Mairuth Sarsfield

Who was Mairuth Sarsfield?

Mairuth Hodge Sarsfield, CQ was a Canadian author, activist journalist, researcher and television personality. Sarsfield was an accomplished broadcaster, civil servant, and Canadian best-selling author.

Born and bred in Montreal, she has worked as host for the CBC, CTV, and TVOntario and later became one of the first Black female members appointed to the board of directors of the CBC. For Canada's External Affairs Department, she worked on projects such as Expo 67 in Montreal and Expo '70 in Osaka, Japan, where she organized the Canadian pavilion, for the respective world Expos. As a senior information officer for the United Nations Environment Programme in Nairobi, Kenya, she developed and launched a worldwide campaign known as "For Every Child a Tree".

She has won numerous awards for theme coordination at World's Fair pavilions for Canada, and has been awarded with the Chevalier a L’Ordre National du Quebec in 1986, the National Congress of Black Women Foundation's First Literary Award, for No Crystal Stair, as well as 'Mairuth Sarsfield Day' by the city of Cleveland for her work with the United Nations in Nairobi.

Her Canadian best-selling novel No Crystal Stair, was chosen for inclusion in Canada Reads 2005, championed by Olympic fencer Sherraine MacKay.