Our story
Alie and Hejsa Christensen are a mother-daughter writing duo based in Ontario, Canada. They discovered their affinity for working together when they were in-house writers for a film production company. They made the leap from silver screen to printed page with their novel Stealing John Hancock. Want to know more? Keep reading below.
Photos by Asia Butterfly Photography
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Alie aspired to write novels since she was a child but took some curious turns getting there. She started writing a book by kerosene lamp while living in a log cabin in the wilderness, but abandoned living plant-to-mouth, opting for urban comfort and a career as a corporate, periodical and speech writer, including writing supplements for The Globe and Mail.
She raised four children, Tove, Hejsa, Hayden and Kaylen, and has three grandchildren. She lives with her husband, David, in both Thornhill and Uxbridge, Ontario.
Alie
Hejsa
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Hejsa’s pursuit of extreme sports oddly brought her love of writing into focus. Her first published article was on the Eco-Challenge race she did in Fiji with her brothers. She has since published articles about trekking the Amazon, crossing the Atlantic on a yacht (once in a hurricane), competing around the world in taekwondo, and other adventures. She is much safer focusing on writing novels with her mother. She holds an MA in environmental geography and an MFA in creative writing from UBC, where she won the Random House/Hazlitt Award.
She lives in Port Perry, Ontario with her husband, Giles, daughter, Taia, their dogs and chickens.
Writing together
For Alie and Hejsa, writing together doesn’t always mean “writing together.” Often they are in separate locations, connected by screen sharing technology.
When they are in the same vicinity, they work in a cozy writing loft above Hejsa’s garage overlooking woods and a pond. They sit in huge beanbag chairs on the plank wooden floor or on the daybed tucked in a window alcove. A kettle and fixings for tea help keep them happy and energized.
Robert Louis Stevenson —