Audrey Thomas

Audrey Grace Thomas, OC (née Callahan; born 17 November 1935)[1][2] is a Canadian novelist and short story writer who lives on Galiano Island, British Columbia. Her stories often have feminist themes and include exotic settings.[3] She is a recipient of the Marian Engel Award.

Audrey Thomas

OC
BornAudrey Grace Callahan
(1935-11-17) November 17, 1935
Binghamton, New York
OccupationNovelist and short story writer
NationalityCanadian
Education
Years active1965–2014
Notable awardsMarian Engel Award (1987)
Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize (1984, 1990, 1995)

Biography

Thomas was born 17 November 1935 in Binghamton, New York.[2] She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Smith College in Massachusetts in 1957,[4] then studied at St. Andrews University in Scotland before teaching in England.[2] In 1959, she immigrated to Canada,[5] where she received a Master of Arts degree from University of British Columbia in 1963.[2][4] In 1994, she received an honorary doctorate from Simon Fraser University.[4]

From 1964 to 1966, Thomas lived in Ghana, and some of her stories are set there and in other distant places.[6][7]

She published her first story, "If One Green Bottle...", in 1967.[2]

Thomas lived in Edinburgh, Scotland in the 1980s, and wrote articles for Saturday Night Magazine.[8]

Beginning in 1990, Thomas was a visiting professor at Concordia University in Montreal.[4] She also spent time as writer-in-residence at the University of Victoria, University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, and David Thompson University Centre.[4]

In 2014, she published her eighteenth book, Local Customs.[9]

Awards and honours

From 1984 to 1986, Thomas received the Canada-Scotland Writer's Literary Fellowship,[2] and in 1987, she won the Marian Engel Award for her body of work.[2] In 1989, she receive the Canada-Australia Literary Prize.[2] In 2003, she won the Terasen Lifetime Achievement Award,[2] and in 2008, she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.[10]

Awards for Thomas's writing
Year Title Award Result Ref.
1966 "If One Green Bottle..." Atlantic First Award Winner [2]
1984 Intertidal Life Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize Winner [2][11]
1984 Intertidal Life Governor General's Award for English-language fiction Finalist [2][12]
1990 Wild Blue Yonder Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize Winner [2]
1995 Coming Down from Wa Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize Winner [2]
1996 Coming Down from Wa Governor General's Award for English-language fiction Finalist [2][13]
2006 Tattycoram Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize Shortlist

Bibliography

Novels
  • Mrs. Blood – 1970
  • Munchmeyer and Prospero on the Island – 1971
  • Songs My Mother Taught Me – 1973
  • Blown Figures – 1974
  • Latakia – 1979
  • Intertidal Life – 1984
  • Graven Images – 1993
  • Coming Down from Wa – 1995
  • Isobel Gunn – 1999[14]
  • Tattycoram
  • Local Customs – 2014

Short stories
  • Ten Green Bottles – 1967
  • ladies and escorts – 1977
  • Real Mothers – 1981
  • Two in the Bush and Other Stories – 1981
  • Goodbye Harold, Good Luck – 1986
  • The Wild Blue Yonder – 1990
  • The Path of Totality – 2001

References
  1. Nischik, Reingard M. (2007). The Canadian Short Story: Interpretations. Camden House. ISBN 978-1-57113-127-0.
  2. Thompson, Veronica (2013-12-16). "Audrey Grace Thomas". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on 2023-02-11. Retrieved 2023-05-21.
  3. Reingard M. Nischik. History of Literature in Canada: English-Canadian and French-Canadian. Camden House; 2008. ISBN 978-1-57113-359-5. p. 318–.
  4. "Thomas, Audrey (Grace)". Encyclopedia.com. Archived from the original on 2022-12-08. Retrieved 2023-05-21.
  5. Benson, Eugene; Toye, William, eds. (1997). The Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature. Toronto: Oxford University Press. p. 1113.
  6. "Local Customs, by Audrey Thomas: Review". National Post, February 21, 2014
  7. "Audrey Thomas" Archived 2020-09-26 at the Wayback Machine | Room Magazine.
  8. Linda L. Richards, "Audrey Thomas" Archived 2023-02-09 at the Wayback Machine, January Magazine.
  9. "Local Customs: A take on 19th Century woman's death no so much a work of historical fiction as an act of channelling". Review by SARA O'LEARY, The Globe and Mail, 21 March 2014.
  10. "Governor General Announces New Appointments to the Order of Canada". Archived from the original on 8 September 2009.
  11. Rosenthal, Caroline (2003). Narrative Deconstructions of Gender in Works by Audrey Thomas, Daphne Marlatt, and Louise Erdrich. Camden House. ISBN 978-1-57113-267-3.
  12. James Adams, "Local writers nominated for award". Edmonton Journal, May 16, 1985.
  13. Judy Stoffman, "It's Atwood ahead again in book race". Toronto Star, October 18, 1996.
  14. "Isobel Gunn". Quill and Quire. 2004-02-22. Archived from the original on 2022-08-08. Retrieved 2023-05-21.
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