Kaie Kellough (born 1975) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

poet and novelist. He was born 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 ...

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, ...

, raised in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, and in 1998 moved to

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, where he lives.

Writing

Kellough has published three books of poetry, two audio recordings, one novel, and one collection of short stories. He is also a practitioner of vocal sound poetry. His work multiplies and layers voice, while exploring the fundamentals of language-production. His experimental debut novel, ''Accordéon'', takes the form of a transcript of someone being interrogated by three agents from a Ministry of Culture, and was a shortlisted nominee for the

Amazon.ca First Novel Award The Amazon.ca First Novel Award, formerly the Books in Canada First Novel Award, is a Canadian literary award, co-presented by Amazon.ca and ''The Walrus'' to the best first novel in English language, English published the previous year by a citize ...

. The novel was inspired by the conflict over the proposed

Quebec Charter of Values The Charter of Quebec Values () was Bill 60 in the Canadian province of Quebec, introduced by the governing Parti Québécois in 2013 under Premier Pauline Marois, trying to legislate the Quebec controversy on reasonable accommodation. The PQ cab ...

. Writing for the

Montreal Review of Books Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal Mount Roya ...

, Sara Spike calls it "a remarkable work of experimental fiction that pushes back against those who would forward a singular narrative of this unabashedly contradictory city, celebrating instead the messy multiplicity of Montreal." Having mostly abandoned written poems in favor of sound work, Kellough only began to draw together the poems that would become Magnetic Equator after an encounter with

Dionne Brand Dionne Brand (born 7 January 1953) is a Canadian poet, novelist, essayist and documentarian. She was Toronto's third Poet Laureate from September 2009 to November 2012. She was admitted to the Order of Canada in 2017

at a literary festival in 2017.

Bibliography

Poetry

*''Lettricity'' (Cumulus Press 2005) *''Maple Leaf Rag'' (Arbeiter Ring Publishing 2010, shortlisted for the Manuela Dias Design Award, Manitoba Book Awards) *''Magnetic Equator'' (McClelland and Stewart 2019, shortlisted for the 2019 QWF A.M. Klein Award for Poetry, and winner of the 2020

Griffin Poetry Prize The Griffin Poetry Prize is Canada's most generous poetry award. It was founded in 2000 by businessman and philanthropist Scott Griffin. Before 2022, the awards went to one Canadian and one international poet who writes in the English language. ...

)

Audio

*''Vox:Versus'' (WOW 2011) *''Creole Continuum'' (HOWL 2014)

Fiction

*''Accordéon'' (ARP Books 2016, shortlisted for the 2017 Amazon/Walrus Foundation First Novel Award) *''Dominoes at the Crossroads'' (Véhicule Press 2020, longlisted for the 2020 Giller Prize)

Awards

Kellough's poetry collection ''Magnetic Equator'' (2019) was shortlisted for the QWF A.M. Klein Award for Poetry that same year, and won the 2020

. His short story collection ''Dominoes at the Crossroads'' was longlisted for the

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 ...

in 2020 and 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 ...

for short fiction in 2021, and won the Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction at the 2020

Quebec Writers' Federation Awards The Quebec Writers' Federation Awards are a series of Canadian literary awards, presented annually by the Quebec Writers' Federation to the best works of literature in English by writers from Quebec. They were known from 1988 to 1998 as the QSPELL ...

.Ryan Porter
"Kaie Kellough wins Quebec Writers’ Federation’s fiction prize"
''

Quill & Quire ''Quill & Quire'' is a Canadian magazine about the book and publishing industry. The magazine was launched in 1935 and has an average circulation of 5,000 copies per issue, with a publisher-claimed readership of 25,000. ''Quill & Quire'' reviews ...

'', November 5, 2020. The book was a shortlisted finalist for the

Danuta Gleed Literary Award The Danuta Gleed Literary Award is a Canadian national literary prize, awarded since 1998. It recognizes the best debut short fiction collection by a Canadian author in English language. The annual prize was founded by John Gleed in honour of his ...

in 2021.Vicky Qiao
"Jack Wang wins $10K Danuta Gleed Literary Award for best first short story collection for We Two Alone"

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 ...

, May 28, 2021. He is the first person to be nominated for the Griffin Poetry Prize and the Scotiabank Giller Prize in the same year.

References

External links

Kaie Kellough
official website. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kellough, Kaie 1975 births Living people 21st-century Canadian novelists 21st-century Canadian poets 21st-century Canadian male writers 21st-century Canadian short story writers Black Canadian writers Canadian people of Guyanese descent Canadian male poets Canadian male novelists Canadian male short story writers Sound poets Writers from Calgary Writers from Vancouver Writers from Montreal