Casey Plett (born June 20, 1987) is a Canadian writer, best known for her novel '' Little Fish,'' her

Lambda Literary Award Lambda Literary Awards, also known as the "Lammys", are awarded yearly by Lambda Literary Foundation, Lambda Literary to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ+ writers play in shaping the world. The Lammys celebrate the very best in LGBTQ+ literatur ...

winning short story collection, ''A Safe Girl to Love'', and her

Giller Prize The Giller Prize (known as the Scotiabank Giller Prize from 2005-2023) 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 co ...

-nominated short story collection, ''A Dream of a Woman''. Plett is a

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

woman, and she often centers this experience in her writing.

Personal life

Plett was born in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

and grew up in a

Mennonite Mennonites are a group of Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian communities tracing their roots to the epoch of the Radical Reformation. The name ''Mennonites'' is derived from the cleric Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland, part of ...

family in

Morden, Manitoba Morden is a city located in the Pembina Valley region of southern Manitoba, Canada near the United States border. It is about west of the neighbouring city of Winkler, Manitoba, Winkler and they are often referred to as Manitoba's Twin Cities. Mo ...

. She attended high school in

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lane County, Oregon, United States. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie River (Oregon), McKenzie and Willamette River, Willamette rivers, ...

, and later moved to

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

for college and New York for graduate school. She has lived in Windsor,

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. Plett currently teaches at

Ohio University Ohio University (Ohio or OU) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Athens, Ohio, United States. The university was first conceived in the 1787 contract between the United States Department of the Treasury#Re ...

Career

Plett previously wrote a regular column about her

gender transition Gender transition is the process of affirming and expressing one's internal sense of gender, rather than the sex assigned to them at birth. It is a recommended course of treatment for individuals experiencing gender dysphoria, providing impro ...

for ''

McSweeney's Internet Tendency McSweeney's Publishing is an American nonprofit publishing house founded by Dave Eggers in 1998 and headquartered in San Francisco. The executive director is Amanda Uhle. McSweeney's first publication was the literary journal'' Timothy McSwee ...

''."Winnipeg author mines her experiences and those of other trans women in fearless collection of short stories". ''

Winnipeg Free Press The ''Free Press'' (or FP; founded as the ''Manitoba Free Press''; previously known as the ''Winnipeg Free Press'') is a daily (excluding Sunday) broadsheet newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It provides coverage of local, provincial, natio ...

'', June 19, 2014. She is a book reviewer for the ''

'' and has published work in ''

Rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience, a rookie is typically considered needing more tra ...

'', '' Plenitude'', ''

The Walrus ''The Walrus'' is an independent, nonprofit Canadian media organization. It is multi-platform and produces an eight-issue-per-year magazine and online editorial content that includes current affairs, fiction, poetry, and podcasts, a nation ...

'', and ''Two Serious Ladies''. In addition to her work as an author she is the co-editor with Cat Fitzpatrick of ''Meanwhile, Elsewhere: Science Fiction and Fantasy from Transgender Writers'', an anthology of

speculative fiction Speculative fiction is an umbrella term, umbrella genre of fiction that encompasses all the subgenres that depart from Realism (arts), realism, or strictly imitating everyday reality, instead presenting fantastical, supernatural, futuristic, or ...

from

authors from Topside Press. ''Meanwhile, Elsewhere'' received a

Stonewall Book Award The Stonewall Book Award is a set of three literary awards that annually recognize "exceptional merit relating to the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender experience" in English-language books published in the U.S. They are sponsored by the Rainbo ...

in 2018. After Topside was disbanded, Plett and Fitzpatrick co-founded LittlePuss Press, done initially to continue the printing of ''Meanwhile, Elsewhere''. Afterwards, they published ''Faltas'', which was the recipient of the 2023 Stonewall Award in the nonfiction category. She has cited Imogen Binnie, Elena Rose, and Julia Serano as some of her influences. Her 2014 short story collection ''A Safe Girl to Love'' was reprinted by

Arsenal Pulp Press Arsenal Pulp Press is a Canadian independent book publishing company, based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The company publishes a broad range of titles in both fiction and non-fiction, focusing primarily on underrepresented genres such as und ...

with a new afterword from the author in 2023. Her short story collection, ''A Dream of a Woman,'' was longlisted for the 2021

."Miriam Toews, Omar El Akkad & Katherena Vermette among 12 authors longlisted for $100K Scotiabank Giller Prize"

CBC Books CBC Arts () is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that creates and curates written articles, short documentaries, non-fiction series and interactive projects that represent the excellence of Canada's diverse artistic communitie ...

, September 8, 2021. Plett then served on the

jury in 2022.

Awards

Selected works

Works by Plett include the following: * * * * *

References

External links

Casey Plett
{{DEFAULTSORT:Plett, Casey Living people Canadian women literary critics Canadian women short story writers Canadian women novelists Lambda Literary Award winners Stonewall Book Award winners Transgender women writers Canadian transgender writers Writers from Winnipeg Writers from Windsor, Ontario Novelists from Manitoba 21st-century Canadian short story writers 21st-century Canadian women writers 21st-century Canadian novelists Canadian women columnists Canadian women bloggers 1987 births Canadian LGBTQ novelists Mennonite writers Canadian Mennonites LGBTQ bloggers LGBTQ Mennonites Amazon.ca First Novel Award winners Transgender novelists 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people Canadian transgender women Novelists from Ontario