Souvankham Thammavongsa is a Laotian Canadian poet and short story writer. In 2019, she won an
O. Henry Award
The O. Henry Award is an annual American award given to short stories of exceptional merit. The award is named after the American short-story writer O. Henry.
The ''PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories'' is an annual collection of the year's twenty best ...
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 ...
.
Life
Thammavongsa was born in the Lao refugee camp in Nong Khai, Thailand in 1978. She and her parents were sponsored by a family in Canada when she was one year old. She was raised and educated in
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 has never taken an MFA course, and says that she has learned to write by reading. Some of her favorite authors are Alice Munro, Carson McCullers, Flannery O’Connor, and Tennessee Williams.
Her first book, ''Small Arguments'', won a
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 ...
in 2004. Her second book, ''Found'', was made into a short film by Paramita Nath. Her third book, ''Light'', won the
Trillium Book Award
The Trillium Book Award (french: Prix littéraire Trillium or ''Prix Trillium'') is an annual literary award presented to writers in Ontario, Canada. It is administered by Ontario Creates, a Crown agency of the Government of Ontario, which is ov ...
for Poetry in 2014. Her short story "How to Pronounce Knife" was shortlisted for the 2015 Commonwealth Short Story Prize out of 4,000 entries. In 2016, two of her stories, "Mani Pedi" and "Paris," were longlisted for the Journey Prize.
Her first short story collection, '' How to Pronounce Knife'', was published in 2020."47 works of Canadian fiction to watch for in spring 2020"
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 ...
, February 5, 2020. Australian literary critic
Kerryn Goldsworthy
Dr. Kerryn Lee Goldsworthy (born 14 May 1953) is an Australian freelance writer and former academic.
Life and career
Goldsworthy has edited four anthologies of Australian writing. She has also written many articles, essays and reviews.
She has ...
wrote of the stories that "their language is economical but they are emotional timebombs." In the book, she draws upon her childhood as the daughter of Laotian immigrants to tell fourteen stories, each an exploration of foreignness and belonging''.'' The book was shortlisted for the Giller Prize, and won the award on November 9, 2020. In 2021, the book was awarded the $20,000 (Canadian)
Trillium Book Award
The Trillium Book Award (french: Prix littéraire Trillium or ''Prix Trillium'') is an annual literary award presented to writers in Ontario, Canada. It is administered by Ontario Creates, a Crown agency of the Government of Ontario, which is ov ...
, and 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 ...
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.
Thammavongsa was a judge for the 2021
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. ...
. She was guest editor for ''2021 Best Canadian Poetry'' (
Biblioasis
Biblioasis is a Canadian independent bookstore and publishing company, based in Windsor, Ontario.Pedlar Press, 2013)
* ''Cluster'' (
McClelland & Stewart
McClelland & Stewart Limited is a Canadian publishing company. It is owned by Random House of Canada, Penguin Random House of Canada, a branch of Penguin Random House, the international book publishing division of German media giant Bertelsmann.
...
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 ...
Granta
''Granta'' is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centres on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story’s supreme ability to describe, illuminate and ma ...
, #141 special ''Canada'', 2017, pp 168 – 173, with a photo of her and her family 1983)
* ''How to Pronounce Knife''. Stories. Penguin (2020, 192 pp)
"Good-Looking" (''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...