Mary Novik

Mary Novik (* 1945 in Victoria , British Columbia , Canada ) is a Canadian writer who won the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize in 2008.

Life

Mary Novik was born in Victoria, British Columbia, into an extended family of five siblings. The grandparents were both from Birmingham and considered themselves English throughout their lives. They passed this attitude towards life on to their grandchildren in many ways. Since, according to Mary Novik's words, children were largely left to their own devices in the rural area at that time, she turned to literature as a child, the suggestions of which she received from the library bus. The family later moved to Surrey . At the age of 17 she was drawn to university, where she studied English literature and met her future husband.

After teaching creative writing for many years at Langara College and also published several specialist publications on Robert Creeley , she decided to write a novel in retirement. A first, unpublished, copy was well received in an internal publishing competition, so she decided to try again with Conceit (2007), which received extremely positive reviews.

This historical novel describes the life of Pegge Donne, daughter of the metaphysical poet John Donne , and is set in 17th century London . Other novel characters are based on Donne's wife Anne More, the diary writer Samuel Pepys, and the biographer Izaak Walton .

Conceit won the BC Book Prizes belonging Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize and was on the long list of the Scotiabank Giller Prize . It was named Book of the Year by The Globe and Mail and Quill & Quire . Abebooks named it the Canadian Book of the Year.

Novik founded the Vancouver writing group SPiN with Jen Sookfong Lee and June Hutton .

Mary Novik lives near Vancouver with her husband, close to their son, his wife and her grandson.

plant

Non-fiction

Robert Creeley: A Writing Biography and Inventory . Dissertation, University of British Columbia 1973. Published as: Robert Creeley: An Inventory, 1945-1970 . Kent State University Press, Kent OH 1973

novel

Conceit . Doubleday, Toronto 2007, ISBN 978-0-385-66205-5

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ http://www.marynovik.com/about-Mary.htm
↑ Gudrun Will. "17th-Century Immersion: Donne & Daughter," Vancouver Review , no. 15 (autumn 2007), p. 25.
↑ Edward O'Connor. "The Poet and His Headstrong Daughter," The Fiddlehead , No. 238 (Winter 2009), pp. 98-100
↑ Jim Bartley. "Mary Novik's Conceit : A Magnificent Novel of 17th-century London," The Globe and Mail , Sep. 8, 2007, pp. D1, 8, 25
↑ Holly Faith Nelson. "Milton and Poetry, 1603-1660", The Year's Work in English Studies , Vol. 88, no. 1 (2009)

personal data
SURNAME	Novik, Mary
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Canadian writer
DATE OF BIRTH	1945
PLACE OF BIRTH	Victoria , British Columbia , Canada

[1] ttp://www.marynovik.com/about-Mary.htm

[2] Gudrun Will. "17th-Century Immersion: Donne & Daughter," Vancouver Review , no. 15 (autumn 2007), p. 25.

[3] Edward O'Connor. "The Poet and His Headstrong Daughter," The Fiddlehead , No. 238 (Winter 2009), pp. 98-100

[4] Jim Bartley. "Mary Novik's Conceit : A Magnificent Novel of 17th-century London," The Globe and Mail , Sep. 8, 2007, pp. D1, 8, 25

[5] Holly Faith Nelson. "Milton and Poetry, 1603-1660", The Year's Work in English Studies , Vol. 88, no. 1 (2009)