Saskatchewan author, playwright Gail Bowen dies

Award-winning mystery author Gail Bowen has died at 84, leaving behind a lasting literary legacy in Saskatchewan.

Gail Bowen, the well-known Saskatchewan playwright and author, has died.

Bowen’s son, Nathaniel confirmed her passing in a post to social media Friday.

Bowen, who was perhaps best known for her 24 novel-long Joanne Kilbourn Shreve mystery series, was born in Toronto and attended university there, before moving to Saskatchewan.

On top of her literary work, Bowen taught English at several universities and served as an associate professor at the First Nations University of Canada in Regina.

“Not only did she come here and become apparently everybody’s favorite prof, she made this place, Regina and Saskatchewan famous,” Nathaniel wrote. “She could have set those books anywhere but she chose this place for Joanne to solve the crimes.”

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According to Nathaniel, the final entry in the series will be released posthumously.

“The last book is at the publishers getting the edits,” he wrote. “She did that. She capped off the Joanne series and while it may come posthumously it comes as no surprise that she would complete her life’s work.”

In his post, Nathaniel said his mom was the hardest working person he knew, who never stopped writing.

“She’d always say if you wanna get writing you better plan on doing it everyday. You better believe that was her. Up at some ungodly hour clacking away creating a universe from her mind,” he wrote.

“Not a lot of people have the courage to do that. My mom did that.”

Other stories penned by Bowen include The Love Letters of George and Adelaide and four Charlie Dowhanuit novels in addition to her plays Dancing in Poppies, Peter Pan, Beauty and the Beast, in addition to Ursula Najor and Ursula Minor.

In 2018, Bowen was awarded the Saskatchewan Order of Merit.

The Regina Public Library (RPL) also shared a post honouring Bowen, who was RPL’s Writer in Residence from 2013 to 2014.

The RPL’s post said Bowen always had a smile and support for writers who sought her advice.

“Our condolences to Gail’s family and friends. She will be missed,” the post read.