Annabel Lyon (born 1971) is a Canadian novelist and short-story writer. She has published two collections of short fiction, two young adult novels, and two adult historical novels, ''The Golden Mean'' and its sequel, ''The Sweet Girl''.

Life and work

Lyon was born in

Brampton Brampton ( or ) is a city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Brampton is a city in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a List of municipalities in Ontario#Lower-tier municipalities, lower-tier municipalit ...

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 ...

, north-west of

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 ancho ...

, but moved to

Coquitlam Coquitlam ( ) is a city in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, Canada. Mainly suburban, Coquitlam is the List of cities in British Columbia, sixth-largest city in the province, with a population of 148,625 in 2021, and one of the 21 municipa ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, when she was a year old. She completed her

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

Philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a public research university in British Columbia, Canada, with three campuses, all in Greater Vancouver: Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, and Vancouver. The main Burnaby campus on Burnaby Mountain, located from ...

and an MFA in

Creative Writing Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary ...

at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

. In addition, she attended the

Faculty of Law A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In American usage such divisions are generally referred to as colleges ...

for one year. Lyon published her first book, ''Oxygen'', a collection of stories, in 2000. ''The Best Thing for You'', a collection of three novellas, followed in 2004 and was nominated for the

Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize The Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, established in 1985 as one of the BC and Yukon Book Prizes, is awarded annually to the best work of fiction by a resident of British Columbia, Canada. The award is named after novelist and short story A short stor ...

. Her first novel, ''The Golden Mean'', which imagines the relationship between

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, wikt:Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Maced ...

and his teacher,

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...

, was published in 2009. It held the distinction of being the only book nominated that year for all three of Canada's major fiction prizes: the

Scotiabank 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 be ...

, 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.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 ...

."Annabel Lyon wins Writer's Trust award"
. ''The Globe and Mail'', November 25, 2009. Of the three, she won the Rogers Prize. The book has been translated into six languages. A sequel, ''The Sweet Girl'', which explores the life of Aristotle's daughter, Pythias, was published in September 2012. Her novel ''Consent'' was longlisted for the Giller Prize in 2020.Deborah Dundas

''

toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

'', September 8, 2020. She lives in

New Westminster New Westminster (colloquially known as New West) is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It was founded by Major-General Richard Moody as the capita ...

, one of 13 cities in

Metro Vancouver The Metro Vancouver Regional District (MVRD), or simply Metro Vancouver, is a Canadian political subdivision and corporate entity representing the metropolitan area of Greater Vancouver, designated by provincial legislation as one of the 28 ...

Bibliography

Short fiction

* ''Oxygen'' (2000) McClelland & Stewart * ''The Best Thing for You'' (2004) McClelland & Stewart * ''Saturday Night Function'' (2004) Biblioasis * ''Imagining ancient women.'' 2012.

Henry Kreisel Henry Kreisel, OC (June 5, 1922 – April 22, 1991) was a Canadian writer of novels and essays. Kreisel was born in Vienna, Austria to a Polish-born mother and a Romanian-born father. The family, which was Jewish, managed to reach Britain jus ...

Memorial Lecture Series,

University of Alberta Press University of Alberta Press (UAlberta Press) is a publishing house and a division of the University of Alberta that engages in academic publishing. Overview UAlberta Press is situated in the Rutherford Library on the University of Alberta campu ...

Novels

*''All-Season Edie'' (2009) Orca Book Publishers *''The Golden Mean'' (2009)

Random House 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 i ...

*''Encore Edie'' (2010) Puffin Canada *''The Sweet Girl'' (2012)

*''Consent'' (2020)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyon, Annabel 1971 births 21st-century Canadian novelists Canadian women novelists Living people People from Brampton Writers from Ontario People from Coquitlam Writers from British Columbia Canadian women short story writers 21st-century Canadian women writers 21st-century Canadian short story writers