Hi, I'm Léa Plourde-Archer, and as you may have noticed, I share a last name with Violet.

She was my great-aunt and I only got to meet her a few times (pictured above when we visited her in Edmonton), but always had a distant admiration for her, though I knew little about the scope and span of her work.

A decade ago, I realized that she had a lengthy Canadian Encyclopedia entry to her name, which said a lot about how impressive her life had been.

The fabled Aunt Violet (or Aunt V, as her nieces and nephews called her) had touched the lives of many others and her impact was so much bigger than I could've imagined.

Years later, I got the idea to work on a kids book project about her life. I'd recently self-published a few books about other people in my family, only meant to be read by my my own relatives.

Wanting to make children's literature and illustration my new careers, I started working on a manuscript and a set of drawings describing Violet's life.

To do so, I dove into the mountains of archives found online, in databases, in university libraries and in my family's stored documents. Most of the pictures featured on this website are from our personal collections, such as those taken by my father who loved and admired his aunt V.

The book is still in process of being written and sent to publishing companies. In the meantime, I thought I should create a simple website as a tribute to the incredible life of Violet Archer.

About me : I've been working as a content writer, blogger and translator since 2012. Although I never learned to play an instrument, I do share Violet's love for music, the arts, nature and communications.

Working on this project, I feel like I have met a guide and am constantly inspired by the unstoppable force that was Violet. I hope to have inherited but an ounce of her drive and passion !​