Miriam Koerner, Writer

January 2026

Miriam Körner is an award winning and critically acclaimed children’s book illustrator, writer, and environmental advocate whose practice is rooted in the boreal forest and reflects upon our relationship to the natural world and our place within. 

Drawn to the lake scattered and rocky landscape of the Canadian Shield 23 years ago, Miriam left the bustling city life in Germany and made her home in the boreal forest in Northern Saskatchewan, where she lives in a small cabin in the boreal forest with her team of sled dogs. Inspired by her dog mushing adventures, Yellow Dog (2016) and Qaqavii (2019) take readers along snow-covered forest trails, across frozen lakes and windswept tundra, pulled quietly along by a team of soft-pawed huskies. 

Her series of children’s book collaborations with Elders from her community, bring the stories of growing up following the seasonal cycle of the land to readers across the country, and won many awards. Her water colour illustrations for When the Trees Crackle with Cold (2016), co-written with Bernice Johnson Laxdal, travelled with OSAC for three consecutive years. 

Working with and learning from Indigenous community members, Miriam began to question the way industrial, extractivist societies see the land. While her own worldview drastically shifted towards gratitude and reciprocal relationships with the land, resource extraction was threatening the forests and muskegs around her, leading to her most ambitious children’s book project to date. Fox and Bear (2022) was reviewed in the The Marginalian as “a love letter to nature disguised as a modern fable of ecological grief and hope.” 

She is the co-founder of For Peat’s Sake – Protecting Northern Saskatchewan Muskegs, a grassroots organization dedicated to raise awareness of the importance of peatlands locally and globally. 

Website: http://miriamkoerner.blogspot.com

Social Media: https://www.facebook.com/miriam.korner.92