Oonah McFee, née Browne (September 11, 1916 – December 19, 2006)Oonah McFee's Obituary
/ref> was a Canadian novelist and short story writer, who won the Books in Canada First Novel Award for her 1977 novel ''Sandbars''."And the winner is..." ''

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 ...

'', April 1, 1978. Born in

Newcastle, New Brunswick Newcastle is an urban neighbourhood in the city of Miramichi, New Brunswick, Canada. Prior to municipal amalgamation in 1995, it was an incorporated town and the shire town of Northumberland County. Situated on the north bank of the Miramichi R ...

and raised in the

Ottawa Valley The Ottawa Valley is the valley of the Ottawa River, along the boundary between Eastern Ontario and the Outaouais, Quebec, Canada. The valley is the transition between the Saint Lawrence Lowlands and the Canadian Shield. Because of the surroundi ...

area, she worked for CBC Radio One's

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

station

CBO-FM CBO-FM is a Canadian radio station. It is the CBC Radio One station in Ottawa, Ontario, airing at 91.5 FM, and serves much of Eastern Ontario through a network of relay transmitters. CBO's Ottawa-area transmitter is located in Camp Fortune, Que ...

in the 1930s, and married her colleague

Allan McFee Allan McFee (June 4, 1913 – December 12, 2000)CBC broadcaster Allan McFee dies< ...

in 1941. They later moved to Toronto, where Allan was an announcer for the CBC's national network, while Oonah began to study creative writing in the 1960s,Oonah McFee Collection

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

. publishing her first short story in '' Texas Quarterly'' in 1971. Following her award win for ''Sandbars'', she was writer in residence at

Trent University Trent University is a public liberal arts university in Peterborough, Ontario, with a satellite campus in Oshawa, which serves the Regional Municipality of Durham. Trent is known for its Oxbridge college system and small class sizes.

in 1979, and continued to publish short stories and journalism. ''Sandbars'' was originally planned as the first volume in a linked quartet of novels,"Sandbars". ''

'', April 2, 1977. of which the first sequel was to be titled ''Silent Eyes'', but the later books were never published.

References

Canadian women novelists Writers from Ottawa 1916 births 2006 deaths People from Miramichi, New Brunswick Writers from Toronto Writers from New Brunswick 20th-century Canadian novelists Canadian women short story writers 20th-century Canadian women writers 20th-century Canadian short story writers Amazon.ca First Novel Award winners {{Canada-writer-stub