Angie Abdou (born 11 May 1969) is a Canadian fiction writer. Her most recent novel, The Canterbury Trail, was published by Brindle & Glass Press in February 2011. Her shorter works have been published in several Canadian journals.[1]
Contents |
Abdou was born in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, where she spent her early childhood.[2] She received a B.A. (Honours) from the University of Regina (Saskatchewan) in 1991,[3] an M.A. (English) from the University of Western Ontario in 1992, and an Ph.D. (English in the Field of Creative Writing and Canadian Literature) from The University of Calgary in 2009. She currently lives in Fernie, British Columbia, Canada and is a college professor at The College of the Rockies (Cranbrook, British Columbia). She lives with her husband, Martin Hafke, and her two children, Oliver and Katherine.
Abdou's first collection of fiction, Anything Boys Can Do, was published in 2006 by Thistledown Press.[4] B.C. BookWorld praised the collection as "an extraordinary literary debut."[5] The book deals with contemporary heterosexual relationships and addresses topics such as infidelity and miscommunication between the sexes. In The Victoria Times Colonist, Brownen Welch claims that "Abdou confirms for us that the female frame is capable of holding within itself a multiplicity of complications and contradictions."[6] Welch praises Abdou for finding a nonjudgemental language with which to discuss female sexuality.
Abdou's first novel, The Bone Cage, was published in 2007 by NeWest Press. The novel follows the lives of two Olympic athletes near the end of their careers and explores the connection between body and identity. It describes elite athletics with much detail. A review in VUE Weekly (Edmonton, Alberta) states: "Angie Abdou's debut novel, The Bone Cage, finds its heart ... daring to question what happens to athletes who put everything else on hold for a chance at the Olympics ... What lurks in the shadows of elite athletics is what makes Abdou's follow up to Anything Boys Can Do, a book of short stories, so compelling".[7] The Bone Cage's themes, though, are also relevant outside the world of athletics. In Canadian Literature (journal) a reviewer writes: "The Bone Cage extends past sport, exploring the tentative relationship between people and their bodies. Are we simply prisoners of our own "bone cage," predestined by our body, or can we overcome the limits of our body? Do we even want to overcome our body, or is it simply inseparable from ourselves? The Bone Cage's questioning of an inherent self-body dichotomy reaches out universally, involving not only sport, but also illness and death. Ultimately, because Abdou does not offer concrete answers for these questions, she shows that though the specific relationship between body and self is individualized, our struggle to reconcile them is universal."[8] The Bone Cage was a finalist for CBC's 2011 Canada Reads and was defended by ex-NHL player Georges Laraque. Shortly after the 2011 Canada Reads debates, The Bone Cage was selected as The MacEwan Book of the Year for the 2011-2012 academic year.[9] Past recipients of this honour include Margaret Atwood, Yann Martel, Annabel Lyon, Thomas Wharton, and David Adams Richards.
Abdou's newest novel, The Canterbury Trail, originated as a dissertation project at The University of Calgary. This novel was released in February 2011 by Brindle and Glass Press (Victoria, BC). It is a finalist for the 2011 Banff Mountain Book Festival Book of the Year Award in the Literature category.
The Bone Cage was selected by Kootenay Library Foundation as the feature book for its first annual "One Book, One Kootenay" celebration (launched September 8, 2009).[10]
In 2010, Canadian Literature (journal) listed The Bone Cage in its Top Ten Sport-in-Can-Lit highlights.[11]
CBC's Book Club also voted it the number 1 sport book in July, 2010.[12]
Abdou is an enthusiastic instructor of creative writing who teaches courses and workshops at College of the Rockies,[13] Sage Hill Teen Writing Experience,[14] Write in the Kootenays and The Fernie Writers' Conference.[15] She is also an active member of the Sport Literature Association.