Susan Doherty’s Bio

Susan has a Bachelor of Science from Concordia University and studied journalism at Ryerson University where she was recommended for a job at Macleans Magazine. After Macleans, she worked in Paris, France for a digital publishing company, Atex France, freelancing for The International Herald Tribune, La Tribune de Genève, La Suisse, and the Independent in London UK.

Back in Canada, she started her own company, On Location Productions, and for 18 years worked in advertising.

During that time, she studied creative writing at the University of Toronto, and Concordia University, and was mentored by Sandra Birdsell through the Humber School for Writers. She has taken courses with several award-winning Canadian authors including Ray Robertson, Giles Blunt, Claire Holden Rothman, and was selected to attend the Sage Hill writing residence in Saskatchewan.

Susan has numerous volunteer affiliations: the YMCA and the Douglas Institute, and was a long-serving board member of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. She was a board member of the Quebec Writers’ Federation (QWF) in Montreal, and Nazareth Community, serving men and women with addictions and mental illness. As a committed volunteer, she works with patients suffering from psychosis through Montreal’s Douglas Institute, and has done significant research in the area of bipolar illness and paranoid schizophrenia.

In Toronto, she created an annual event for the Royal Conservatory of Music, in a sustained effort to raise their endowment to allow all Canadian would-be professional musicians to study on full bursary.

Susan was a presenter in Philadelphia at the 2013 NAIS conference, the National Association of Independent Schools, attended by head’s of schools across North America. She is an active member of the QWF and has done improv speaking for Montreal’s Confabulation. She teaches spinning classes at the Westmount YMCA.

As a volunteer on the psychotic disorder unit at the Douglas Institute, Susan teaches creative writing classes and art therapy.

Susan’s second book is a biography about an Ottawa woman and her lifelong struggle with schizophrenia- her journey through motherhood, anti-depressant medication, shock therapy, jail, first and second-generation antipsychotics, interspersed between bouts of hospitalization. Susan’s first-hand experience at the Douglas Institute has been instrumental in navigating the complex and complicated world of psychotic behaviour. As of yet, brain imaging has not been able to reveal a single reliable biological marker for schizophrenia, or for any mental illness. It’s an observed condition.

The Ghost Garden was published by Random House of Canada on May 13 2019. The French translation, Jardin des Fantomes was released by Editions de l’Homme on Sept. 23, 2019.

Monday Rent Boy will debut on March 2024… the story of two teenage boys abused by the same man; an examination of the aftermath of longstanding sexual abuse. With themes of boyhood friendship, secrets, temptation, and good and evil, how can a boy grow up? How can resilience be achieved in the face of trauma?

Susan loves music, live theatre, exercise, the Westmount Public Library, Mount Royal, Chopin, cardinals, angels, the Atlantic Ocean, Snow White’s Path and New York City. Above all, she loves her family and friends. “We’ll be Friends Forever, won’t we, Pooh?’ asked Piglet. Even longer,’ Pooh answered.”

Be kind.