The Humber School for Writers

Creative Writing by Correspondence

Faculty

Nalo Hopkinson has been added to the faculty list for September 2009 and January 2010.

David Adams Richards’ first novel, The Coming of Winter, won the Nora Epstein Prize for Creative Writing and was followed by Blood Ties, Dancers at Night, and  Lives of Short Duration. Nights Below Station Street, which was followed by Evening Snow Will Bring Such Peace and For Those Who Hunt the Wounded Down, won the Governor General’s Award. David Adams Richards was co-winner of the Giller Prize for the brilliant Mercy Among the Children, and his River of the Broken Hearted was an Amazon Editors’ Pick. The Friends of Meager Fortune is his latest novel.

Joan Barfoot has written 11 novels, from Abra, winner of the Books in Canada First Novel Award, to Exit Lines, published in 2008. Her tenth, Luck, was shortlisted for the 2005 Giller Prize and her ninth, Critical Injuries, was nominated for the 2002 Man Booker Prize. Her novel Dancing in the Dark became an award-winning film, and she is a recipient of the Marian Engel Award. A former newspaper journalist, she lives in London, Ont.

Richard Bausch’s 18 books include Peace, The Selected Stories (The Modern Library), and The Stories of Richard Bausch.His fiction has appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, Esquire, The New Yorker, GQ, Playboy, Harper’s, among others, and is widely anthologized, most notably in Best American Short Stories, O. Henry Prize Stories, New Stories From The South, and Pushcart Prize Stories.

Jonathan Bennett’s latest novel is Entitlement. He is the author of three previous books, including the critically acclaimed novel, After Battersea Park, and a volume of poetry, Here is my street, this tree I planted. His short story collection, Verandah People, was runner-up for the Danuta Gleed Literary Award. He is the recent winner of the K. M. Hunter Artists’ Award in Literature. Born in Vancouver, raised in Sydney, Australia, Bennett now lives in Peterborough, Ontario.

David Bergen has published one collection of stories and three novels. His first, A Year of Lesser, won the Manitoba Book of the Year Award and was a Book-of-the-Month Club selection - as well as a New York Times Notable Book. The Case of Lena S. was short-listed for the Governor General’s Award and won the Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award. His fourth novel, The Time in Between, won the 2005 Giller Prize. David Bergen was a juror for the 2007 Giller.

Sandra Birdsell  has published eight books, among them the bestselling novel The Russländer, which was nominated for the Giller Prize. Her novel The Chrome Suite and book of short stories, The Two-Headed Calf, were nominated for the Governor General’s Award.The Missing Child, a novel, was awarded the Books in Canada/WH Smith First Novel Award. She is also the recipient of the Marion Engel Award. Her work has been published and translated in England, Italy, Poland and Brazil. Her most recent novel is Children of the Day.  

Karen Connelly won the Governor General’s Award for her l992 national best seller, Touch the Dragon: A Thai Journal. She is also the author of a second book of non-fiction, One Room in a Castle: Letters from Spain, France & Greece, which was praised in the New York Times Review of Books. In addition, she has written four books of poetry. Her novel, The Lizard Cage, was shortlisted for the U.S. Kiriyama Prize and won the UK Orange Prize for New Fiction.

Sally Cooper is the author of the novels Love Object and Tell Everything, both released to critical acclaim. Her stories and articles have appeared in many magazines including Shift, Grain, Event and Bookninja.com Magazine. She has two dramatic short screenplays in pre-production with Paulus Productions Inc. The Ottawa Citizen has called her “a young writer to watch.”

Elisabeth Harvor’s work has appeared in The New Yorker, PRISM International, Our Generation Against Nuclear War, and many other publications. She has also won many awards, including the Alden Nowlan Award and the Marian Engel Award. Excessive Joy Injures the Heart, her first novel, was named one of the ten best books of the year by the Toronto Star, and Let Me Be The One, her third story collection, was a finalist for the Governor General’s Award.

Nalo Hopkinson  is the author of four novels and a short story collection. She has edited and co-edited four fiction anthologies, and is the recipient of the Ontario Arts Council Foundation Award for Emerging Writers, the World Fantasy Award, The Sunburst Award for Canadian Literature of the Fanatastic, and the John W. Campbell Award, among others. Her most recent novel is The New Moon’s Arms.

Isabel Huggan  has long had an excellent reputation for careful and kindly attention to both writers and  manuscripts.  She has taught creative writing in the Philippines, Hong Kong, Australia, Switzerland, France and Canada. An internationally acclaimed writer of short stories (The Elizabeth Stories and You Never Know), she won the Charles Taylor Award for Literary Non-Fiction for her memoir, Belonging: Home Away from Home. She makes her home in France.

