ANNE M. SMITH-NOCHASAK grew up in a farmhouse in rural Nova Scotia, Canada, a place of laughter, hard work, and the occasional unexplainable sound in the night. She is of diverse ancestry, with a background including priests, preachers, and privateers. She was a strawberry picker, waitress, nursing home worker, oven insulator, and many other things before turning to teaching. For many years she taught in high school, elementary, and resource programs, and her fondest memories are of teaching in northern and isolated Indigenous communities, where there was such joy and partnership on the learning journey. Her son traveled with her for many years, but as an adult returned to his northern birthplace to live and learn his father's ways.
Ken Dickson is the author of Detour from Normal, The Road to Amistad, and Aim for Justice.
Detour from Normal is the shocking true story of how our broken medical and mental health care systems rob Ken Dickson of his life as a respected engineer and devoted family man, and land him in a high-security psychiatric ward reserved for the most dangerously mentally ill. What is most disturbing is that what happened to him could happen to anyone.
In The Road to Amistad, an unprecedented psychological change catapults people from all walks of life into an extraordinary new level of human consciousness. For most, this leads to confusion and heartache, but for some, it is their calling. Their lives would be idyllic if not for a ruthless killer bent on
