Suzette Mayr is a Canadian novelist who has written six critically acclaimed novels and is currently a professor at 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 ...

's Faculty of Arts. Mayr's works have won and been nominated for several literary awards.

Biography

Suzette Mayr was born in

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

.Kamboureli, Smaro. ''Making a Difference: Canadian Multicultural Literatures in English''. Don Mills: Oxford UP, 2007. Print. Originally planning to study science in her post-secondary career, Mayr changed focus due to her strong performance in English.Stallworthy, Bob.
In Silhouette: Profiles of Alberta Writers
", p. 109. Frontenac House. March 2009. A creative writing course at the University of Calgary led to her decision to pursue a writing career. She graduated with an Honours bachelor's degree in English. Following her graduation from the University of Calgary, Mayr went on to acquire a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta (also known as U of A or UAlberta, ) is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta, and Henry Marshall Tory, t ...

and a PhD from the University of New South Wales. Mayr worked as a waitress and sandwich maker before establishing herself as a professional writer. In addition to her six novels (''Moon Honey, The Widows, Venous Hum, Monoceros, Dr. Edith Vane and the Hares of Crawley Hall'', and ''The Sleeping Car Porter''), Mayr has published books of poetry and co-edited a literary anthology. Her novels and other literary works have been nominated for several awards. In 2002, Mayr participated in the Calgary Distinguished Writers Program at the University of Calgary, where she is now a professor in the Department of English and teaches courses on creative writing and contemporary literature studies. Mayr, a Canadian of German and Afro-Caribbean background, often explores issues of race, identity and sex in her writing through the stylistic use of humour, cultural mythologies and surreal imagery.

''The Sleeping Car Porter'' (2022)

'' The Sleeping Car Porter'', published in 2022, centres on R.T. Baxter, a closeted gay Black Canadian man working as a

porter Porter may refer to: Companies * Porter Airlines, Canadian airline based in Toronto * Porter Chemical Company, a defunct U.S. toy manufacturer of chemistry sets * Porter Motor Company, defunct U.S. car manufacturer * H.K. Porter, Inc., a locom ...

on a cross-Canada railway. ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'' named it one of the top ten works of fiction published in 2022. The novel was the winner of the 2022

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 ...

. In 2023, it was longlisted for the inaugural Carol Shields Prize for Fiction, and shortlisted for the

Governor General's Award for English-language fiction The Governor General's Award for English-language fiction is a Canadian literary award that annually recognizes one Canadian writer for a fiction book written in English.2023 Governor General's Awards The shortlisted nominees for the 2023 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit were announced on October 25, 2023, and the winners were announced on November 8. It was also shortlisted for the 2024

International Dublin Literary Award The International Dublin Literary Award (), established as the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1996, is presented each year for a novel written or translated into English. It promotes excellence in world literature and is solely ...

Awards

Mayr's first published novel, ''Moon Honey'', was nominated for two

Alberta Literary Awards The Alberta Literary Awards (ALA), administered by the Writers Guild of Alberta, have been awarded annually since 1982 to recognize outstanding writing by Alberta authors. The awards honour fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, and children's literat ...

: the Georges Bugnet Award for Best Novel and the Henry Kreisel Award for Best First book. ''The Widows'', Mayr's second novel, was shortlisted for the

Commonwealth Writers' Prize Commonwealth Foundation has presented a number of prizes since 1987. The main award was called the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was composed of two prizes: the Best Book Prize (overall and regional) was awarded from 1987 to 2011; the Best First ...

for best book in the Canadian-Caribbean region. Mayr's fourth novel, ''Monoceros'', won the

ReLit Award The ReLit Awards are Canadian literary prizes awarded annually to book-length works in the novel, short-story and poetry categories."Three indie writers honoured by ReLit Awards". ''The Globe and Mail'', July 19, 2007. Founded in 2000 by Newfoundla ...

and W. O. Mitchell Award. It was also nominated for a

Ferro-Grumley Award The Ferro-Grumley Award is an annual literary award, presented by Publishing Triangle and the Ferro-Grumley Foundation to a book deemed the year's best work of LGBT fiction. The award is presented in memory of writers Robert Ferro and Michael Gru ...

, and longlisted for the 2011

.Mark Medley, "Ondaatje, Vanderhaeghe on Giller Prize longlist". ''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as the Bytown ''Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris (journalist), William Harris, it was renamed the ''Ci ...

'', September 8, 2011. In 2022, Mayr won the Giller Prize for her novel '' The Sleeping Car Porter''.

List of works

Novels

* ''Moon Honey'' (1995) * ''The Widows'' (1998) * ''Venous Hum'' (2004) * ''Monoceros'' (2011) * ''Dr. Edith Vane and the Hares of Crawley Hall'' (2017) * '' The Sleeping Car Porter'' (2022) ;Poetry * ''Zebra Talk'' (1991) * ''Tale'' (2001)

Anthologized works

* "Scalps" in ''Boundless Alberta'' (1993) * "Glass Anatomy" in ''Eye Wuz Here'' (1996) * "Toot Suite Matricia" in ''Threshold'' (1999) and ''

So Long Been Dreaming ''So Long Been Dreaming: Postcolonial Science Fiction & Fantasy'' (2004) is an English language anthology of science fiction and fantasy short stories by African, Asian, South Asian, and Indigenous authors, as well as North American and British w ...

'' (2004) * "Nipple Gospel" in ''And Other Stories'' (2001)

Other

Mayr is a past president of the Writers' Guild of Alberta. In 2010, she served on the jury for the Dayne Ogilvie Prize, a literary award for emerging

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

writers in Canada, selecting Nancy Jo Cullen as that year's prize winner."Writer Nancy Jo Cullen is a rising talent"
. ''

Xtra! ''Xtra Magazine'' (formerly ''DailyXtra'' and ''Xtra!'') is an LGBTQ-focused digital publication and former print newspaper published by Pink Triangle Press in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The publication is a continuation of the company's former p ...

'', 9 September 2010.

References

External links

In Silhouette: Portraits of Alberta Writers
at Fontenac House, 2009, by Bob Stallworthy (See pages 118–124 for detailed profile of Suzette Mayr).
Suzette Mayr's University of Calgary profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mayr, Suzette 20th-century Canadian LGBTQ people 20th-century Canadian novelists 20th-century Canadian women writers 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people 21st-century Canadian novelists 21st-century Canadian women writers 1967 births Academic staff of the University of Calgary Black Canadian LGBTQ people Black Canadian women poets Canadian lesbian writers Canadian LGBTQ novelists Canadian women novelists Lesbian novelists Living people University of Alberta alumni Western Canada High School alumni Poets from Calgary Black Canadian novelists Black Canadian women novelists 21st-century Canadian poets Canadian women poets Black Canadian poets Canadian LGBTQ poets Novelists from Alberta