Elizabeth Grace Hay (born October 22, 1951) is a Canadian

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire ...

and short story writer. Her 2007 novel ''

Late Nights on Air ''Late Nights on Air'' is a novel by Canadian writer Elizabeth Hay, published by McClelland & Stewart in 2007. In the book, the author chronicles her experiences as a CBC Radio journalist. The novel is set at a radio station in Yellowknife, ...

'' won the Giller Prize. Her first novel ''A Student of Weather'' (2000) was a finalist for the

Giller Prize The Giller Prize (sponsored as the Scotiabank Giller Prize), is a literary award given to a Canadian author of a novel or short story collection published in English (including translation) the previous year, after an annual juried competition b ...

and won the CAA MOSAID Technologies Award for Fiction and the TORGI Award. She has been a finalist for the

Governor General's Award The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields. The first award was conceived and inaugurated in 1937 by th ...

twice, for her short-story collection ''Small Change'' in

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

and her novel '' Garbo Laughs'' in

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A ...

. ''His Whole Life'' (2015) was shortlisted for the

Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize The Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, formerly known as the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, is a Canadian literary award presented by the Writers' Trust of Canada after an annual juried competition of works submitted by publishers. A ...

. Hay's memoir about the last years of her parents' lives, ''All Things Consoled'', won the 2018 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction. In 2002, she received the

Marian Engel Award Marian may refer to: People * Mari people, a Finno-Ugric ethnic group in Russia * Marian (given name), a list of people with the given name * Marian (surname), a list of people so named Places * Marian, Iran (disambiguation) * Marian, Queensla ...

, presented by the

Writers' Trust of Canada The Writers' Trust of Canada (french: La Société d'encouragement aux écrivains du Canada) is a registered charity which provides financial support to Canadian writers. Founded by Margaret Atwood, Pierre Berton, Graeme Gibson, Margaret Laure ...

to an established female writer for her body of work — including novels, short fiction, and creative non-fiction.

Life

Hay was born on October 22, 1951 in Owen Sound,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. She is the daughter of a high school principal and a painter. She spent a year in England when she was fifteen and later attended the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

. In September, 1972, she quit university and a few months later travelled out west by train. The following year she returned to Toronto and finished her degree in English and Philosophy. In 1974 she moved to

Yellowknife Yellowknife (; Dogrib: ) is the capital, largest community, and only city in the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is on the northern shore of Great Slave Lake, about south of the Arctic Circle, on the west side of Yellowknife Bay near the ...

, NWT. She worked for ten years as a

CBC radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined belo ...

broadcaster in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749 ...

and

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

and then moved to

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

, where she freelanced for the CBC. In 1986 she settled in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, and then returned to Canada in 1992 with her family. She lives in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the c ...

with her husband Mark Fried, a literary translator. She has two children: a son, Ben, and a daughter, Sochi.

Critical reputation and style

In an interview with the CBC in 2007, Hay commented on the relationship between her writing and her career in radio. "When I worked in Yellowknife," she said, "I was writing poetry and stories on the side and not getting very far. I felt kind of schizophrenic, like my radio work was one type of thing and my writing was another and there was a gap between. That became even more pronounced when I started working for CBC's Sunday Morning, doing radio documentaries. I took me a while to realize that there didn't need to be such a wide gap between those two forms of writing, and that they could cross-fertilize. Good radio writing is similar to any good writing. It's direct and economical and intimate and full of detail. Also, it sets your visual imagination working."

Bibliography

Novels

* '' A Student of Weather'' (2000)

McClelland & Stewart McClelland & Stewart Limited is a Canadian publishing company. It is owned by Random House of Canada, Penguin Random House of Canada, a branch of Penguin Random House, the international book publishing division of German media giant Bertelsmann. ...

* '' Garbo Laughs'' (2003)

* ''

'' (2007)

* ''Alone in the Classroom'' (2011)

* ''His Whole Life'' (2015)

Short Story Collections

* ''Small Change'' (1997)

The Porcupine's Quill The Porcupine's Quill is an independent publishing company in Erin, Ontario, Canada. The Porcupine's Quill publishes contemporary Canadian literature, including poetry, fiction, art and literary criticism. It is owned and operated by Tim and Elke ...

(republished by

in 2000)

Short stories

*"The Friend" (in ''The'' ''Penguin Book of Canadian Short Stories'', edited by

Jane Urquhart Jane Urquhart, LL.D (born June 21, 1949) is a Canadian novelist and poet. She is the internationally acclaimed author of seven award-winning novels, three books of poetry and numerous short stories. As a novelist, Urquhart is well known for her e ...

