Joan Thomas (born 1949) 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 book reviewer from

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 ...

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 o ...

. Thomas grew up in Carberry, Manitoba and later worked as a freelance journalist and book reviewer for ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'', the ''

Winnipeg Free Press The ''Winnipeg Free Press'' (or WFP; founded as the ''Manitoba Free Press'') is a daily (excluding Sunday) broadsheet newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It provides coverage of local, provincial, national, and international news, as well as ...

'' and '' Prairie Fire'', and as a book editor for Turnstone Press. She won a

National Magazine Award The National Magazine Awards, also known as the Ellie Awards, honor print and digital publications that consistently demonstrate superior execution of editorial objectives, innovative techniques, noteworthy enterprise and imaginative design. Or ...

in 1996 for her journalism. Thomas's

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to p ...

'' Reading by Lightning'' won the 2009

Commonwealth Writers' Prize Commonwealth Foundation presented a number of prizes between 1987 and 2011. 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 ...

for Best First Book (Canada/Caribbean) as well as the Amazon.ca First Novel Award. Her second novel, ''Curiosity,'' was nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, the Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction, and the McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award. Both novels were longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award. Her third novel ''The Opening Sky'' (2014) was 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.Writers' Trust Engel/Findley Award The Writers' Trust Engel/Findley Award is a Canadian literary award, presented by the Writers' Trust of Canada to an established Canadian author to honour their body of work. Presented for the first time in 2008 under the name Notable Author Awar ...

for a mid-career writer. In 2019, her novel ''

Five Wives ''Five Wives'' is a novel by Joan Thomas, published in 2019 by Harper Avenue. Russell Smith"With its examination of evangelists, Five Wives puts Joan Thomas in Alice Munro’s league" ''The Globe and Mail'', September 5, 2019. Based on the real-l ...

'' won the Governor General's Award for English-language fiction.Jane van Koeverden
"Here are the winners of the 2019 Governor General's Literary Awards"

CBC Books CBC Arts (french: Radio-Canada 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 div ...

, October 29, 2019.

Bibliography

Novels

*'' Reading by Lightning'', 2008 (

Goose Lane Editions Goose Lane Editions is a Canadian book publishing company founded in 1954 in Fredericton, New Brunswick as Fiddlehead Poetry Books by Fred Cogswell and a group of students and faculty from the University of New Brunswick associated with ''The F ...

, ) *''Curiosity'', 2010 (

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. ...

, ) *''The Opening Sky'', 2014 (

, ) *''

'', 2019 (

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News C ...

, )

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Joan 21st-century Canadian novelists Canadian literary critics Canadian book editors Canadian women editors Canadian journalists Canadian women journalists Canadian women novelists Writers from Winnipeg Writers from Manitoba Living people Canadian women short story writers Canadian women literary critics 21st-century Canadian women writers 20th-century Canadian short story writers 20th-century Canadian women writers 21st-century Canadian short story writers Canadian women non-fiction writers 1949 births Governor General's Award-winning fiction writers Amazon.ca First Novel Award winners