Sporting a tie by day and a graphic tee by night, J.S.R. Smith was born in Newfoundland and Labrador, but now lives in Nova Scotia, Canada. Cultivating Sunshine is his first novel. Inspired by some of his favourite authors and the world around him, Smith loves to write fiction and non-fiction, with an emphasis on how memory and imagination shape both. In 2018, a first draft of Cultivating Sunshine was long listed for CANSCAIP’s Writing for Children Competition. Prior to writing Cultivating Sunshine, Smith won the Atlantic Writers Competition twice: for Creative Non Fiction (1st place - 2015) and for Poetry (3rd place - 2010).