Robin McGrath

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Robin McGrath (born March 29, 1949) is a Canadian writer from St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. [1]

Contents

Early career

The daughter of former Newfoundland politician James McGrath, [1] she completed a Ph.D. in English literature at the University of Western Ontario, and later taught at the University of Alberta. [1] During her academic career, she also wrote for the London Free Press and the Edmonton Journal , and published Canadian Inuit Literature: The Development of a Tradition, one of the first-ever academic studies of Inuit oral literary traditions. [2] She left academia and returned to St. John's in 1993 to pursue creative writing. [1]

Writing career

She published the short fiction collection Trouble and Desire in 1996, [3] which was a Newfoundland and Labrador Book Award nominee in 1998. [4]

Escaped Domestics, her first poetry collection, followed in 1998. [5] The book was a J. M. Abraham Poetry Award nominee, [6] and won a Canadian Jewish Book Award for poetry in 1999. [7]

In 1999 she published the young adult novel Hoist Your Sails and Run. [8] The book was a nominee for the Ann Connor Brimer Award in 2001. [9] In 2002, the Resource Centre for the Arts staged her theatrical play A Mountain of Shoes, about a young Holocaust survivor who settles in Newfoundland, [10] and she published the novel Donovan's Station. [11] The novel was a Commonwealth Writers Prize nominee for Canada and the Caribbean in 2003. [12]

In 2005 she published the poetry collection Covenant of Salt, [13] for which she received another J.M. Abraham Poetry Award nomination in 2006. [14]

Her 2009 novel The Winterhouse won a Canadian Jewish Book Award for fiction in 2010. [15]

She has also published the novels Gone to the Ice (2003), [16] and Livyers World (2007) [17] and the non-fiction books Salt Fish and Shmattes: The History of the Jews in Newfoundland and Labrador from 1770 (2006), a history of the Jewish community in Newfoundland and Labrador, [18] and Life on the Mista Shipu: Dispatches from Labrador (2018). [19]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Aaron Peach, "Robin McGrath (1949-)". Heritage Newfoundland and Labrador, 2006.
  2. ↑ Ruth Panofsky, "Escaped Domestics, by Robin McGrath". Quill & Quire , Winter 1999.
  3. ↑ "Over the transom". The Globe and Mail , February 10, 1996.
  4. ↑ "Provincial book awards short list announced". The Telegram , March 19, 1998.
  5. ↑ Janet Fraser, "Poems full of life, love, laughter". The Telegram , November 22, 1998.
  6. ↑ "Atlantic Writing Award nominees announced". Halifax Daily News , April 24, 1999.
  7. ↑ "Story about life in a Polish shtetl wins Jewish writing prize". The Globe and Mail , May 4, 1999.
  8. ↑ Mike McCarthy, "McGrath pens winning yarn". The Telegram , March 12, 2000.
  9. ↑ "David Adams Richards up for Atlantic prize". The Globe and Mail , April 24, 2001.
  10. ↑ Gordon Jones, "A Mountain of Shoes: short show, deep impact". The Telegram , March 8, 2002.
  11. ↑ Margaret Macpherson, "Same old same old from the Rock: Interesting story has familiar ring". Edmonton Journal , September 29, 2002.
  12. ↑ Allison Lawlor, "Polished Hoe wins Commonwealth book award". The Globe and Mail , March 4, 2003.
  13. ↑ Barb Carey, "Homage to the island and its ways; A pair of Newfs celebrate homeland culture". Toronto Star , May 1, 2005.
  14. ↑ "N.B. author makes awards short list". Times & Transcript , April 15, 2006.
  15. ↑ Morley Walker, "Winnipeg authors win national awards". Winnipeg Free Press , April 7, 2010.
  16. ↑ Lynn Barter, "McGrath novel terrific, Ode to Newfoundland pictures stunning". The Telegram , June 15, 2003.
  17. ↑ "Morgan, McNaughton take N.L. book prizes". CBC News Newfoundland and Labrador, May 28, 2008.
  18. ↑ Jean Edwards Stacey, "Author publishes research about Jews in province". The Telegram , August 20, 2006.
  19. ↑ Sal Sawler, "10 Hot New Books to Fuel Your Winter". Atlantic Books, November 29, 2018.
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