Naomi K. Lewis

Naomi K. Lewis (born 1976) is a Canadian fiction and nonfiction writer who resides in Calgary. She is the winner of the 2012 Colophon Prize.[1]

Life and career

Lewis was born in London, England, and grew up near Washington, DC and in Ottawa. She lived in Toronto, Fredericton and Edmonton, and completed degrees in philosophy and English literature, before settling in Calgary.[2]

Work

Lewis’s first novel, Cricket in a Fist, was published by Goose Lane Editions in 2008. Cricket in a Fist follows two sisters searching for their mother, who has left the family to start a self-help movement called “willing amnesia.”[3] Lewis then co-wrote In Case of Fire, the bestselling 2010 memoir of Edmonton burn survivor and workplace safety advocate Spencer Beach. In Case of Fire recounts Beach’s youth, focusing on the attitudes he believes led him to the workplace fire that almost killed him; his years-long recovery; and his resolve to rebuild himself as a professional speaker, with the aim of helping other workers avoid preventable workplace accidents.[4] Lewis and Beach met by chance in an elevator. Lewis’s story, “The Guiding Light” won the 2007 Fiddlehead fiction contest and appeared in the McClelland and Stewart’s 2008 Journey Prize Anthology.[5][6] Lewis' collection I Know Who You Remind Me Of won the 2012 Colophon Prize, which the publisher Enfield & Wizenty awards to the best unpublished manuscript with “literary and commercial appeal.” The book’s eight short stories and one novella follow characters haunted by long-ago decisions, loves and grudges— a grad student who impersonated a high school classmate in Internet pornography, a man who gave his eyeball to a former lover, a woman bent on finally outdoing her sister by skydiving from space.[7] Previous recipients of this award have included Michelle Berry and W.P. Kinsella. In 2011, Lewis served as the Calgary Public Library's Writer in Residence.[8]

Lewis is associate editor at Alberta Views magazine,[9] and her article “The Urge to Purge,” about detox diets, was shortlisted for a 2011 Canadian National Magazine Award. With Calgary writer Rona Altrows, she edited an anthology of essays and poetry about shyness, published by the University of Alberta Press in 2013.[10]

References

  1. ↑ Allison MacLachlan (2012-01-26). "Naomi K. Lewis wins Colophon Prize | Quillblog | Quill & Quire". Quillandquire.com. Retrieved 2012-08-01.
  2. ↑ Goose Lane. "Naomi K. Lewis Author bio". Goose Lane. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
  3. ↑ Nutter, Catherine. "Sins of the Mothers". Back of the Book. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
  4. ↑ Hartog, Lauren. "A Casualty of Work". Alberta Venture. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
  5. ↑ Journey Prize Stories. "List". McLelland & Stewart. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
  6. ↑ "List of Backissues". The Fiddlehead. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
  7. ↑ "Great Plains Publications". F12. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
  8. ↑ Rivard, Philip. "Naomi K. Lewis 2011 Writer in Residence". Calgary Public Library. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
  9. ↑ Alberta Views. "Contact Page". Retrieved 1 August 2012.
  10. ↑ When Words Collide Festival. "When Words Collide Speakers". Retrieved 1 August 2012.

External links

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