Sandra Louise Birdsell (née Bartlette) is a Canadian novelist and short story writer of Métis and Mennonite heritage.

Sandra is the fifth of eleven children. She lived most of her life in Morris, Manitoba and now in Regina, Saskatchewan.

Sandra left home at age fifteen. At the age of thirty-five, she enrolled in Creative Writing at the University Of Winnipeg. Five years later, Turnstone Press published her first book, the “Night Travellers” and two years after, “Ladies Of The House”. Both are published in one volume as Agassiz stories.

Two events shaped her worldview and influenced her writing, the first when Sandra was six years-old. Her sister died from leukemia. That left a four year gap before her next older sister. She felt alone even surrounded by 9 siblings. Her loneliness led her to ponder nearby parks and rivers, allowing her imagination to be wild.

The second event was the massive flood of Morris in 1950. Her first three successful stories in “Night Travellers” are based on it.

She is a Mom of three children and Grandma to four. Her husband, Jan Zarzycki is a filmmaker.