Born and raised in Powell River, writer Sheila went to Carleton University in Ottawa to study journalism; after graduation, a newspaper job brought her to Smithers. The diverse and vibrant community convinced her to stay, marry and raise two boys.

As well as writing and teaching writing, she worked for the Smithers Human Rights Society as the Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en were launching their court case claiming ownership and jurisdiction over their territory, she has been a member of Amnesty International since that time, and she has worked with the Wet’suwet’en on the preparation of a history text for area schools.

Her writing has appeared in several Canadian literary journals; her books include Canyon Creek: A Script, Tending The Remnant Damage, and the weather from the west, a collection of poetry published in collaboration with images by visual artist, Perry Rath. I taught myself to drive is a collaborative work published to honour 20 years of Smithers Passage House, a transition house for women in crisis. A Taste of Ashes (Caitlin 2012) is her most recent book. 

She and her husband, Lynn Shervill, have been operating Creekstone Press, a publishing house that gives respectful space to a diversity of voices from northern BC, since 1998.