| Linda Spalding | |
|---|---|
| Born | Linda Dickinson 25 June 1943 Topeka, Kansas, USA |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Notable work(s) | A Dark Place in the Jungle |
Linda Spalding (née Dickinson) (born 25 June 1943) is a Canadian writer and editor. Born in Topeka, Kansas, the daughter of Jacob Alan Dickinson and Edith Senner, she lived in Mexico and Hawaii before moving to Toronto, Ontario in 1982.[1]
She has two daughters, Esta and Kristin Spalding, from her first marriage to photographer Philip Spalding. Linda Spalding is currently married to Canadian novelist Michael Ondaatje; Linda, Esta and Michael are also on the editorial board of the national literary magazine, Brick.[2]
Spalding's work has been honoured numerous times; her non-fiction work, 'The Follow', was shortlisted for the Trillium Book Award and the Writers' Trust Non-Fiction Prize. She has since received the Harbourfront Festival Prize for her contribution to the Canadian literary community.[3]
Spalding has worked as a professor of English and writing at the University of Hawaii, York University, the University of Guelph, Brown University (where she was writer-in-residence in 1991), the University of Toronto and Ryerson University. She has also taught creative writing at Humber College's School for Writers.[4] Prior to this, she has worked as a manager for Hawaii Public Television and as the director of a child care services agency in Kailua, Hawaii.