Sheila Philip Cochrane Burnford, née Every, (11 May 1918 – 20 April 1984) was a Canadian novelist. Born in Scotland, she emigrated to Canada in 1951. Burnford is best remembered for The Incredible Journey (1961), the first of a number of books she wrote for children. She also wrote One Woman's Arctic (1973) about her two summers in Pond Inlet, Nunavut on Baffin Island. She travelled by komatik, a traditional Inuit dog sled, assisted in archaeological excavation, having to thaw the land inch by inch, ate everything offered to her, and saw the migration of the narwhals. This is a world that has experienced unlimited change, but Burnford saw the best and worst of Pond Inlet at a time gone forever.
Selected Bibliography
- The Incredible Journey (1961)
- The Fields of Noon (1964)
- Without Reserve (1969)
- One Woman's Arctic (1973)
- Mr. Noah and the Second Flood (1973)
- Bel Ria (1977)
