Irina MazorIrina Mazor grew up in the Soviet Union, where she read a lot of Russian fiction and folk tales. For so long Russia was "terra incognita" to the rest of the world-hard to live in and hard to understand. When Ms. Mazor moved to Canada, she saw that th two countries had more common than opposite, especially with our long, cold winters. The history of Manitoba voyagers and Québec pioneers was not so different from the way Russians had lived for centuries. These "small towns on the riverbank" still exist around the world, and their people have so much to learn from each other.

Ms. Mazor lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with her husband, which is her most honest critic. The couple has two grown children, a son, and a daughter. Read More Read Less