Mona Awad

Mona Awad (born August 22, 1978) is a Canadian novelist and short-story writer known for works of darkly comic fiction.[1][2][3]

Mona Awad
Born (1978-08-22) August 22, 1978
Montreal, Quebec
Occupationnovelist, short stories
NationalityCanadian
Alma mater
Notable works
  • 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl
  • Bunny
  • All's Well
  • Rouge

Awad's debut novel, 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl, was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and received the Amazon.ca First Novel Award.[4] Her second novel, Bunny, was a finalist for the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Horror and New England Book Award. Her third novel, All's Well, was likewise a finalist for the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Horror.

She has worked as an assistant professor at Syracuse University since 2020.[5]

Biography

Awad was born on August 22, 1978, in Montreal, Quebec. Her father, an Egyptian Muslim, immigrated to Canada in the 1970s. Her mother is a French-Canadian Catholic of Serbian and Irish descent. Awad's parents met in Montreal.[6]

Awad moved to Mississauga, Ontario, when she was 13.[7][1] There, she attended Father Michael Goetz Secondary School.[8] Awad studied English literature at York University, earning a Bachelor of Arts from the university in 2004. She went on to earn a masters in English at the University of Edinburgh, an MFA at Brown University,[1] and a PhD at the University of Denver.[9]

Work

Awad's short fiction and non-fiction writing has been published in magazines including McSweeney's, The Walrus, Joyland, Post Road, St. Petersburg Review, and Maisonneuve. When Awad began writing as a columnist for Maisonneuve, she used the pseudonym Veronica Tartley.

Awad desires for her stories to provide readers with "a sense of connection" so that "people [may] feel less alone."[10]

In 2017, Awad's short story Woman Causes Avalanche[11] was published by the L.A. Review of Books.

Her debut book,13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl, a novel (structured using linked short stories) about a woman's lifelong struggle with body image issues, won the Amazon.ca First Novel Award and was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize in 2016.[12] She was inspired to write the book because of her experiences growing up and struggling with her own body image.[13] In the Los Angeles Times, Awad has been quoted as saying, she "made [music] playlists for every chapter" in 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl because it helped her "immerse" herself in the story and better "access it."[14]

Her second novel, Bunny, was published in June, 2019, by Viking Press.[15] Bunny tells the story of a girl named Samantha Mackey who attends a prestigious graduate program located in New England, at the fictional Warren University. There Samantha finds herself entangled in the weird rituals led by the "Bunnies" — her fellow students who are more than just the clique that they seem on the surface. It was optioned for film by Bad Robot Productions in 2023.[16][17]

Her third novel, All's Well, was released on August 3, 2021, by Simon & Schuster.[18]

Awad's fourth novel, Rouge, was released on September 12, 2023 by Simon & Schuster.[19]

Author Margaret Atwood has called Awad her Literary Heir Apparent.[20]

She has lived in the United States since 2009, currently in Syracuse, New York.

Bibliography

Novels
  • 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl. Penguin Books. 2016. ISBN 9780143128489.

References
  1. "Mona Awad gives us 13 ways to look at 'fat girls'". Toronto Star, February 21, 2016.
  2. Veitch, Mara (2021-08-02). "The Novelist Mona Awad Pushes Shakespeare off the Stage". Interview Magazine. Retrieved 2023-05-18.
  3. Kelly, Hillary (2021-08-05). "Review: Wellness as metaphor: Mona Awad's new novel of pain and witchery". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2023-05-18.
  4. "Mona Awad wins Amazon.ca First Novel Award". CBC Books, May 26, 2016.
  5. "Arts & Sciences: People: Faculty: Mona Awad". College of Arts & Sciences at Syracuse University. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  6. "My Father Was Never There. My Father Never Left Me". Vogue. 2021-06-15. Retrieved 2023-05-18.
  7. "In Mona Awad's new novel, All's Well, the agony of physical pain meets the drama of the Shakespearean stage". The Globe and Mail. 2021-08-04. Retrieved 2023-05-18.
  8. Clay, Chris (2016-05-27). "Mona Awad wins First Novel Award for 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl". Mississauga News. Retrieved 2023-05-18.
  9. "Mona Awad wins Amazon.ca First Novel Award: 'When I was writing the book, frankly, I never thought it would see the light of day'". The Globe and Mail, May 26, 2016.
  10. "We Do Adjust Our Reality for Other People: An Interview with Mona Awad". Electric Literature. 2016-03-02. Retrieved 2018-02-20.
  11. "LARB Lit: Woman Causes Avalanche - Los Angeles Review of Books". Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved 2018-02-20.
  12. "Thien, Barwin, Donoghue make Giller Prize shortlist ". The Globe and Mail, September 26, 2016.
  13. "Mona Awad Wants You to Confront the Word "Fat"". ELLE. 2016-02-24. Retrieved 2018-02-20.
  14. Graham, Latria (9 March 2016). "Mona Awad on her sharp-voiced debut, '13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2018-02-20.
  15. "28 works of Canadian fiction to watch for in spring 2019". CBC Books, January 25, 2019.
  16. Bernardi, Dan (4 April 2023). "Film Rights to Mona Awad's Novel 'Bunny' Purchased by Bad Robot Productions". Syracuse University News. Retrieved 5 April 2023.
  17. Roberts, Joe (18 March 2023). "Bunny: Everything We Know So Far About Bad Robot's Movie Adaptation". Slash Film. Retrieved 5 April 2023.
  18. Awad, Mona (August 3, 2021). All's Well. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-9821-6966-4.
  19. Awad, Mona (September 12, 2023). Rouge. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1982169695.
  20. Guadagnino, Kate (20 April 2023). "Margaret Atwood and Mona Awad on Writing Outside the Lines". T: The New York Times Style Magazine. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
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