Renny deGroot was born in Nova Scotia, Canada; a first-generation Canadian of Dutch parents.
Her debut novel, Family Business, was shortlisted for the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize. She has two other Historical Fiction; with her novel Torn Asunder, published in 2019, receiving several readers’ awards from the U.K., Canada and the U.S. including an Honorable Mention from the Readers’ Favorite International Book Contest (U.S.A.). In 2019 Renny was commissioned to produce a coffee-table non-fiction book about the military history of her former regiment, called 32 Signal Regiment, Royal Canadian Corps of Signals: A History.
In 2023 she will be publishing the third in the successful Cape Breton mystery series, police procedurals set in Cape Breton, N.S.
Renny has a BA in English Literature from Trent University and studied creative writing at Ryerson University. She lives in rural Ontario with her Great Pyrenees and Golden Retriever, and vacations at her cottage in Nova Scotia.
As well as being a proud member of TWUC, Renny is also pleased to be a member of Crime Writers of Canada, The Writers' Community of Durham Region, the Sudbury Writers Guild and the Northern Ontario Writers Worksop.
Choice of:
1. WW1 high level background, deeper dive into human perspective centered in France - using my novel After Paris as focal point (Dutch nurse in Paris);
2. WW2 focus on Netherlands conditions, human cost - using my novel Family Business (shortlisted for the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize) as focal point for discussion and examples; or
3. The Irish Rising (1916) and years following during the Civil War. High level look at the groups and goals of the opposing sides, using the human element as the lens - focal point is my novel Torn Asunder.
Choice of:
1. WW1 high level background, deeper dive into human perspective centered in France - using my novel After Paris as focal point (Dutch nurse in Paris);
2. WW2 focus on Netherlands conditions, human cost - using my novel Family Business (shortlisted for the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize) as focal point for discussion and examples; or
3. The Irish Rising (1916) and years following during the Civil War. High level look at the groups and goals of the opposing sides, using the human element as the lens - focal point is my novel Torn Asunder.