Marina Endicott (born September 14, 1958) is a Canadian novelist and short story writer. Her novel, ''Good to a Fault'', 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 Canada and the Caribbean and was a finalist 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 competitio ...

. Her next, ''The Little Shadows'', was long-listed for the Giller and short-listed for the Governor General's Literary Award. ''Close to Hugh'', was long-listed for the Giller Prize and named one of CBC's Best Books of 2015. Her latest, ''The Difference'', won the City of Edmonton Robert Kroetsch prize. It was published in the US by W.W. Norton as ''The Voyage of the Morning Light'' in June 2020.

Personal life

Endicott was born in

Golden Golden means made of, or relating to gold. Golden may also refer to: Places United Kingdom *Golden, in the parish of Probus, Cornwall * Golden Cap, Dorset *Golden Square, Soho, London *Golden Valley, a valley on the River Frome in Gloucestershi ...

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, ...

in 1958, the daughter of an Anglican priest; she grew up in Vancouver, Halifax and Yarmouth,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

, and

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 anch ...

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 C ...

. She worked as an actor before moving to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, England, where she began to write fiction. Returning to Canada in 1984, she went west to Saskatoon and worked in theatre as a

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

and

dramaturge A dramaturge or dramaturg is a literary adviser or editor in a theatre, opera, or film company who researches, selects, adapts, edits, and interprets scripts, libretti, texts, and printed programmes (or helps others with these tasks), consults auth ...

. She was for many years the dramaturge of the Saskatchewan Playwrights Centre. In 1992 she went farther west with husband Peter Ormshaw to

Mayerthorpe Mayerthorpe is a town in central Alberta, Canada. It is approximately northwest of Edmonton at the intersection of Highway 43 and Highway 22 (Cowboy Trail). The town is surrounded by Lac Ste. Anne County and is in Alberta's Census Division No ...

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 ...

, on his first posting with the RCMP; they have since lived in Cochrane, Edmonton, and Saskatoon. They have two children: Willow (1993) and Rachel (1996). They presently (2021) live in

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Yellowhead Highway, and has served as th ...

Writing career

Endicott was an actor, director, and dramaturge before beginning a second career as a writer of fiction. When asked why she switched, she explained: :Being an actor isn't an easy life. The work is so ephemeral... I write novels instead of plays because I like the intimate link of the silent writer and the silent reader. Endicott's first short story appeared in '' Grain'' in 1985. Her stories have been anthologized in '' Coming Attractions'' and short-listed for the 1993

Journey Prize The Journey Prize (officially called The Writers' Trust of Canada McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize) is a Canadian literary award, presented annually by McClelland and Stewart and the Writers' Trust of Canada for the best short story published by a ...

. Her first novel, ''Open Arms'' (2001), was a finalist for the Amazon.ca/

Books in Canada 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 published the previous year by a citizen or resident o ...

and was broadcast on

CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...

's ''Between the Covers'' in 2003. ''Good to a Fault'' was selected for the 2010 edition of CBC Radio's ''

Canada Reads ''Canada Reads'' is an annual "battle of the books" competition organized and broadcast by Canada's public broadcaster, the CBC. The program has aired in two distinct editions, the English-language ''Canada Reads'' on CBC Radio One, and the Frenc ...

''. Her long poem about the Mayerthorpe incident, "The Policeman's Wife, Some Letters", was short-listed for the CBC Literary Awards in 2006. Her third novel, ''The Little Shadows'', published by Doubleday in 2011, was longlisted for the Giller and shortlisted for the Governor General's Award for Fiction. She co-wrote the screenplay for the 2012 documentary film, ''

Vanishing Point A vanishing point is a point on the image plane of a perspective drawing where the two-dimensional perspective projections of mutually parallel lines in three-dimensional space appear to converge. When the set of parallel lines is perpendicul ...

''. Her novel ''Close to Hugh'' was published in May, 2015 and was longlisted for 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 Scotiabank Giller Prize Presents Its 2015 Longlist
/ref> Her 2019 novel, ''The Difference'', Knopf Canada, won the Robert Kroetsch City of Edmonton Book Prize and the Dartmouth Fiction Award, and was one of the Globe & Mail's Best Books of 2019. It was published by W.W. Norton in the US as ''The Voyage of the Morning Light'' in June 2020.

Prize and honours

*1993 Shortlist,

*2003 Finalist, Amazon.ca/Books In Canada First Novel Award (for ''Open Arms'') *2008 Finalist,

(for ''Good to a Fault'') *2009 Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book, Canada and the Caribbean (for ''Good to a Fault'') *2010 Longlisted,

International Dublin Literary Award The International Dublin Literary Award ( ga, Duais Liteartha Idirnáisiúnta Bhaile Átha Chliath), established as the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1996, is presented each year for a novel written or translated into English. ...

*2011 Longlisted,

(for ''The Little Shadows'') *2011 Finalist,

Governor General's Award The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual List of awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields. Th ...

for English-language fiction, Canada, (for ''The Little Shadows'') *2015 Longlisted,

(for ''Close to Hugh'') *2020 Robert Kroetsch City of Edmonton Book Prize (for ''The Difference'') *2020 City of Dartmouth Fiction Prize (for ''The Difference'')

Bibliography

* ''Open Arms'' (2001)

Douglas & McIntyre Douglas and McIntyre (2013) Ltd. is a Canadian book publishing firm. Douglas & McIntyre was founded by James Douglas and Scott McIntyre in 1971 as an independent publishing company based in Vancouver. Reorganized with new owners in 2008 as D&M P ...

* ''Good to a Fault'' (2008) Freehand Books * ''Open Arms'' (2009) Republished by Freehand Books * ''New Year's Eve'' (2011) GoodReads/HarperCollins * ''The Little Shadows'' (2011)

Doubleday Canada Doubleday Canada is an imprint of the publishing company Penguin Random House Canada. The company used to be known as Forboys. It was incorporated in 1936, and since 1945 it has been known as Doubleday Canada Limited. In 1986 parent company Doubl ...

* ''Close to Hugh'' (2015)

* ''The Difference'' (2019)

Knopf 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 ...

* ''The Voyage of the Morning Light'' (2020) W. W. Norton & Co

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Endicott, Marina 1958 births Living people Canadian women novelists People from the Columbia-Shuswap Regional District 21st-century Canadian novelists Canadian women short story writers Writers from Saskatchewan 21st-century Canadian women writers 21st-century Canadian short story writers