Marilynne Sinclair was born in Montreal, Canada and is a career teacher who has taught at university and in the public and private school systems in Quebec, Nova Scotia and Ontario. She is currently Department Head at Ashbury College, Ottawa, and teaches history and TOK. Her academic background is in history, including post-graduate research on the impact of the newspaper press on culture and identity in nineteenth century North America. She is also involved in IB History as an examiner and in TOK as an assessor and workshop leader. A long-time debating coach, she is the two-time recipient of the national Willis S. McCleese Award for service to student debating. She loves to sail and ski in the Adirondacks of New York State.