Biography
Anne Leslie is a former newspaper journalist and freelance magazine writer, who yearns to write good fiction. By day she worked as a writer for community organizations and is now retired; at night used to enters contests, dreamed about travelling and plotted how to keep news of her carloads of discounted perennials purchased at end-of-season sales from her husband who, a number of years ago said “no more plants.” In 2009 she cashed in life insurance, sold gold jewellery by the ounce to a pawn shop and hawked belongings on Kijiji to raise money for a journey to Turkey. Having taken part in the National Geographic Genome Project, she learned that her DNA revealed that her female ancestors arose in Africa, migrated through Turkey and settled in Eastern Europe. The call of adventure was strong: she wanted to see and feel the landscapes of her foremothers. On her travels in Turkey, she sought the Goddess and found her in her many forms: Kubaba, Cybele, many-breasted Artemis, Athena, Ishtar, Lilith and Selene. She also wanted to touch the remnants of the walls of Constantinople, breathe the air of the Bosporus and walk the same streets as the characters in her novel set in the 5th century in the Eastern Roman Empire. The mother of two adult children, and two grandchildren she lives in Burtts Corner, N.B. with Ed, gardening slave and husband of 50 years and a deaf dog named Jade. “At times I worry about falling into the rabbit-hole of writing. I’m afraid that I will leave everything behind,---reality, the laundry, meal-making--- and take up residence solely in my head.”- Excuse 47 for not writing.