Thomas Wharton (born 25 February 1963) is a Canadian
novelist.
Life
Born in
Grande Prairie,
Alberta, Wharton attended the
University of Alberta and the
University of Calgary. He was a student of
Rudy Wiebe and
Greg Hollingshead. His first novel began as his M.A. thesis, under the supervision of
Kristjana Gunnars
Kristjana Gunnars (born March 19, 1948 in Reykjavík) is an Icelandic-Canadian poet and novelist. She immigrated to Canada in 1969. Her works explore, among other themes, the 19th century Icelandic settler experience in Canada's prairie provinces. ...
. He worked on his PhD at Calgary with
Aritha van Herk. Wharton is currently an associate professor of writing and English at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, and head of the creative writing program.
Writing and awards
Wharton's first book, ''Icefields'' (1995), was awarded the "Best First Book" in the Canada and Caribbean division of the
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 ...
, the
Writers Guild of Alberta The Writers' Guild of Alberta (WGA) was founded in 1980 as a non-profit organization for writers based in Alberta, Canada. It claims to be the largest provincial writers' organization in Canada, representing approximately 1,000 writers throughout th ...
's "Best First Book Award", and the
Banff Mountain Book Festival The Banff Mountain Book Festival is an annual book festival held at the Banff Centre in Banff, Canada.
Grand Prize
* 1994: Chris Bonington and Audrey Saukeld (editors), ''Heroic Climbs''
* 1995: Thomas Wharton, ''Icefields''
* 1996: Stephen Ven ...
Grand Prize.
[Wharton]
item at English-Canadian writers, Athabasca University
Athabasca University (AU) is a Canadian public research university that primarily operates through online distance education. Founded in 1970, it is one of four comprehensive academic and research universities in Alberta, and was the first ...
''Icefields'' was a finalist in the
Canada Reads competition in early 2008.
His second book, ''Salamander'' (2002), won the Georges Bugnet Award for Fiction and was short-listed for the
Governor General's Award for Fiction,
[ and the Grant MacEwan Author's Award (2002). It was also a finalist for the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize.][
''The Logogryph'' was short listed for the International Dublin Literary Award.][CBC]
Wharton shortlisted for richest literary prize
Wharton has published a three-volume fantasy novel for younger readers, The Perilous Realm. The three books are The Shadow of Malabron (2008), The Fathomless Fire (2012), and The Tree of Story (2013), published by Doubleday Canada and Walker/Candlewick (US/UK).
Wharton's most recent book is the self-published novel Every Blade of Grass (2014), the story of a decades-long correspondence between a man and woman who share a love for the wonders and oddities of nature.
Bibliography
*''Icefields''. Edmonton: NeWest Press, 1995
*''Salamander''. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2001
*''The Logogryph: A Bibliography of Imaginary Books''. Kentville, Nova Scotia: Gaspereau Press
Gaspereau Press is a Canadian book publishing company, based in Kentville, Nova Scotia. Established in 1997 by Andrew Steeves and Gary Dunfield, the company's philosophy emphasizes "making books that reinstate the importance of the book as a phy ...
, 2004
*''The Shadow of Malabron: Book One of The Perilous Realm''. Toronto: Doubleday, 2008. London: Walker Books, 2008
*"The Fathomless Fire: Book Two of The Perilous Realm". Toronto: Doubleday, 2012
*The Tree of Story: Book Three of the Perilous Realm. Toronto: Doubleday, 2013
References
External links
Author's Website
at Athabasca University
Macleans: Magic and real life
Captain Marvel
Quill & Quire Author Profile:
1963 births
Canadian male novelists
Living people
{{Canada-writer-stub