Audrey Thomas

Audrey Grace Thomas, OC (née Callahan; born 17 November 1935)<ref name="Nischik2007">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref name="Nischik2008">Reingard M. Nischik. History of Literature in Canada: English-Canadian and French-Canadian. Camden House; 2008. Template:ISBN. p. 318–.</ref> She is a recipient of the Marian Engel Award.

Biography

Thomas was born 17 November 1935 in Binghamton, New York.<ref name=":0" /> She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Smith College in Massachusetts in 1957,<ref name=":1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> then studied at St. Andrews University in Scotland before teaching in England.<ref name=":0" /> In 1959, she immigrated to Canada,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> where she received a Master of Arts degree from University of British Columbia in 1963.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> In 1994, she received an honorary doctorate from Simon Fraser University.<ref name=":1" />

From 1964 to 1966, Thomas lived in Ghana, and some of her stories are set there and in other distant places.<ref>"Local Customs, by Audrey Thomas: Review". National Post, February 21, 2014</ref><ref>"Audrey Thomas" Template:Webarchive | Room Magazine.</ref>

She published her first story, "If One Green Bottle...", in 1967.<ref name=":0" />

Thomas lived in Edinburgh, Scotland in the 1980s, and wrote articles for Saturday Night Magazine.<ref>Linda L. Richards, "Audrey Thomas" Template:Webarchive, January Magazine.</ref>

Beginning in 1990, Thomas was a visiting professor at Concordia University in Montreal.<ref name=":1" /> 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.<ref name=":1" />

In 2014, she published her eighteenth book, Local Customs.<ref>"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.</ref>

Awards and honours

From 1984 to 1986, Thomas received the Canada-Scotland Writer's Literary Fellowship,<ref name=":0" /> and in 1987, she won the Marian Engel Award for her body of work.<ref name=":0" /> In 1989, she receive the Canada-Australia Literary Prize.<ref name=":0" /> In 2003, she won the Terasen Lifetime Achievement Award,<ref name=":0" /> and in 2008, she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Awards for Thomas's writing

Year	Title	Award	Result	Ref.
1966	"If One Green Bottle..."	Atlantic First Award	Winner	<ref name=":0" />
1984	Intertidal Life	Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize	Winner	<ref name=":0" /><ref name="Rosenthal2003">Template:Cite book</ref>
1984	Intertidal Life	Governor General's Award for English-language fiction	Finalist	<ref name=":0" /><ref>James Adams, "Local writers nominated for award". Edmonton Journal, May 16, 1985.</ref>
1990	Wild Blue Yonder	Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize	Winner	<ref name=":0" />
1995	Coming Down from Wa	Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize	Winner	<ref name=":0" />
1996	Coming Down from Wa	Governor General's Award for English-language fiction	Finalist	<ref name=":0" /><ref>Judy Stoffman, "It's Atwood ahead again in book race". Toronto Star, October 18, 1996.</ref>
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<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• 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

External links

• The archives of Audrey Thomas (Thomas Audrey fonds, R11818) are held at Library and Archives Canada