Sharon Bala (born April 3, 1979) is a Canadian writer residing in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. Her debut novel, ''The Boat People'', won the 2015

Percy Janes First Novel Award The Percy Janes First Novel Award is a Canadian literary award, presented through the provincial government's annual Arts and Letters Competition to an unpublished manuscript by a first-time novelist from Newfoundland and Labrador. The award is nam ...

for unpublished manuscripts. It was later published by

McClelland and Stewart McClelland & Stewart Limited is a Canadian publishing company. It is owned by Penguin Random House of Canada, a branch of Penguin Random House, the international book publishing division of German media giant Bertelsmann. History It was found ...

and Doubleday in January 2018. The book was internationally publicized as part of Penguin Random House's One World, One Book campaign. The book was selected for the 2018 edition of ''

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 ...

'', where it was defended by

Mozhdah Jamalzadah Mozhdah Jamalzadah (Dari/Pashto: ) (born December 27, 1982 in Kabul, Afghanistan) is an Afghan singer, actress, and talk show host. Referred to as 'The Oprah of Afghanistan', Jamalzadah hosts The Mozhdah Show, which often touches on issues such ...

. It won the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction, was a finalist for the 2018 amazon.ca First Novel Award, and was shortlisted for the 2015 Fresh Fish Award for Emerging Writers and the 2019 Thomas Head Raddall Award. Bala was the winner of the 2017

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 ...

for her short story "Butter Tea at Starbucks", and was longlisted for the 2017 National Magazine Award for fiction for her short story "Miloslav". Her short fiction has appeared in '' Hazlitt'', '' Grain'', '' The Dalhousie Review'', ''Riddle Fence'', ''

Room In a building or large vehicle, like a ship, a room is any enclosed space within a number of walls to which entry is possible only via a door or other dividing structure that connects it to either a passageway, another room, or the outdoors, that ...

'', ''

Prism International ''Prism International'' (styled ''PRISM international'') is a magazine published quarterly in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 1959, it is Western Canada's senior literary magazine. The magazine was started with name ''Prism'' ...

'', '' Maisonneuve'', '' Joyland'', '' The New Quarterly'', and in an anthology called ''Racket: New Writing From Newfoundland''.

Awards

*2015

for ''The Boat People'' *2017

for "Butter Tea at Starbucks," published in '' The New Quarterly''

Bibliography

* ''The Boat People'' (2018)

References

21st-century Canadian short story writers 21st-century Canadian novelists 21st-century Canadian women writers Canadian women short story writers Canadian women novelists Writers from St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador Sri Lankan emigrants to Canada Living people Canadian writers of Asian descent 1979 births {{Canada-writer-stub