Cynthia Flood

Cynthia Flood
Born Cynthia Creighton
September 17, 1940
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Occupation fiction writer
Nationality Canadian
Period 1980s-present
Notable works My Father Took a Cake to France, Making a Stone of the Heart, Red Girl Rat Boy
Relatives Donald Creighton, father
Luella Creighton, mother

Cynthia Flood (born September 17, 1940)[1] is a Canadian short-story writer and novelist. The daughter of novelist Luella Creighton and historian Donald Creighton,[1][2] she grew up primarily in Toronto.[1] After attending the University of Toronto she spent some years in the United States, where she married Maurice Flood before moving to British Columbia in 1969.[3]

She has been active in many socialist, feminist, anti-war, and environmental groups, and in the faculty union while an English instructor at Langara College (1971-2001).[3] Maurice came out as gay in the 1970s, and was a prominent organizer with the Gay Alliance Toward Equality.[3] In 1973, both Maurice and Cynthia actively campaigned to have the federal New Democratic Party more explicitly include gay rights in its platform.[4] She and Maurice separated in 1981. Cynthia continued activity in the NDP and in the women's movement for years after that. As a member of Women Against the Budget, she participated in Vancouver's Solidarity movement (1985). As the 80s went on, she began to focus on her writing.

After retirement, she briefly taught creative writing in Simon Fraser University's writing and publishing program.

Flood's first three books of short fiction are The Animals in Their Elements My Father Took a Cake to France (Talonbooks, 1987 and 1992), and The English Stories (Biblioasis 2009). The title story from My Father Took a Cake to France won the Journey Prize in 1990,[5] and she has also won awards from Western Magazines and Prism International. Her work has been widely anthologized, and has been repeatedly included in Best Canadian Stories. Her novel Making a Stone of the Heart (Key Porter, 2002) was nominated for the City of Vancouver Book Award that year.

Her collection, The English Stories was published in April 2009 by Biblioasis. These short fictions are set in 1950s England. One, "Religious Knowledge," won the National Magazine Gold Award in 2000, after its publication in PRISM International. Another, "Learning to Dance," is included in Best Canadian Stories 2008, edited by John Metcalf.

Flood's latest collection, Red Girl Rat Boy (Biblioasis 2013), was chosen by January Magazine and Quill & Quire as one of 2013's notable books. It was shortlisted for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize from BC Book Prizes, and long-listed for the Frank O'Connor Short Story award. Her work appears regularly in literary magazines and in "Best Canadian Stories", and in 2017 Biblioasis will publish her fifth book of short fictions, "What Can You Do."

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Vancouver writer wins $10,000 Canadian fiction prize". The Globe and Mail, May 25, 1990.
  2. ↑ W. H. New, Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada. University of Toronto Press, 2002. ISBN 0802007619. "Creighton, Luella Sanders", p. 247.
  3. 1 2 3 "Figures of Authority". Books in Canada.
  4. ↑ "NDP Conference". The Body Politic, Volume 9 (1973).
  5. ↑ "Cynthia Flood, Contributor - Banff Centre Press".
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