Carol??Matthews (1942–2025) worked as a hospital social worker, served on the boards of a number of community agencies, and was as an instructor and Dean of Human Services at Malaspina University-College in Nanaimo, where she lived for many years. She received an honorary doctor of letters from Vancouver Island University (2008), was appointed to the Order of British Columbia (2012), and was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2013). She published a collection of short stories and several works of non-fiction, and was awarded the Jacob Zilber Prize for Short Fiction. Her stories appeared in publications such as Room, The New Quarterly, Prism and Grain Magazine.