER is the story of Calgary's first settlers, but it was Gypsy, a gibbon ape in her grade six classroom in Victoria who introduced Lyn to this family history. For more than four decades she wandered, much of it alone, with camera, notebook and backpack through British Columbia, Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut. She has recorded her experiences in thousands of magazine and newspaper articles, and 20 books which include YUKON, NORTHWEST TERRITORIES, WINGING IT IN THE NORTH, NUNAVUT, DESTINATION VANCOUVER, and WESTERN CANADA TRAVEL SMART. She has contributed to THE NUNAVUT HANDBOOK which is also published on-line, the prestigious READERS DIGEST COMPLETE ROAD ATLAS OF CANADA and THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE ARCTIC. Her passion for winging it while living on the edge - both literally and figuratively - continues, and she continues to share her life experiences with people of all ages through her lively and informative stories and slide presentations. Lyn spends her time between British Columbia, Nunavut, Northwest Territories, Australia and Belize. She lives life like a story. The New York Times once wrote she "had enough energy and enthusiasm to light up the streets of New York." In 2010 Simon Fraser University honoured her with its Outstanding Alumnus of the Year Award for her contributions to Arts and Culture. Lyn loves doing audio visual presentations to groups at all ages. Here's what Shirley Coffin said after Lyn's presentation in a Halifax inner city school, a slide talk which was also televised on CBC. "The presentation you gave was most enchanting and dynamic. It kept our ordinary short-attention-span students spellbound for the entire hour of your talk. That is quite an accomplishment, believe me. Your vivacity and the engagement you share with your topic combined with a clear and vivid oral picture of your personal experiences made your talk and 'use of visuals' that much more engrossing. Thank you for sharing such an interesting lifestyle. You are an inspiration." You can find a longer biography and list of Lyn's books on her web site www.lynhancock.com/You can find her on Facebook, Friends of The Ring Facebook page, Twitter, Linked-in and You Tube.Some of her books are on sale in the NAC gallery: There's a Seal in my Sleeping Bag, Tabasco the Saucy Raccoon and The Ring: Memories of a Metis Grandmother. The Ring is available as an e-book. Lyn hopes this important contribution to Canada's history will be made into a feature film or documentary with Calgary's native son, film maker Paul Gross.