Diana Stevan is the author of both historical and contemporary fiction. Her novels, ranging from Ukrainian family sagas to psychological and literary works, united by a focus on women’s lives, emotional depth, and the complexities of identity, survival and human relationships.
She was born Diana Klewchuk, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the only child of Ukrainian immigrants. With both parents working around the clock, she was cared for by her baba, who couldn’t speak English. In her teens, she picked up a love of poetry from her father, who recited poems as he walked about the house.
She married Robert at 19, and a year later, graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Home Economics at the University of Manitoba. When her two children were young, she earned a Master of Social Work with Honours and a spot on the Dean’s List.
Diana Stevan jokes she’s a Jill of all trades. She’s worked as a family therapist, teacher, librarian, model, actor, and CBC television sports reporter. She’s published poetry, a short story, newspaper articles, a novelette, and five novels. She first wrote women’s and literary fiction: A Cry from The Deep and The Rubber Fence. Then she launched her Ukrainian family saga series: Sunflowers Under Fire (a finalist for the 2019 Whistler Independent Book Award and a notable Kindle Book Award winner), and the sequels, Lilacs in the Dust Bowl, and Paper Roses on Stony Mountain (on Miramichi Readers’ List of Best Fiction for 2022).
After writing fiction for more than a decade, Diana wrote Along Came A Gardener (non-fiction) based on her 25 years as a family therapist. It’s both a memoir and an inspirational self-help book. She was inspired to write it after a teenager she had helped wrote her a poem called “The Seed of Hope”. In the poem, the teen refers to Diana as the gardener who had come along and planted the seed of hope.
Her latest, A House Full of Strangers, historical fiction, is a collection of short stories about Ukrainian immingrant landladies, their families and the people who rented rooms from them. The tales are drawn from her life, that of growing up in a rooming house. She was born in one and didn’t leave another until she got married.
Earlier Writing
As a member of the Manitoba Authors Association, Diana Stevan published an academic article, and wrote travel and fitness articles for the Winnipeg Free Press and the Winnipeg Tribune. In 1985, she became a freelance writer-broadcaster for CBC Television’s Sports Journal, where she contributed interviews weekly with local sports figures and covered the first all-female crew to sail from Victoria to Maui.
Acting
Along the way, her love of language led her to acting. After several years of scene study with master teachers in Vancouver and from New York and Los Angeles, Diana Stevan did some local theatre, acted in some commercials, and booked roles on TV series, (such as X-Files), movies of the week, and a supporting role in the feature film, Death Valley Blues.
Though she loved the work, her acting career took a back seat in 1998 when she and her husband moved to Vancouver Island to be close to one of their daughters and family.
Travel
Together with her husband, Robert, Diana’s traveled throughout North America, South America, Europe, Russia, Ukraine, Asia, and the Middle East.
Where She Is Now
Diana Stevan lives with her husband Robert on Vancouver Island. When she isn’t writing, she gardens, goes for walks in the forest, and reads. Her books cover the range of historical and biological fiction, literary fiction and non-fiction. But what she loves most of all is spending time with friends and family.
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