Carlotta Hacker - Author

Carlotta Hacker was born in England but was brought to Canada during World War II and went to school here. She later returned to Britain and graduated in history and English from St Andrew’s University in Scotland.#Carlotta wanted to be a writer from her earliest years, but it was not until she was in her 30s that she began to get published. Her first published work was a travel book describing the two years she had spent working her way around the world. On this trip she met the Canadian filmmaker Hector J. (Red) Lemieux, whom she later married. This led to more travels as they wandered the world together making films. It also resulted in the book Africa Take One about their adventures when making films in Africa.#Wherever they went, Carlotta wanted to know how each country and its people came to be the way they were. This meant finding out about their past — their history. She had always been fascinated by history, seeing it not as dates and politics but as stories about people. She couldn’t believe it when she heard people saying Canadian history was dull. “But it’s full of incredible people doing amazing things!” she said.#She was delighted when she was asked to write biographies and histories for young Canadians. One of the books she enjoyed writing most was The Book of Canadians because among the 700 brief biographies she could include villains and some very odd characters as well as heroes and pop stars. The Kids Book of Canadian History was another favorite.#As an editor under her married name Carlotta Lemieux, she has also tried to get others into Canadian history. She was Consulting and Contributing Editor for The Junior Encyclopedia of Canada, writing many of the biographies in it.