Sheila Burnford

Sheila Burnford (11 May 1918 – 20 April 1984) was a Scottish-born writer of fiction and nonfiction for children and adults. Educated in England, France and Germany, she served as a volunteer ambulance driver during the Second World War before emigrating to Canada in 1948 and settling in Port Arthur (now Thunder Bay), Ontario.

Her best-known book, The Incredible Journey (1961) — the story of two dogs and a cat making their way home through the Ontario wilderness — became an international bestseller, won the Canadian Library Association's Book of the Year for Children Award and the ALA Aurianne Award in 1963, and was adapted twice by Disney (1963 and, as Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey, 1993).

Her other books include the autobiographical essay collection The Fields of Noon (1964), Without Reserve (1969), One Woman's Arctic (1972), an account of two years spent living on Baffin Island, the children's ecological tale Mr. Noah and the Second Flood (1973), and her final novel, Bel Ria (1977), drawn from her wartime service.

She died of cancer at Buckler's Hard, Hampshire, England.