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Catherine Banks is an award-winning playwright. She was born in 1957 in Middleton, Nova Scotia, and was educated at Digby Regional High School before earning her BA (1978) and BEd (1979) from Acadia University. From 1980-1985 she worked as a special education teacher in Shelburne and Halifax, and began writing for the theatre while raising her children, Rilla and Simon.
Her plays, frequently described as "Atlantic Gothic," have been performed across Canada and have received numerous awards and critical recognition. In 2008 Catherine Banks received Nova Scotia’s Established Artist Award for her body of work. Three Storey, Ocean View won the du Maurier National Play Competition's Silver Medal in 1995 and was nominated for a Merrit Award for best new play in 2000. Bone Cage received a Special Merit prize in Theatre BC's New Play Competition in 2002, was showcased at the National Arts Centre's On the Verge in 2005, and was awarded the Governor General’s Literary Award for (English) Drama in 2008. In 2012 It is Solved by Walking won Catherine Banks the Governor General's Literary Award for (English) Drama for a second time.
An active member of the Canadian theatre scene, Banks has participated in numerous readings and workshops and collaborated with theatres across the country. She served on the faculty of Sage Hill Writing in 2018, 2020, and 2021. She is a founding member and past president of the Playwrights Atlantic Resource Centre and has served as the Atlantic representative for the Playwrights Guild of Canada.