Janis (Jan) Mary Hudson was born in Calgary, Alberta, on April 27,1954. While Hudson was still an infant, her father, Laurence (Laurie) Wiedrick, and her teacher mother, Mary, moved to Edmonton, Alberta, where Hudson's father became head of school library services for the Edmonton Public School Board and later a professor of School Librarianship in the faculty of Education, University of Alberta. After attending Edmonton's Mount Royale and Lendrum elementary schools and Harry Ainlay Composite High School, Hudson graduated cum laude with a bachelor of arts degree in English from the University of Calgary in 1978.

A law degree from the University of Alberta followed in 1984.

The year that that Hudson was in eleventh grade was spent in Eugene, Oregon, while her father was on sabbatical and was important in her early development as a writer.

There, she encountered Allan Woods, an English and drama teacher...