, 2007,

Penguin Canada Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.

Non-fiction

* A non-fiction trilogy about Elizabeth Hay's travels outside of Canada: ** ''Crossing the Snow Line'' (1989) Black Moss Press ** '' The Only Snow in Havana'' (1992)

Cormorant Books Cormorant Books Inc is a Canadian book publishing company."Two houses under ...

** ''Captivity Tales: Canadians in New York'' (1993) New Star Books * ''All Things Consoled: a daughter's memoir'' (2018)

Essays

*"Ten Beauty Tips You Never Asked For" (in ''Dropped Threads 2'', edited by

Carol Shields Carol Ann Shields, (née Warner; June 2, 1935 – July 16, 2003) was an American-born Canadian novelist and short story writer. She is best known for her 1993 novel ''The Stone Diaries'', which won the U.S. Pulitzer Prize for Fiction as well as ...

and Marjorie Anderson, 2003,

Vintage Canada Random House of Canada was the Canadian distributor for Random House, Inc. from 1944 until 2013. On July 1, 2013, it amalgamated with Penguin Canada to become Penguin Random House Canada. Company history Random House of Canada was established in ...

) *"The Most Fearless Book I Read" (in ''The Book I Read'', edited by Peder Zane, 2004, Norton) *"My Debt to D.H. Lawrence" (in ''Writing Life: Celebrated Canadian and International Authors on Writing and Life'', edited by Constance Rooke, 2006,

) *"Between Books" (in ''Finding the Words: Writers on Inspiration, Desire, War, Celebrity, Exile, and Breaking the Rules'', edited by Jared Bland, 2011,

) *"The Mother as Material" (in ''The Cambridge Companion to Alice Munro'', edited by David Staines, 2016,

Cambridge UP Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambridge University Press i ...

)

Anthologies

*''Short Fiction, an Anthology'', edited by Rosemary Sullivan and Mark Levene,

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print book ...

, 2003 *''The Scotiabank Giller Prize 15 Years: An Anthology of Prize-Winning Canadian Fiction'', Penguin, 2008 *''Best Canadian Essays 2010'', Tightrope Books, 2010

Prizes and honours

*1993 Co-Winner,

Edna Staebler Award The Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction is an annual literary award recognizing the previous year's best creative nonfiction book with a "Canadian locale and/or significance" that is a Canadian writer's "first or second published book of ...

for

Creative Non-Fiction Creative nonfiction (also known as literary nonfiction or narrative nonfiction or literary journalism or verfabula) is a genre of writing that uses literary styles and techniques to create factually accurate narratives. Creative nonfiction contra ...

(for '' The Only Snow in Havana'')''Wilfrid Laurier University''
1993: Elizabeth Hay, retrieved 11/17/2012 *1997 Finalist, Governor General's Award for Fiction (for ''Small Change'') *1997 Finalist, Rogers Communication Writers' Trust Fiction Prize (for ''Small Change'') *1997 Finalist,

Trillium Book Award The Trillium Book Award (french: Prix littéraire Trillium or ''Prix Trillium'') is an annual literary award presented to writers in Ontario, Canada. It is administered by Ontario Creates, a Crown agency of the Government of Ontario, which is o ...

(for ''Small Change'') *2000 CAA MOSAID Technologies Award for Fiction *2000 Finalist,

(for ''A Student of Weather'') *2000 Finalist,

Ottawa Book Award Ottawa Book Award and Prix du livre d'Ottawa is a Canadian literary award presented by the City of Ottawa to the best English and French language books written in the previous year by a living author residing in Ottawa.

(for ''A Student of Weather'') *2000 TORGI Award *2002 Marian Engel Award (Writers' Trust of Canada) *2003 Finalist, Governor-General's Award for Fiction (for ''A Student of Weather'') *2003

(for ''Garbo Laughs'') *2007

(for ''Late Nights on Air'') *2009 Nominated, IMPAC Dublin Literary Award *2012 Diamond Jubilee Medal *2015 Finalist, Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize *2015 Finalist, Ottawa Book Award *2018 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction (for ''All Things Consoled'')

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hay, Elizabeth 1951 births Living people Canadian non-fiction writers Canadian women non-fiction writers Canadian women novelists Canadian women short story writers People from Owen Sound Writers from Ontario 20th-century Canadian novelists 20th-century Canadian short story writers 20th-century Canadian women writers 21st-century Canadian novelists 21st-century Canadian short story writers 21st-century Canadian women writers