Maria Enns
Author of Back in the Hills: A Healing Year on the Prairie
Back in the Hills
The hills of southwest Saskatchewan don't ask for much notice. Maria Enns has called these hills home for almost twenty years—and spent one of them paying close attention.Back in the Hills is about walking through a long, heavy season by walking through the pasture. Cow paths. Plant names. Stone circles on hilltops. Old foundations returning to grass. Season by season—through abundance and drought, joy and sorrow—she excavated the depths of an ordinary piece of prairie and found it giving back more than she expected: a teaching in resilience, belonging, and faith.Part botanical field notes, part memoir, part spiritual reckoning—this is a book for anyone who has ever found healing in an unexpected place.
About the Author
Maria Enns lives with her family on a farm in rural Saskatchewan, where she homeschools her children, serves her local church, and pays close attention to the land. She holds a Bachelor of Education in Arts Education and has taught in schools, galleries, and workshops. Her writing moves between faith, ecology, and the particular beauty of prairie life. Back in the Hills is her first book.
Awards
Back in the Hills was the 2025 Braun Book Awards Winner for non-fiction
Endorsements
"Luminous and timely . . . urgent yet meditative, Back in the Hills opens eyes and hearts to ways in which our lives, with their joys and sorrows, freedoms and limitations, are woven into the realm of the sacred through the sensory wonder of the prairie landscape."-Dr. Valerie Triggs, Professor Emeritus, University of Regina
Connect
Author photography by Artistic Expressions Photography.
Nature photography by Maria Enns.