M. A. C. Farrant

M.A.C. Farrant (Marion Alice Coburn Farrant) (born April 5, 1947) is a Canadian short fiction writer, memoirist, journalist, and humourist.

Life and career

Born in Sydney, Australia, and residing on the Saanich Peninsula, Vancouver Island, Canada, since the age of five, she is the author of ten collections of satirical and humorous short fiction and a novel-length memoir, My Turquoise Years, which she has adapted into a stage play in conjunction with the Arts Club Theatre of Vancouver. B.C.; it is currently in development. Down the Road to Eternity: New & Selected Fiction was published by Talonbooks ^[1] in the Fall of 2009. The Secret Lives of Litterbugs, humour/non-fiction, appeared from Key Porter Books in April, 2009. In 2011 Talonbooks will publish The Truth about Us, a collection of Farrant's newest fiction. A full-time writer, she has been a regular book reviewer for the Vancouver Sun^[2] and the Toronto Globe and Mail since 2004^[3] . An active promoter of the literary arts, she is the co-producer and host of the Sidney Reading Series.

Farrant's work is infused with acerbic wit and iconoclastic innovation. As the Globe & Mail has noted, "M.A.C. Farrant's short stories revel in the absurdity of the modern world. If you've never heard of her, just think of her as the 'bizarro' Alice Munro."^[4]

"M.A.C. Farrant is a master of the literary equivalent of a waking dream, creating subtle insurrections disguised as prose. The Breakdown So Far, her latest collection of absurd short stories, is a minivan crammed full of weird." Toronto Star^[5]

BC Bookworld has called her "Canada's most acerbic and intelligent humourist."^[6]

Bibliography

• The Strange Truth About Us, Short fiction, Talonbooks, 2011
• Down the Road to Eternity—New & Selected Fiction, Talonbooks, 285 pages, Fall, 2009, ISBN 978-0-88922-615-9
• The Secret Lives of Litterbugs, Non-fiction/humour, Key Porter Books, 230 pages, Spring, 2009, ISBN 978-1-55470-159-9
• The Breakdown So Far, Short Fiction, Talonbooks, Vancouver, B.C., 2007, ISBN 978-0-88922-556-5, 160 pages
• My Turquoise Years, Non-fiction/Memoir, Greystone/Douglas & McIntyre, Vancouver, B.C. 2004, ISBN 1-55365-037-9, 186 pages, Canada & U.S.
• Darwin Alone In The Universe; Short fiction, Talonbooks, Vancouver B.C., 2003, ISBN 0-88922-471-4, 160 pages,
• Girls Around The House, Linked stories, (Polestar Book Publishers/Raincoast) 1999, Victoria & Vancouver, 156 pages ISBN 1-896095-93-3,
• Gifts, Short fiction, Hawthorne Society by Reference West, Victoria, November 1999, 24 pages limited edition, 150 copies, ISBN 1-894010-42-6,
• What's True, Darling, Short fiction, Polestar Book Publishers/Raincoast, 1997, Vancouver & Victoria B.C., 181 pages ISBN 1-896095-28-3,
• Word of Mouth, Novella & Short Fiction Short fiction, Thistledown Press, 1996, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, 136 pages, ISBN 1-895449-60-X,
• Altered Statements, Short fiction, Arsenal Pulp Press, Vancouver, B.C., 1995, 144 pgs, ISBN 1-55152-019-2,
• Raw Material, Short fiction, Arsenal Pulp Press, 1993, Vancouver, B.C.,136 pgs, ISBN 0-88978-262-8
• Sick Pigeon, Short fiction, Thistledown Press, 1991, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, 96 pgs, ISBN 9780920633830

