Claudia Maria Cornwall (born Claudia Maria Wiener, 1948 in Shanghai, China) is a Canadian writer and journalist. Her second non-fiction book, the autobiographical ''Letter from Vienna: A Daughter Uncovers her Family's Jewish Past'' won the 1996

Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize The Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize, established in 1985, is awarded annually as the BC Book Prize for the best non-fiction book by a resident of British Columbia, Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories ...

Biography

Claudia Maria Cornwall was born in Shanghai in 1948 as Claudia Maria Wiener and immigrated to Canada in 1949 with her parents, where she was baptized in the

Anglican Church Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

. She grew up in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

and studied philosophy at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

and the

University of Calgary {{Infobox university , name = University of Calgary , image = University of Calgary coat of arms without motto scroll.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms , former ...

. There she completed her Ph.D. with the thesis ''The evolution of persons'' (1975). She worked as a freelance journalist and writer, publishing in ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'', ''

Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wi ...

'' (in the Canadian, International, and Chinese editions), ''

BC Business Canada Wide Media Limited is a publishing company in Western Canada, based in Burnaby, British Columbia. History Canada Wide Media Limited co-founder and CEO Peter Legge purchased a ten-cent magazine in 1976. In 2023 it was bought by the Ali ...

'', and online magazine ''

The Tyee The Tyee is an independent daily news website based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was founded in November 2003 as an alternative to corporate media. Articles in The Tyee focus on politics, culture, and life. The Tyee was founded b ...

''. Her first book, ''Print-Outs: The Adventures of a Rebel Computer'' (1982), was a fantasy story for children and adolescents. For a long time, her parents withheld information about her family history in Austria. A letter to an uncle in Vienna, in which she asked for a picture of her father, Walter Wiener, as a youth, revealed the further truth. Her grandmother had died in a

concentration camp A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploitati ...

and her parents were of Jewish origin. In the following years, she collected the letters within her family, the official papers, the pocket diary of her grandfather, Willy Frensdorff, and undertook research trips to Germany and Austria to interview and reunite the remaining family members. On the basis of this work, Cornwall wrote the critically acclaimed and internationally accepted book ''Letter from Vienna: A Daughter Uncovers her Family's Jewish Past'' (1995). It won the

in 1996. In March 2009, Cornwall received a $20,000 grant from the

Canadian Institutes of Health Research The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR; ; IRSC) is a federal agency responsible for funding health and medical research in Canada. Comprising 13 institutes, it is the successor to the Medical Research Council of Canada. CIHR supports ...

to support its series on health care and research. This series culminated in their sixth book project, ''Catching Cancer: the quest for its viral and bacterial causes'', which was released in March 2013. In the years that followed, Cornwall focused her publications on biographies of artists from around Vancouver. This includes her 2011 biography of the late Curtis Earle Lang, a photographer and businessman with a Beatnik background, who had a twelve-year friendship with her husband. Cornwall also enlisted the technical skills of her brother, Greg, for the processing of Lang's photographic legacy. This book was well received by literary critics and nominated for the 2012 City of Vancouver Book Award. Cornwall gives seminars on creative writing of memoirs at

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a Public university, public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It maintains three campuses in Greater Vancouver, respectively located in Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, British Columbia, Surrey, and ...

and

Douglas College Douglas College is the largest college in British Columbia, Canada with 7,958 full-time equivalent students in 2023-24. Douglas College offers bachelor's degrees and general university arts and science courses, as well as career programs in h ...

in British Columbia. The writer is married to Gordon Cornwall, and has a daughter and a son who work at a university.

Works

* * * * * *

Awards and nominations

*1996 Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize for ''Letter from Vienna'' *2009 Award of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research *2012 Shortlist for the City of Vancouver Book Award for ''At the World's Edge''

References

External links

Profile of Claudia Maria Cornwall
at the British Columbia Federation of Writers
Profile of Claudia Maria Cornwall
at writersunion.ca {{DEFAULTSORT:Cornwall, Claudia Maria 1948 births Living people Writers from Shanghai Writers from Vancouver University of Calgary alumni 20th-century Canadian biographers 21st-century Canadian biographers 20th-century Canadian women writers Canadian women non-fiction writers Canadian women biographers 21st-century Canadian women writers