Joe Kertes’ first novel, Winter Tulips, won the Stephen Leacock Award for Humour. His comic novel for adults, Boardwalk, and his books for children, The Gift and The Red Corduroy Shirt, were all published to great critical acclaim. Founder of the Humber School for Writers and the Humber School of Comedy, he is also winner of several teaching awards. His novel Gratitude was published by Penguin Canada and will be released by St. Martin’s (New York) in fall 2009. Joe Kertes is Dean of the School of Creative & Performing Arts at Humber.

John Metcalf is a writer and editor. For many years, he directed editorially the Porcupine’s Quill Press and currently edits the critical journal Canadian Notes and Queries. He has been responsible for bringing to prominence such writers as Andrew Pyper, Russell Smith and Steven Heighton. His most recent books have been Forde Abroad, a novella; Standing Stones, selected stories; and An Aesthetic Underground: A Literary Memoir. A new memoir is in the works.

Kim Moritsugu is the author of Looks Perfect, which was short-listed for the City of Toronto Book Award, and Old Flames for which a critic dubbed her ‘the Tom Wolfe of mid-town Toronto’. Her novel, The Glenwood Treasure, was short-listed for the Crime Writers of Canada Best Novel Award. Her most recent work is The Restoration of Emily.

Donna Morrissey grew up in an outport in Newfoundland. Her novels, Kit’s Law, Downhill Chance, and Sylvanus Now, won awards in Canada, the U.S., and England, with Sylvanus Now being shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. Reviewers have compared her depictions of Newfoundland to the worlds summoned up by Hardy and Faulkner. Her latest novel, What They Wanted, was released in 2008 by Penguin Canada.

Paul Quarrington is the author of nine novels. He is a former winner of the Governor General’s Award and the Stephen Leacock Award for Humour, and has distinguished himself as a writer of non-fiction with works like Fishing With My Old Guy and The Boy on the Back of the Turtle. He has also written several screenplays and plays. His novel, Galveston, was nominated for the Giller Prize, and his latest, The Ravine, was released last year. King Leary, a novel, was championed by Dave Bidini for 2008 Canada Reads.

Michael Redhill is the author of Martin Sloane, a finalist for the Giller Prize and winner of the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, and Fidelity, a collection of short stories. He is also the author of four collections of poetry and, as a playwright, his most recent works are Goodness and the award-winning Building Jerusalem. He is one of the editors of Brick, A Literary Journal.  His latest novel is Consolation.

Richard Scrimger has published 14  books.  His adult novels were finalists for the City of Toronto Book Award and listed among the Globe And Mail’s books of the year.  His children’s fiction has won awards across North America, and been translated into a dozen languages.  His latest book is Into The Ravine, a serio-comic chronicle of the last voyage of childhood. The Globe and Mail review of this book called Richard a writer of ‘great truths’.

Olive Senior is the author of three collections of short stories: Summer Lightning, which won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, Arrival of the Snake-Woman and Discerner of Hearts. Her poetry books include Gardening in the Tropics, Talking of Trees, and Over the Roofs of the World, which was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award. She has also written works of non-fiction on Caribbean culture and her work has been translated into several languages. Her poetry collection, Shell, is her latest work.

Sarah Sheard  has published numerous works of fiction, personal essays, and three much admired novels, Almost Japanese, The Swing Era, and The Hypnotist. Her radio plays have been broadcast on the CBC, and she is a recipient of a National Magazine Award. In addition to coaching emerging writers, she is also in private practice as a solution-focused psychotherapist and certified mediator.

Susan Swan’s critically acclaimed fiction has been published in 20 countries. Her latest novel, What Casanova Told Me, was nominated for the Canada Commonwealth Prize, and The Wives of Bath, a novel about a murder in a girls’ boarding school, was made into the feature film Lost and Delirious. Swan has taught creative writing at York University and at workshops in Berlin. Breadloaf College, and the Skyros Institute. She is past chair of The Writers’ Union of Canada.

M G. Vassanji’s extraordinary novel, The Book of Secrets, won the Giller Prize. This was followed by The Gunny Sack, which won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. Another novel, No New Land, and a collection of short stories, Uhuru Street, were met with critical acclaim. Amriika, Wayward Spirits, and The In-Between World of Vikram Lall, are among his latest works. The latter won a second Giller Prize for the author. His most recent novel, The Assassin’s Song, was nominated for both The Giller Prize and the Governor General’s Award. He is also the author of A Place Within: Rediscovering India and the forthcoming Mordecai Richler.

Tim Wynne-Jones has written 31 books including novels, picture books and three collections of short stories. He has twice won the Canadian Governor General’s Award for Children’s Literature. He is also a three-time winner of the Canadian Library Association Book of the Year Award. His books have been published in 14 languages. One of his most recent novels is the second in the Rex Zero series, Rex Zero, King of Nothing. The third, Rex Zero, The Great Pretender, will be out next fall. Another novel for young people, The Uninvited, has just been published.