Varda Burstyn's extensive body of work in print, radio, documentary film and fiction has tackled controversial issues in politics, popular culture, science, technology, health and the environment in ways that reflect an extraordinary ability to understand the deeper meanings and trajectories of important issues and events.

 

In her first prescient novel, Water Inc., she weaves personal tales of love and hate, courage and loss with the continental high-stakes politics of water in an era of climate change. ("A smart, sexy, witty, and hard-hitting ecothriller." - Donna Seaman, Booklist. "A rip-snorting contemporary eco-thriller." W.P. Kinsella, Books in Canada.)

 

In her forthcoming Upstream, she extends her ambitions in geographic, historical and literary scope. Better living through chemistry was the optimistic slogan of the nineteen fifties. But is that really how things turned out? Varda Burstyn creates an epic work that brings the players and the victims of the petrochemical industry to life, across decades and continents, in peace and in war.

 

She is also the author of the non-fiction Rites of Men: Manhood, Politics and the Culture of Sport (University of Toronto Press), winner of the 2000 Book of the Year Award from the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport.

 

In addition to her own writing, Varda works as an environmental health policy consultant. More about her writing and her other work can be found at Vardaburstyn.com and paradigmconsultants.ca.