She was the second of five daughters[2] born to Amy Graham and Achille LeBlanc, who ran a sawmill near Garrick, Saskatchewan.
[4] By 1975 she was divorced and working on her Master of Education degree with a budding academic career when she met Peter Butala.
[10] She was shortlisted for the Governor General's award three times, once for fiction for Queen of the Headaches, and twice for nonfiction, for The Perfection of the Morning and Where I Live Now.
She and her husband, Peter Butala, were also involved in the creation of the Old Man on His Back Prairie and Heritage Conservation Area.
[9][12] The Butala homestead is now the interpretive centre for this area of original and restored mixed grass prairie.