Anthologies

• Lit Happens, Photographs of BC writers by Barry Peterson, Mother Tongue Press, 201
• Framing the Garden, Art & Words, Linda Rogers, Editor, Ekstasis Editions, 2010
• Slice Me Some Truth, Non-fiction, Luanne Armstrong & Zoe Landale, Editors, Wolsak & Wynn, 2010
• ditch, anthology 2 (Canadian women innovative poets), Trainwreck Press,
• St Johns, NFLD, 160 pages, published online, “Point Ten”
• Wordscapes Youth Arts Journal, Ripple Effect Arts and Literature Society (REAL); distributed to high schools in British Columbia; “Jane and Mr. Leaky”, 2008
• Imagining Place, BC Federation of Writers Anthology, Anvil Press, Daniel Francis, Editor, May, 2008, “The Secret Lives of Litterbugs”
• Apples Under the Bed, Hedgerow Press, Fall 2007; “Baked Salmon”
• Penguin Anthology of Canadian Humour, Will Ferguson, Editor, “The Heartspeak Wellness Retreat”, March, 2006, ISBN 0-670-06443-2
• This I Know, Dropped Threads, #3, Random House Canada, Editor, Marjorie Anderson, April 2006, “The Gospel According to Elsie”, ISBN 0-67931-385-0
• bill bissett Tribute Anthology, “A Universe Runs Through Him”, Nightwood Editions, Spring 2006
• George Bowering Birthday Anthology, Coach House Press, 2006, “Happy Birthday”, December 2005-
• White Gloves of the Doorman, Anthology on the work of Leon Rooke, edited by Branko Gorgup, 2004, Exile Editions, Toronto; commissioned piece, "Fat Leon". ISBN 1-55096-611-1
• Reading the Peninsula, ed by Sara Dowse, 2003 (Arts Council of the Saanich Peninsula), Sidney B.C., Skidney ISBN 0-9733471-0-4
• Listening with the Ear of the Heart, Edited by Dave Margoshes, August 2003, (St Peter’s Press, Sask,) The Mirror, ISBN 1-896971-24-5
• Ripple Effect Press, All Wound Up: Alternative Writing from British Columbia, 2002, Vancouver B.C. ISBN 1-894735-04-8, Darwin Alone in the Universe, Jane and Mr. Leakey
• Neuvo Argomenti, edited by Branko Gorgup, Rome, Italy, Special edition of English Canadian Writing, in translation, Summer 2001, ISBN 88-04-48950-2, Starring Lotta Hitchmanova
• And Other Stories, edited by George Bowering, Talon, Vancouver B.C. Spring/Summer 2001, Vancouver B.C. ISBN 9780889224513, Studies Show/Experts Say
• Exact Fare Only—Good, Bad & Ugly Rides on Public Transportation, edited by Grant Buday, Anvil Press, February 1, 2001, ISBN 1-895636-29-9, Vancouver B.C. Gifts
• Tesseracts 7, Speculative Fiction, edited by Paula Johanson & Jean-Louis Trudel, Tesseracts Books, Edmonton, title story Altered Statements from the book Altered Statements, 1998, ISBN
• The Concrete Forest, Urban fiction, edited by Hal Niedviecki, McClelland & Stewart, Toronto, title story Altered Statements from the book Altered Statements, April 1998, ISBN
• Moosehead Anthology of Postcard Fiction, edited by Robert Allen, DC Books, Montreal, "Happy Birthday" & "bed", Spring 1997, ISBN 0-919688-37-3
• What Is Already Known, Thistledown Press Ltd. 20th Anniversary Anthology, edited by Sean Virgo, "Stealing George" from Sick Pigeon ISBN 1-895449-53-7, Fall 1995
• On Spec: The First Five Years, (Books Collective: Copper Pig Writer's Society & Tesseracts Books), "Fish", ISBN 1-895836-12-3, Spring 1995
• Witness to Wilderness: The Clayoquot Sound Anthology, (Arsenal Pulp Press), "Fish", ISBN 1-55152-009-5, 1994
• Going Down Swinging, Australia, Annual Anthology, Selected Fiction, ISSN 0157-3950, 1993
• Snapshots: The New Canadian Fiction, (Black Moss Press), Selected fiction, ISBN 978-0-88753-256-6. 1992
• Going Down Swinging, Australia, (Hit And Miss Publications), Environmental Issues, "Fish", ISSN 0157-3950, 1992

Chapbooks

• Farfield Press, 2003
• Farfield Press, 2002
• Far Field Press, Anthology, ed Allan Brown, 2001, Skidney
• fingerprinting inkoperated, "Diana Ross In Wax", April 1997
• fingerprinting inkoperated, "Three" - Memorial to David UU", originally to be published as "Three" by The Berkeley Horse, #55, October 1994; released May 1995.
• fingerprinting inkoperated, "M A C", Montreal, Quebec, 1992
• The Berkeley Horse, (Silver Birch Press), "Poor Norman", No 32, 1991
• The Berkeley Horse, (Silver Birch Press), "childless", No 28, 1990
• The Berkeley Horse, (Silver Birch Press), "Raw Material", No l8, 1989

References

^[7][8]

External links