Susan Sanford Blades (first name: Susan, last name: Sanford Blades) is grateful to live and write on the traditional territory of the lək̓ʷəŋən speaking people–the Songhees and Xwsepsum/Kosapsum (Esquimalt) Nations (Victoria, BC). When not writing, she works as an editorial assistant for Theory & Psychology, teaches academic writing at Royal Roads University, and raises three boys. In spring 2016, she received an MFA in creative writing from the University of Victoria, with Lorna Jackson as her supervisor.

Her debut novel, Fake It So Real, was published by Nightwood Editions in October, 2020. It won the 2021 ReLit Award in the novel category and is shortlisted for the 2021 Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize. Her short fiction has been anthologized in The Journey Prize Stories 32: The Best of Canada’s New Writers, and has been published widely in literary magazines across Canada, as well as in the United States and Ireland. She is at work on her second novel.