Mona Awad is a Canadian novelist and short-story writer.
''

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 ...

'', February 21, 2016. Her debut book, ''13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl'', a novel (structured using linked short stories) about a woman's lifelong struggle with

body image Body image is a person's thoughts, feelings and perception of the aesthetics or sexual attractiveness of their own body. The concept of body image is used in a number of disciplines, including neuroscience, psychology, medicine, psychiatry, ps ...

issues, won 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 ...

and was shortlisted 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 ...

in 2016. She was inspired to write the book because of her experiences growing up and struggling with her own body image. In the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'', Awad has been quoted as saying, she "made nowiki/>music">music.html" ;"title="nowiki/>music">nowiki/>musicplaylist">music">nowiki_>music<_a>.html" ;"title="music.html" ;"title="nowiki/>music">nowiki/>music">music.html" ;"title="nowiki/>music">nowiki/>musicplaylists for every chapter" in ''13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl'' because it helped her "immerse" herself in the story and better "access it."

Biography

Awad was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec and she spent her teen years in Mississauga, Ontario. She studied English literature at York University and went on to earn a masters in English at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

, an MFA at

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

, and a PhD at the

University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private university, private research university in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1864, it is the oldest independent private university in the Mountain States, Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. It is ...

. Awad's short fiction and non-fiction writing has been published in magazines including ''

McSweeney's McSweeney's Publishing is an American non-profit publishing house founded by Dave Eggers in 1998 and headquartered in San Francisco. Initially publishing the literary journal'' Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern'', the company has moved to n ...

'', '' The Walrus'', '' Joyland'', '' Post Road'', '' St. Petersburg Review'', and '' Maisonneuve''. When Awad began writing as a columnist for '' Maisonneuve'', she used the pseudonym Veronica Tartley. Awad desires for her stories to provide readers with "a sense of connection" so that "people ayfeel less alone." In 2017, Awad's short story ''Woman Causes Avalanche'' was published by the '' L.A. Review of Books.'' Her next novel, '' Bunny'', was published in June, 2019, by

Viking Press Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim and then acquire ...

. ''Bunny'' tells the story of a girl named Samantha Mackey who attends a prestigious graduate program located in

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

, at the fictional Warren University. There Samantha finds herself entangled in the weird rituals lead by the "Bunnies" — her fellow students who are more than just the clique that they seem on the surface. Her third novel, ''All's Well'', was released on August 3, 2021 by Simon & Schuster. She has lived in the US since 2009, currently in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

References

External links

*
Mona Awad: For award-winning writing and fearless storytelling
Canadian Arab Institute, Institut canado-arabe, CAI, Toronto {{DEFAULTSORT:Awad, Mona 21st-century Canadian novelists 21st-century Canadian short story writers 1978 births Canadian women novelists Canadian people of Moroccan descent Canadian women short story writers Canadian magazine writers Writers from Mississauga Writers from Montreal York University alumni Brown University alumni Living people 21st-century Canadian women writers Amazon.ca First Novel Award winners