Audrey Thomas

Canadian novelist and short story writer

Smith College (BA,1957)
St Andrews University
University of British Columbia (MA, 1963)

Years active1965–2014Notable awardsMarian Engel Award (1987)
Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize (1984, 1990, 1995)

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.

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

^ Nischik, Reingard M. (2007). The Canadian Short Story: Interpretations. Camden House. ISBN 978-1-57113-127-0.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o Thompson, Veronica (2013-12-16). "Audrey Grace Thomas". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on 2023-02-11. Retrieved 2023-05-21.
^ Reingard M. Nischik. History of Literature in Canada: English-Canadian and French-Canadian. Camden House; 2008. ISBN 978-1-57113-359-5. p. 318–.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Thomas, Audrey (Grace)". Encyclopedia.com. Archived from the original on 2022-12-08. Retrieved 2023-05-21.
^ Benson, Eugene; Toye, William, eds. (1997). The Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature. Toronto: Oxford University Press. p. 1113.
^ "Local Customs, by Audrey Thomas: Review". National Post, February 21, 2014
^ "Audrey Thomas" Archived 2020-09-26 at the Wayback Machine | Room Magazine.
^ Linda L. Richards, "Audrey Thomas" Archived 2023-02-09 at the Wayback Machine, January Magazine.
^ "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.
^ "Governor General Announces New Appointments to the Order of Canada". Archived from the original on 8 September 2009.
^ 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.
^ James Adams, "Local writers nominated for award". Edmonton Journal, May 16, 1985.
^ Judy Stoffman, "It's Atwood ahead again in book race". Toronto Star, October 18, 1996.
^ "Isobel Gunn". Quill and Quire. 2004-02-22. Archived from the original on 2022-08-08. Retrieved 2023-05-21.