Joan Barfoot

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Joan Louise Barfoot (born May 17, 1946) is a Canadian novelist. Born in in Owen Sound, Ontario, she attended the University of Western Ontario.

Barfoot is a former reporter and editor for various newspapers including the Windsor Star, the Toronto Sun and the London Free Press. She has published 10 novels, including most recently, Luck (2005), which was a nomineee for the 2005 Scotiabank Giller Prize. Her previous novel, Critical Injuries (2001), was longlisted for the 2002 Man Booker Prize.

In 1986, her novel Dancing in the Dark (1982) became a movie of the same name, starring Martha Henry. It won three Genie Awards, including Best Art Direction, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role.

Barfoot's work has been compared internationally with that of Anne Tyler, Carol Shields, Margaret Drabble, Fay Weldon and Margaret Atwood.

In 1992, she won the Marian Engel Award, presented each year by the Writers' Trust of Canada to a female Canadian novelist who is in the middle of her career.

She lives in London, Ontario.