Paul Knowles is President and National Board Member of TMAC. He writes a weekly, full-page, illustrated travel feature for several Granthaven southern Ontario newspapers, including the Stratford Times, the St. Marys Independent, the Woodstock-Ingersoll Echo, The Gorderich Sun, The Tillsonburg Post, the Simcoe Advocate, and the Wilmot-Tavistock Gazette. He has been published in recent editions of The Toronto Star, Vacay.ca, Our Heritage/Our Home, Broadview, and on line at golftravelandleisure.com.
Paul’s recent travel articles have ranged from a Toronto Star feature on music in the Florida Keys to an article on a Canadian chef in Philadelphia, to sustainable luxury in Dominica to the Aran Islands in Ireland. He is a full time writer; when not writing about travel and golf, he edits "Our Heritage/ Our Home" magazine; and writes feature stories and columns for a variety of periodicals, journals and websites.
Paul is the author of 18 books, most recently "The Magic Garden", published by EBC Publishing – a book about the joy and challenges of gardening, with many chapters highlighting gardens around the world; and "The Dun Also Rises", a fun murder mystery (not necessarily a contradiction in terms), published in March of this year. The second printing of Paul's first murder mystery, "Death on the Dun", was also recently published. He has also written travel guides, including a Formac guide to Niagara.
In addition to his 2020 TMAC award in the “Best Travel Column” category, Paul received honourable mention from the North American Travel Journalists Association for “A Complicated Icon” – following in the footsteps of Martin Luther; and first place in the 2017, Canadian Church Press awards, for an interview with Martin Rumscheidt. A 2021 column was a finalist for the Canadian Online Publishing Awards.
Paul also has a busy schedule as a public speaker to community groups, conferences and garden organizations. Paul was also executive director of the New Hamburg Live! Festival of the Arts for seven years. He has received the Governor General's Canada 125 Medal and the Queen's Jubilee medal for his volunteer work in the community. His hobbies include golf, pickleball, music (as lyricist and performer), gourmet cooking, wine tasting, and avoiding power tools.