About the Author

DONNA COSTA listens to the voices in her head, as well as messages from trees, galaxies, or beings of unknown origin.

From time to time, she shapes the words into a blog or book. When she isn’t scribbling down mysterious communications, she is often found culturing kvass in her kitchen, slurping thick cream, or playing in the healing frequencies. She enjoys hiking in the woods with her grandkids, but only if they let her play their imagination games too. She lives in London, Ontario, and hasn’t decided what she wants to be when she grows up.

BREATHING WITH TREES is her debut novel.

Costa is a former holistic health practitioner who often integrates the world of natural health into her stories. Her creative nonfiction has appeared in Queen’s Quarterly and Nurture Literary, and in Prairie Fire. Her short story “Seven Forward, Seven Back” was shortlisted for Event’s 2022 NonFiction contest.

In her former career as secretary, she was a ghostwriter of countless business letters in which “Dear Sir” and “Yours truly” featured prominently. She also wrote “The Wellness Corner” column for an in-house corporate newsletter.

After leaving the steno chair, Costa trained in Holistic Nutrition before graduating from the Toronto College of Homeopathic Medicine. She trained as a practitioner of Bowenwork and Reconnective Healing. She wrote holistic health blogs and contributed to health journals such as Bowen Hands and Wise Traditions before shifting to fiction writing where she often incorporates her knowledge into her stories.

At Sarah Selecky’s Writing School, Costa’s writing style was diagnosed as ‘Deeper Than You Think,’ a term coined by Selecky and defined as “deceptively straightforward and carefully crafted” and “more philosophical than you let on.”

Costa grew up on a farm in Perth County, southern Ontario, where she enjoyed the solitude of country living. She filled her hours reading books under the back yard maple tree while trying to ignore her pesky brothers. Attending her rural elementary school, she received solid instruction in grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure, some of which she still remembers.

She writes from London, Ontario, and is actively involved in the London Writers’ Society.

Once or twice a month, I send an email with bookish potpourri—snippets of writing, insider details, inspired wisdom, and updates about my writing or book events. If you want to stay in touch, please add your name to the list.

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