She attended Colonel By Secondary School, where she began a lifelong friendship with the novelist, playwright and actor Ann-Marie MacDonald. She studied English Literature at the University of Ottawa, and after spending two years on Thunderchild Reserve, Saskatchewan and another two years on a farm near Livelong, Saskatchewan, she returned to Ottawa.
Nadine McInnis is a Canadian author of poetry, short stories and essays. Among her seven books, Two Hemispheres (Brick Books, Fall 2007) is a book length poetic exploration of illness and health partially inspired by the first medical photographs of women patients of the Surrey County Lunatic Asylum in 1850. Ten photos are included.
The book has been shortlisted for two national awards: the 2008 Pat Lowther Award and the 2008 ReLit Award, as well as the regional Archibald Lampman Award for the city of Ottawa.
McInnis" work has appeared in a variety of journals, including The Malahat Review, The New Quarterly, Event, and Room of One"s Own. She joined the faculty of Algonquin College in 2006, after working as a policy analyst in the Canadian federal government where she focused on the publishing industries in Canada.
