Bonnie Burnard (January 15, 1945 – March 4, 2017) was a Canadian short story writer and

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others asp ...

, best known for her 1999 novel, ''

A Good House ''A Good House'' is the first novel by Canadian writer Bonnie Burnard, published by Picador in 1999 and later by Henry Holt and Company in United States of America. It was the winner of that year's Scotiabank Giller Prize. The novel narrates th ...

'',Bonnie Burnard
at

The Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; french: L'Encyclopédie canadienne) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with the support of Canadian Heritage. Available f ...

. which won 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 ...

. Born in Petrolia, Ontario, she grew up in

Forest, Ontario Forest is a community in Lambton Shores, Ontario, Canada, near Sarnia and Lake Huron in Lambton County. It has a population of 2,876 (2011 Census) and a land area of . Community Forest's high school, North Lambton Secondary School. This fac ...

, and moved to

Regina, Saskatchewan Regina () is the capital city of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province, after Saskatoon, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. As of the 2021 census, Regina had a city populatio ...

, in the late 1970s. In the early 1990s she returned to Southwestern Ontario, and was a resident of

London, Ontario London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximate ...

, where she died on March 4, 2017.

Personal life

Born Bonita Amelia Huctwith on January 15, 1945, in Petrolia, Ontario, she grew up with her four brothers in

. She was the youngest in her family. Her mother's family bred

Clydesdale horse The Clydesdale is a Scottish breed of draught horse. It is named for its area of origin, the Clydesdale or valley of the River Clyde, much of which is within the county of Lanarkshire. The origins of the breed lie in the eighteenth century, ...

s which they showcased at the annual

Royal Agricultural Winter Fair The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair (RAWF), also known as The Royal, is an annual agricultural fair that is held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada during the first two weeks of November. It was inaugurated in 1922 in the Coliseum, on the grounds of Exhi ...

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 ...

. Her father, Charles, was raised by his relatives after his parents died when he was a child. The couple sold eggs at the Toronto market and later shipped tens of thousands of cases from Ottawa to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the couple continued to sell eggs to Toronto and

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

. In 1967, Burnard completed her

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

degree in English from the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thames R ...

. Burnard married Ronald Burnard, an executive at

London Life Insurance The Canada Life Assurance Company, commonly known as Canada Life, is an insurance and financial services company with its headquarters in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The current company is the result of the 2020 amalgamation of The Great-West Life Assura ...

in 1973 and spent more than a decade in

, where she raised her three children; Alexandra (known as D'Arcy) (b. Sept. 1975), Melanie (b. Feb. 1978), and David (b. Mar. 1979). She worked as a literary officer at the Saskatchewan Arts Board from 1988 to 1990. She moved back to Southwestern Ontario in 1992, living briefly in

Strathroy-Caradoc Strathroy-Caradoc is a municipality located in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is west of London. Strathroy-Caradoc is a primarily rural municipality. Industries include turkey and chicken hatching and processing, corn, tobacco, automotive, and ...

and later moving to

; her marriage had ended a few years earlier. She served as a

Writer in Residence Artist-in-residence, or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs which involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs which provide artists with space a ...

at the

and was a guest lecturer at writing and literary conferences across Canada and around the world (e.g., England, Germany, Sweden, and South Africa). She taught at the

Humber School for Writers The Humber College Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning, commonly known as Humber College, is a public College of Applied Arts and Technology in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1967, Humber has two main campuses: the Humber North c ...

, the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks among the top thre ...

's summer creative writing program Booming Ground, and at the

University of Windsor , mottoeng = Goodness, Discipline and Knowledge , established = , academic_affiliations = CARL, COU, Universities Canada , former_names = Assumption College (1857-1956)Assumption University of Windsor (1956-1963) , type = Public universi ...

as an adjunct professor in the writing department. Burnard worked briefly for a lawyer, the

Writers' Trust of Canada The Writers' Trust of Canada (french: La Société d'encouragement aux écrivains du Canada) is a registered charity which provides financial support to Canadian writers. Founded by Margaret Atwood, Pierre Berton, Graeme Gibson, Margaret Laure ...

, served on the Public Lending Right Commission, as a board member at

Coteau Books Coteau Books was a small, non-profit literary press based in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. It was established in 1975 by Bob Currie, Gary Hyland, Barbara Sapergia and Geoffrey Ursell when they realized that there was little opportunity for Sask ...

and the Saskatchewan Writers Guild. Burnard died on March 4, 2017, at the age of 72. She is survived by three children and four grandchildren.

Literary work

While attending classes at the

University of Regina The University of Regina is a public university, public research university located in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Founded in 1911 as a private denominational high school of the Methodist Church of Canada, it began an association with the Unive ...

