April 12, 2016, Toronto - Carol Shields found Susanna Moodie fascinating. Shields wrote her masters thesis on Moodie, a Romantic writer from a celebrated literary family whose life changed forever when she and her husband embarked from England for the backwoods of Canada in 1832. The Moodies, utterly unprepared for pioneer life, soon found themselves starving in a hostile wilderness. Susanna began writing in order to survive, and the result was Roughing It in the Bush . Moodie's aggravated and acerbic book is a testament to pioneer life that received both praise and controversy, with fellow new Canadians labeling her a snob and traitor to her country. Two centuries later she is honoured as an early feminist and a Canadian literary pioneer. Shields' long fascination with Moodie led first to her masters thesis, then to material for two of her novels, and finally to her collaboration on a screenplay with Patrick Crowe. After her death, Crowe was able to continue their project, now published as a graphic novel by Second Story Press, and as an interactive book app for iOS and Android tablets.

Susanna Moodie: Roughing It in the Bush brings the words of the controversial Susanna Moodie to life through the insightful, dramatic writing of Shields and Crowe with a talented graphic adaptation by Willow Dawson and emotionally complex illustrations by Selena Goulding. And it all begins with a rousing introduction by Margaret Atwood, who shares in the long-held fascination with the pioneering Susanna Moodie. The interactive book app, developed by Xenophile Media, will be available from the App Store and Google Play in April 2016. Both the app and the graphic novel will be launched at an event with Pages UnBound on May 25th, 2016 at the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto.