Alix Hawley

Alix Hawley is a novelist and short-story writer. She was born in Vancouver in 1975, but moved shortly afterwards to Kelowna, BC, where she began writing early. She studied for her BA (Honors) in English Literature, with a minor in Nineteenth-Century Studies, at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, where she won the Governor General’s medal as the top graduating student in the faculty of Arts. She moved to the UK to complete a M.St. and D.Phil. under Hermione Lee’s supervision at Oxford University;[1] her thesis discusses Virginia Woolf and nineteenth-century children’s culture. She went on to complete an MA in Creative Writing (Fiction) at the University of East Anglia, studying with Andrew Motion, Richard Holmes, and Paul Magrs.[2] She lists her favourite authors as: Alice Munro, Patricia Highsmith, Virginia Woolf, Anita Brookner, Colm Toibin, Peter Carey, and Hilary Mantel among many others. She’s published one book of short stories with Thistledown Press and her debut novel is set to be released by Knopf in early 2015. She now teaches English and Creative Writing at Okanagan College in Kelowna,[3] where she lives with her family.

Writing

Her first book, The Old Familiar (Thistledown Press, 2008),[4] is a collection of short stories; The Globe and Mail referred to it this way: “’Genius’ is a word I hesitate to use in a review; Hawley's work requires it.”[5] and it was longlisted for the ReLit award.[6] One of her stories, “Little Boy,” was shortlisted for the CBC Literary Awards in 2009, and another, “Tentcity,” was runner-up in 2011. Her story "Jumbo" was runner-up in 2014.[7]

Her novel, All True Not a Lie In It (Knopf 2015),[8] is a first-person account of Daniel Boone’s captivity by the Shawnee, and was signed to Knopf as part of the New Face of Fiction Program. The novel was a shortlisted nominee for the amazon.ca First Novel Award in 2015.[9]

In December 2013, Hawley's short story "Pig (for Oma)" was the winner of the Canada Writes 'Bloodlines' short story contest.[10] Her story was chosen out of over 800 entries to the contest.

References

  1. ↑ ABC BookWorld | Alix Hawley
  2. ↑ UBC Alumni Relations
  3. ↑ Okanagan College Faculty
  4. ↑ Thistledown Press | Alix Hawley
  5. ↑ Globe and Mail Review of The Old Familiar
  6. ↑ Re Lit Awards
  7. ↑ CBC Literary Awards Shortlist Q and A with Alix Hawley
  8. ↑ Quill and Quire: Knopf Signs Alix Hawley to New Face of Fiction
  9. ↑ "Amazon.ca First Novel Award shortlist announced". Quill & Quire, April 1, 2015.
  10. ↑ Kelowna writer wins Canadian contest

External links