, Burnard attended one of the reading sessions by another Canadian novelist, Marian Engel, which inspired her to write. Engel had visited Regina to read from her the Governor-General's Literary Award-winning novel, '' Bear''. Canadian poet and novelist

Ken Mitchell Ken Mitchell (born December 13, 1940) is a Canadian poet, novelist and playwright. Mitchell was raised on a rural farm outside the city of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. Mitchell began his post-secondary education as a journalism student at Ryerson In ...

suggested she attend the Saskatchewan Summer School of the Arts. Her first published work was a short story published simultaneously in ''Saskatchewan Gold'' and the '' NeWest Review''. In 1983,

Oberon Press Oberon Press is an independent Canadian literary publisher founded in 1966. It focuses mainly on Canadian fiction—particularly short stories—and poetry, but also publishes criticism, history, biography and autobiography. Oberon has published ...

published her short stories in ''Coming Attractions. Stories By

Sharon Butala Sharon Butala (born Sharon Annette LeBlanc, 1940 in Nipawin, Saskatchewan) is a Canadians, Canadian writer and novelist. Life Butala was born in an outpost hospital in Nipawin, Saskatchewan. She was the second of five daughters born to Amy Graham ...

, Bonnie Burnard & Sharon Sparling''. She edited the 1986 book ''The Old Dance: Love Stories of One Kind or Another'' published by Thunder Creek Publishing Co-operative. In 1988, her first individually authored short story collection ''Women of Influence'' was published. The collection was later translated into French as ''Femmes d'Influence'' by S. Brault in 1995. Her second short story collection ''Casino & Other Stories'' was published in 1994 and won several awards. In 1995, she edited another book ''Stag Line: Stories by Men''. Her short stories were included in many anthologies, among these: ''Best Canadian Stories'' (1984, 1989, 1992), ''Saskatchewan Gold'' (1982), ''Double Bond'' (1984), ''More Saskatchewan Gold'' (1984), ''Sky High'' (1988), ''Last Map'' (1989), ''Soho Square 111: Bloomsbury'' (1990), ''Canadian Short Stories'' (1991), ''Worlds Unrealized'' (1991), ''Beyond Borders'' (1992), ''Kitchen Talk'' (1992), ''Lodestone'' (1993), ''The Second Gates of Paradise: Anthology of Erotic Short Fiction'' (1994), ''Writing from Canada'' (1994), ''Spin on 2'' (1995), ''The Oxford Book of Canadian Short Stories'' (1995), ''Arnold Anthology of Post-Colonial Literature'' (1996), ''Desde El Invierno'' (1996), ''The Best of NeWest'' (1996), ''Mothers and Daughters'' (1997), ''Penguin Anthology of Stories by Canadian Women'' (1997), ''Sunrise to Sunset'' (1997), ''Desire'' (1999) ''Oxford Stories by Canadian Women'' (1999), ''Turn of the Story'' (1999) ''Dropped Threads'' (2001), ''Donde Es Aqui?'' (2002), ''Notes from Home'' (2002), and ''Short Fiction'' by Oxford University (2003). Burnard's first novel ''

'' was published in 1999. The novel received wide acclaim and was an international success. It was a #1 bestseller in Canada. Four editions of the novel were published in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and in twelve other countries from 1999 to 2002. Her second novel ''Suddenly'' was published after ten years in 2009.

Awards

Burnard won several awards for her literary work. Her first individual short story collection ''Women of Influence'' received the Commonwealth Best First Book Award in 1989. Her second short story collection ''Casino & Other Stories'' won "Book of the Year" at the Saskatchewan Book Awards and was shortlisted for "Regina Book Award", both in 1994. Also that same year, this collection received the Periodical Publishers Award and was shortlisted for the

. In 1995, Burnard was awarded the

Marian Engel Award Marian may refer to: People * Mari people, a Finno-Ugric ethnic group in Russia * Marian (given name), a list of people with the given name * Marian (surname), a list of people so named Places * Marian, Iran (disambiguation) * Marian, Queensla ...

given to the body of work by a female Canadian writer. In 1999, she won the

for her novel, ''

''. In 2000, ''A Good House'' fetched her the Canadian Booksellers Association People's Choice Award. Burnard has also received the W. O. Mitchell Bursury at fort San in 1983, the City of Regina Writing Award in 1984, the CBC Literary Competition Award in 1992, and various Saskatchewan Writers Guild awards.

Bibliography

Burnard published the following works under her name: ;Novels * ''

'' (1999), published by HarperFlamingoCanada *''Suddenly'' (2009), ;Short stories *''Coming Attractions. Stories By Sharon Butala, Bonnie Burnard & Sharon Sparling'' (1983) published by

*''Women of Influence'' (1988), published by

*''Casino & Other Stories'' (1994), published by

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News ...

;Other *''The Old Dance: Love Stories of One Kind or Another'' (1986) published by Thunder Creek Publishing Co-operative *''Stag Line: Stories by Men'' (1995) published by Coteau Books

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burnard, Bonnie 1945 births 2017 deaths Canadian women novelists Canadian women short story writers 20th-century Canadian novelists 21st-century Canadian novelists 20th-century Canadian short story writers 21st-century Canadian short story writers 20th-century Canadian women writers 21st-century Canadian women writers People from Lambton County University of Western Ontario alumni Writers from Ontario