Animals That Changed The World

Keltie Thomas is from Toronto, ON

Keltie Thomas was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, but now lives in Toronto, where she is surrounded by fish! Not real ones, of course, but for some reason, she has always been drawn to colorful fish. She has a fish painting, fish mobile, fish necklace, fish bracelet, fish lamp, and fish teapot. So fish are literally swimming on her walls, hanging from the ceiling, and splashing around on her kitchen counter.

On a recent trip to Estonia, the homeland of her grandparents, she figured out why. Estonian people have a deep connection with and respect for the ocean. They recognize that the ocean gives them food, water, and life itself, and that while they need the ocean, the ocean does not need them. So fish, the lifeblood of the ocean, just may be in her genes.

As a child, her favorite subjects in school were English and Science—she could never decide which. Her favorite book was Harriet the Spy, which she read more times than she dares to remember. Some of her favorite authors today are Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Michael Ondaatje, Anne Michaels, Jared Diamond, and J.K. Rowling. She admits to being a huge Harry Potter fan!

Being an author makes Keltie feel like a modern-day explorer. She dives head-first into fascinating topics, sinks neck-deep into research, probes burning questions, and uncovers incredible facts and stories. In order to get the full picture, she talks to people, tracks down experts, scours libraries, hunts through museums, and combs the Internet. Keeping track of all the information is a job unto itself. After compiling information, she files it in folders by topic.

Taking Virginia Woolf’s advice, Keltie writes in a room of her own. She draws inspiration from a painting that hangs above her desk, depicting a brilliant blue sky peeking through some treetops. Whenever she looks up, the painting’s peek-a-boo sky winks at her as if to say, “Hey Keltie, the possibilities are limitless. Write on!” When she’s not busy writing, Keltie likes to spend time with friends, read, practice yoga, read, ride her bike, read, go canoeing, read, and go to the movies!

Her advice to aspiring writers is this: if you want to write, read, read, and read anything you can get your hands on—books, magazines, blogs, comics—anything that interests you. As you read, ask yourself: how does the author grab my attention and hook my interest? Then write something that you’d like to read and try to use those techniques or methods in your own writing. Go for it!

Keltie’s personal motto is this: “The beginning is always today.” —Mary Wollstonecraft