Shoalts grew up in rural Canada with a forest on his doorstep, and it was there that his father, a woodworker, taught him to love and appreciate trees and plants. Together, they built birch bark canoes, paddles, and anything else that could be crafted from the forest. Later, Shoalts worked as a nature writer and survival instructor, but his passion always remained for just being in the woods.

Shoalts has written about edible mushrooms, deforestation, and watershed pollution in northern Canada. His writing career began with his “Reflections of a Naturalist” column on wild animals and environment issues, which later led to his #1 national best-seller Alone Against the North, the award-winning story of his adventures.

Next to the woods, Shoalts second favourite place growing up was the library. If he wasn’t exploring woods he was exploring books, which led to him graduating from Brock University with an Honour’s B.A. and being named top student in the Humanities. He subsequently completed a Master’s degree and PhD at McMaster University, where his research combined an interest in wild animals, the natural world, history and geography. He has done archaeology in four countries and presented archaeological papers at academic conferences.