Sylvia Olsen

Biography

At seventeen, Sylvia Olsen married a Coast Salish man and moved to Tsartlip First Nation near Victoria, British Columbia. She became immersed in her family’s knitting tradition and operated a Cowichan sweater shop from her home for sixteen years. Sylvia marketed the sweaters locally and abroad until the early 1990s, when the once booming industry began to fade. She then made Coast Salish knitters the topic of her master’s thesis and the theme of a National Film Board documentary, The Story of the Coast Salish Knitters. Sylvia is also an award-winning author of many novels for young people, picture books, histories, and personal essays.