Helen Humphreys
Helen Humphreys (born 13 June 1961) is a Canadian poet and novelist.
Personal life
Humphreys was born in Kingston-on-Thames, England, along with her brother Martin and sister Cathy. She now lives in Kingston, Ontario with her dog Charlotte. When she was younger she was expelled from high school and had to attend an alternative school to finish her education.[1]
Writing career
Humphrey's first novel, Leaving Earth, was a New York Times Notable Book in 1998, and a winner of the City of Toronto Book Award.[2]
In describing how she became a writer, Humphreys said, "I started writing when I was young and I just kept going. I read voraciously. I sent my poems (for I was writing exclusively poems then) out to magazines, and eventually I began to get them published. My first book of poetry came out when I was 25." [3]
The Globe and Mail had this to say about Ms. Humphrey's most recent novel: "The Evening Chorus, when all is said and done, is a formally conventional but for the most part satisfying yarn; a quiet novel about a calamitous event whose most trenchant passages show the cast of Humphreys’s poet’s eye."
Works
Poetry
- Gods and Other Mortals (1986)
- Nuns Looking Anxious (1990)
- Listening to Radios (1990)
- The Perils of Geography (1995)
- Anthem (1999)
Novels
- Ethel on Fire (1991
- Leaving Earth (1998) - winner of the City of Toronto Book Award
- Afterimage (2000) - winner of the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize
- The Lost Garden (2002)
- Wild Dogs (2004) - adapted for the stage by Anne Hardcastle in 2008
- The Frozen Thames (2007)
- Coventry (2008)
- The Reinvention of Love (2011)
- The Evening Chorus (2015)
Nonfiction
- "Nocturne: On the Life and Death of My Brother" (2013)[4]
Awards
- Canadian Authors Association Award for Poetry for Anthem (1990)
- New York Times Notable Book (1998) for Leaving Earth
- City of Toronto Book Award for Leaving Earth[2]
- Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize (2000) for Afterimage
- Harbourfront Festival Prize (2009)[5]
- The Reinvention of Love (2011) was longlisted for the Dublin IMPAC Literary Award and shortlisted for the Canadian Authors Association for Fiction
References
- ↑ Biography at Canadian Authors
- 1 2 Linda Richards (October 2002). "Interview with Helen Humphrey". January Magazine.
- ↑
- ↑ , National Post, April 5, 2013.
- ↑ Helen Humphreys wins $10,000 literary prize. CBC News, 23 September 2009.
External links
- Helen Humphreys fonds at Queen's University Archives
- http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/books/review/Haslett-t.html?_r=0
- http://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/sep/12/coventry-helen-humphreys
- http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/coventry-by-helen-humphreys-1758338.html
- http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/09/09/open-book-the-reinvention-of-love-by-helen-humphreys/
- http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/helen-humphreyss-the-evening-chorus-is-a-formally-conventional-but-satisfying-yarn/article23116941/