Eden Victoria Lena Robinson (born 19 January 1968) is an Indigenous Canadian author. She is a member of the Haisla and Heiltsuk First Nations.Eden Robinson's
entry in The Canadian Encyclopedia.

Life

Childhood

Born in

Kitamaat Kitimat is a district municipality in the North Coast region of British Columbia, Canada. It is a member municipality of the Regional District of Kitimat–Stikine regional government. The Kitimat Valley is part of the most populous urban distric ...

, British Columbia, she is a member of the Haisla and Heiltsuk First Nations. Her sister,

Carla Robinson Carla Robinson (born 23 January 1971 in Kitimat, British Columbia) is a Canadian television journalist for CBC Newsworld. Early life and education Robinson was born in Kitimat (also spelled Kitamaat). She lived briefly on her mother's reserve i ...

, is a television journalist for

CBC Newsworld CBC News Network (formerly CBC Newsworld) is a Canadian English-language specialty news channel owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). It broadcasts into over 10 million homes in Canada. As Canada's first all-news channel, it is th ...

Education

She received a BA from the University of Victoria and an MFA from the University of British Columbia.

Later life

In 2003, Robinson moved back to Kitamaat Village to care for her father who had been diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease in 1998. In 2019, Robinson was diagnosed with polymyalgia rheumatica.

Literary works

Robinson's first book, ''Traplines'' (1995), was a collection of four short stories. The young narrators recount haunting tales of their disturbing relationships with sociopaths and psychopaths. The collection won Britain's

Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize The Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize was presented from 1967 until 2003 by the Royal Society of Literature for the best regional novel of the year. It is named after the novelist Winifred Holtby who was noted for her novels set in the rural scenes ...

for the best regional work by a Commonwealth writer. One of the stories, "Queen of the North", was also published in ''The Penguin Anthology of Stories by Canadian Women''. Another of her short stories, "

Terminal Avenue "Terminal Avenue" is a short story by Canadian author Eden Robinson. It was originally intended to be included in her 1995 short story collection ''Traplines'' but was omitted because, in Robinson's words, "back in the mid-90s, bondage porn did ...

", (which was not included in ''Traplines'') was published in the anthology of postcolonial science fiction and fantasy ''

So Long Been Dreaming ''So Long Been Dreaming: Postcolonial Science Fiction & Fantasy'' (2004) is an anthology of short stories by African, Asian, South Asian, and Indigenous authors, as well as North American and British writers of colour,''So Long Been Dreaming'' cov ...

''. Her second book, '' Monkey Beach'' (2000), is a novel. It is set in

territory and follows a teenage girl's search for answers to and understanding of her younger brother's disappearance at sea while in the retrospective, it tells a story about growing up on a Haisla reserve. The book is both a mystery and a spiritual journey, combining contemporary realism with Haisla mysticism. ''Monkey Beach'' was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Governor General's Literary Award, and received the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize. In her third book, ''Blood Sports'' (2006), also a novel, Robinson returns to the characters and urban terrain of her novella "Contact Sports," from ''Traplines''. Her novel ''

Son of a Trickster ''Son of a Trickster'' is a 2017 coming of age novel by Indigenous Canadian author Eden Robinson. The first novel in ''The Trickster'' trilogy, it follows 16-year-old Jared, who wades through the complications of a broken family, social pressu ...

'' (2017) is a humorous coming of age novel and the first of a trilogy. It took Robinson eight years to write, and was originally conceived as a short story. The second book in the trilogy is ''Trickster Drift'' (2018), which follows the main character from Kitamaat to Vancouver. The third book in the trilogy, titled ''The Return of the Trickster'', was published March 2, 2021. ''Son of a Trickster'' was optioned for a television series, which premiered as '' Trickster'' on

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...

in 2020.

Awards and honours

Robinson was awarded the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize in 2001 for ''Monkey Beach'', and the Writers' Trust Engel/Findley Award in 2016 for her body of work. In 2017 she was named a recipient of the $50,000 Writers' Trust Fellowship. ''Son of a Trickster'' was shortlisted for the 2017 Scotiabank Giller Prize. ''Trickster Drift'' won the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize at the BC Book Awards on May 11, 2019. ''Son of a Trickster'' was selected for the 2020 edition of '' Canada Reads'', in which it was defended by actress Kaniehtiio Horn."Meet the Canada Reads 2020 contenders"
CBC Books, January 22, 2020.

Bibliography

*'' Traplines'' (1996), *'' Monkey Beach'' (2000), *''Blood Sports'' (2006), *''Sasquatch at Home: Traditional Protocols & Modern Storytelling'' (2011), *''

'' (2017), *''Trickster Drift'' (2018), *''Return of the Trickster'' (2021),

References

External links

Records of Eden Robinson are held by Simon Fraser University's Special Collections and Rare Books
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Eden 1968 births Living people 21st-century Canadian novelists First Nations women writers Canadian women novelists Magic realism writers Haisla people Heiltsuk people Writers from British Columbia People from Kitimat Academic staff of the University of New Brunswick University of Victoria alumni University of British Columbia alumni Canadian women short story writers 21st-century Canadian women writers First Nations novelists 20th-century Canadian short story writers 20th-century Canadian women writers 21st-century Canadian short story writers 20th-century First Nations writers 21st-century First Nations writers