Biography
Brigitte (B) Rivers is a writer, artist and educator who writes middle grade fiction books under her pen name, Brigitte Marsden. Brigitte lives in western New Brunswick, Canada. Brigitte’s new book, ‘Karate Kit and the WereCoyote’, is due to be published in spring 2026 by Chapel Street Kids, an imprint of Chapel Street Editions. In this gripping first sequel to ‘Kit and the Calico Cat’, reconnect with familiar characters, meet engaging new friends, and join Kit in a slew of brand-new adventures, plot twists, mishaps and more. Brigitte created the cover art and all the illustrations for ‘Karate Kit and the WereCoyote’. Her first book, children’s novel ‘Kit and the Calico Cat’, was published in 2017 by Chapel Street Kids. This adventure story is a uniquely collaborative project: Brigitte created the cover art for the book cover, and one of her young art students provided the illustrations. The seeds of a future writing career were planted in junior high school English class. Brigitte studied art and design, worked for a firm of architects and ran a children’s club, then went back to school to retrain as a classroom teacher. She found her way into writing via graphic design, marketing and web communications, and was a technical author in a government publishing agency. Moving to Canada from the UK provided opportunities to branch out into freelance journalism. Since 2006, Brigitte has written long-running newspaper columns and continues to be a regular contributor to national and regional publications. As a member of the New Brunswick Writers in Schools Program (WiSP), Brigitte has made many visits to schools across the province. She is also a member of the New Brunswick Artists in Residency in Schools program, and has collaborated with three different schools on francophone graphic novel projects thanks to ArtSmarts funding. Brigitte was a local representative for the Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick in the Upper Saint John River Valley, and continues to be a member of WFNB. Brigitte has been a volunteer in the Early Literacy Friends (ELF) program, a director on the board of the Multicultural Association of Carleton County (MACC), and the founder of Beyond Words Writers’ Group. Through Creative Flow, the business she established in 2014, Brigitte teaches yoga, mindfulness, art and writing, and offers workshops and retreats, as well as continuing to write freelance.