The University of Toronto where Teresa Toten received a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts degrees in political economy.
Gallery of Teresa Toten
160 Kendal Ave, Toronto, ON M5R 1M3, Canada
George Brown College where Teresa Toten attended writing workshops.
Career
Gallery of Teresa Toten
2013
Teresa Toten reading from ‘Unlikely Hero’ at Toronto Word on the Street Festival.
Gallery of Teresa Toten
Teresa Toten with a writer Lorna Schultz Nicholson (right).
Achievements
2013
1 Sussex Dr, Ottawa, ON K1A 0A1, Canada
Teresa Toten holding the Governor-General’s Literary Award for Children’s literature that she received from Governor-General David Johnston (right) during a ceremony at Rideau Hall.
Teresa Toten holding the Governor-General’s Literary Award for Children’s literature that she received from Governor-General David Johnston (right) during a ceremony at Rideau Hall.
(Lucy Vakovik and her mama have just moved into their own ...)
Lucy Vakovik and her mama have just moved into their own home. At last. It's an Onlyhouse with a backyard and everything so much better than her old apartment.
(Filled with moments of deep emotion and unexpected humor,...)
Filled with moments of deep emotion and unexpected humor, this understated and wise novel explores the complexities of living with OCD and offers the prospect of hope, happiness and healing.
(Toni has always had nightmares about fire, and she also h...)
Toni has always had nightmares about fire, and she also has burn scars but no idea how she got them. So when fire destroys the orphanage she has grown up in, she is ready to make her way to Toronto, where she hopes to discover the truth about the mother she believes hurt and then abandoned her.
(Set against the backdrop of New York City, this compellin...)
Set against the backdrop of New York City, this compelling novel delves into the dysfunctional yet mesmerizing world of the mega-wealthy elite and will keep readers guessing until the very last page.
Teresa Toten is a Croatian-born Canadian writer. She writes fiction for children and the youth.
Background
Ethnicity:
Teresa Toten’s father was a Canadian citizen with Croatian roots and her mother was Croatian.
Teresa Toten was born on October 13, 1955, in Zagreb, Yugoslavia (currently Croatia). She is a daughter of Adam Vukovic, a real estate agent, and Jan Vukovic, a cook.
Education
Teresa Toten’s parents married in Croatia but soon after Teresa’s birth in 1955 relocated to Canada. Unfortunately, Toten’s father died shortly after, and her mother was suddenly a single parent in a new country. She worked hard to achieve the immigrant dream of buying a home in a well-established, middle-class neighborhood. As a child, Teresa called the Toronto home an “only house.”
Toten grew up and went to school in a city’s neighborhood. She swallowed picture books, autobiographies, cookbooks, boy adventure novels, and collections of fairy tales that her mother brought home. Inventing and telling her own stories were among other Teresa’s childish passions. However, she never dreamt seriously about becoming a professional writer.
Teresa Toten completed high school and pursued her studies at the University of Toronto where she earned two academic degrees, a Bachelor of Arts in 1978 and a Master of Arts the next year, both in political economy.
Later, from 1986 to 1995, Toten attended writing workshops at George Brown College, Toronto.
Teresa Toten started her career in Montreal where she relocated with her husband soon after the marriage. Toten worked as a freelance writer and broadcaster, including Radio Canada in 1980. The following year, the couple moved to Ottawa. During their five years in Canada’s capital, Toten served for a variety of government-affiliated organizations.
In 1982, she worked as a senior analyst at the Royal Commission on Conditions of Foreign Service, and then assisted to the chairman at the Canada Museums Construction Corporation for two years. From 1984 to 1985, Toten earned her living as a corporate secretary at the Canadian Institute for International Peace and Security.
In 1985, the Totens returned to Toronto. After the birth of their first child the next year, Toten began to pursue her lifelong interest in writing. She attended a series of writing workshops at George Brown College. An exercise in one of the workshops required her to write a scene about being ten-years-old. ‘The Onlyhouse’, based on Toten’s own childhood, grew out of that assignment. The story about roots, identity, and belonging presented from the perspective of eleven-year-old Lucy was published in 1995 and marked the start of Toten’s career as a writer.
Since then, the author has worked as a children’s book reviewer and has written more than ten other volumes for children, including the recent one, a 2016 book ‘Beware That Girl’. She has contributed to such periodicals, as The Globe and Mail, Review Press Reporter, Canadian Children’s Book News, and Quill & Quire magazine.
In addition to her writing activity, Teresa Toten is an energetic advocate for children’s literature and particularly enjoys working with groups of children. She organizes creative writing workshops for youth in schools around North America and takes part in the library and conference presentations as an instructor.
(Katie likes to believe she’s invisible. It seems so much ...)
2012
Membership
Teresa Toten has been a member of the Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators and Performers, the Canadian Children’s Book Centre, the Writers’ Union of Canada, and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.
Personality
Teresa Toten is a passionate reader and admires the work of Canadian authors for children such as Brian Doyle, Sarah Ellis, and Tim Wynne-Jones.
Interests
sports, traveling, walking
Writers
Brian Doyle, Sarah Ellis, Tim Wynne-Jones
Sport & Clubs
tennis, basketball
Connections
Teresa Toten married Ken Toten, a banker, on September 22, 1979. The family produced two children named Sasha and Nikki.