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Edward Patrick Butts (b. Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Sept. 16, 1951) is a Canadian writer. He is known principally for books on true Canadian crime history.

Butts graduated from the University of Waterloo’s Department of Integrated Studies with a bachelor’s degree (BIS) in 1981. While at Waterloo he did community research for the university’s sesquicentennial project that was instrumental in the creation of James Reaney’s musical drama, I, the Parade. As a member of the Integrated Studies Writers’ Group, Butts was a founder, with several others including writer-in-residence Harold Horwood, of the literary magazine The New Quarterly. Butts and Horwood collaborated on two books of historical non-fiction: Pirates & Outlaws of Canada (1984), and Bandits & Privateers: Canada in the Age of Gunpowder (1987).

From 1994 to 2002, Butts taught English and social studies at the Learning Center of Sosua, a small private school in the Dominican Republic. He supplemented teaching materials by writing humorous plays and verse about English grammar. In 2003 they were published in the United States in a book, Idioms for Aliens: A Grammar Revue of Plays and Verse. In 1998, Butts’s historical novella, Buffalo: A Fable of the West, was published.

As a writer of non-fiction, Butts has been most successful with stories of adventure, exploration, and crime. His subjects have included treasure hunters, lighthouse keepers, shipwrecks, criminals, ghosts, and police heroes. His book for juveniles, SOS: Stories of Survival (Tundra, 2007), was nominated for the Hackmatack award and was first runner-up for the Red Maple award. Shipwrecks, Monsters, and Mysteries of the Great Lakes (Tundra, 2010) was also nominated for the Hackmatack award. Bodyguards: From Gladiators to the Secret Service (annick, 2012) was nominated for the Red Cedar award.

In 2006 Dundurn Press published The Desperate Ones: Forgotten Canadian Outlaws, which was short-listed for an Arthur Ellis award. This was the first of several Dundurn books in which Butts explored the history of crime in Canada. In 2011 Dundurn published Butts’s biographical Simon Girty: Wilderness Warrior, the only Canadian study to date of the controversial “White Indian” and Loyalist hero of the American Revolutionary War.

Butts collaborated with Karl Stensson, president of Sheridan Nurseries, to write Sheridan Nurseries: 100 Years of People, Plans, and Plants (Dundurn, 2012), a company history that is also a biography of Howard and Lorrie Dunington-Grubb, pioneers in the art of landscape architecture in Canada.

Butts wrote the song lyrics for two series of educational CDs: Funky Phonics (2005) and Singing Sight Words (2007), produced by Sara Jordan Publishing. His short story, “Left-Handed Louie” was selected by McGraw-Hill for use in a literary test in the United States.

Butts’s articles have appeared in many publications, including the Toronto Star and the Globe & Mail. He also contributed biographical entries to the Canadian Encyclopedia.

Edward Butts: Publications Pirates & Outlaws of Canada (with Harold Horwood), historical non-fiction, 1984; Doubleday, re-published 2003 Lynx Images Bandits & Privateers: Canada in the Age of Gunpowder (with Harold Horwood), historical non-fiction, 1987, Doubleday Buffalo: A Fable of the West, fiction, 1998. (quasi-book publication) Colombo & Company. The Prime Ministers of Canada, sound recording, lyrics (with Blaine Selkirk), 2001, Sara Jordan Idioms for Aliens: A Grammar Revue of Plays and Verse, humour, 2003, Maupin House (USA) Outlaws of the Lakes: Bootlegging and Smuggling From Colonial Times to Prohibition, historical non-fiction, 2004, Lynx Images She Dared, historical non-fiction, 2005, Tundra Funky Phonics, sound recording, lyrics, 2005, Sara Jordan Guiding Lights, Tragic Shadows: Tales of Great Lakes Lighthouses, historical non-fiction, 2005, Lynx Images True Canadian Disaster Stories, historical non-fiction, 2006, Prospero/Key Porter The Desperate Ones: Forgotten Canadian Outlaws, historical non-fiction, 2006, Dundurn (A) True Canadian Unsolved Mysteries, historical non-fiction, 2007, Prospero/Key Porter True Stories of Canadian Battlefields, historical non-fiction, 2007, Prospero/Key Porter SOS: Stories of Survival, historical non-fiction, 2007, Tundra Singing Sight Words, sound recording, lyrics, 2007, Sara Jordan Running With Dillinger: The Story of Red Hamilton and Other Forgotten Canadian Outlaws, historical non-fiction, 2008, Dundurn X Doesn’t Mark the Spot, historical non-fiction, 2008, Tundra True Canadian Explorers, historical non-fiction, 2008, Prospero/Key Porter All About Weddings, non-fiction, information and trivia (pen name Ellen Bell) 2008, Dundurn Line of Fire, historical non-fiction, 2009, Dundurn Henry Hudson: New World Voyager, biography, 2009, Dundurn Ghost Stories of Newfoundland and Labrador, paranormal nonfiction, 2010, Dundurn Shipwrecks, Monsters and Mysteries of the Great Lakes, historical nonfiction, 2010, Tundra Murder: Twelve True Stories of Homicide in Canada, historical nonfiction, 2011, Dundurn Simon Girty: Wilderness Warrior, biography, 2011, Dundurn Bodyguards: From Gladiators to the Secret Service, juvenile non-fiction, 2012, Annick Sheridan Nurseries: One Hundred Years of People, Plans, and Plants (with Karl Stensson), historical nonfiction, 2012, Dundurn Wrong Side of the Law: True Stories of Crime, historical non-fiction, 2013, Dundurn