Audrey Thomas

Winner of the Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence

Statement from the jury on the selection of Audrey Thomas:
“Covering a 55 year span career, Audrey Thomas has been a short story writer, a radio dramatist and a novelist. Experimenting with forms, and highly imaginative, Thomas’ use of language is impeccable. Of equal importance is her unwavering dedication to the literary community and  in particular to Galiano’s literary community where Thomas’ impact as a mentor to aspiring writers, as an engaged community member pushing alongside others for the Galiano Island Community Library has been most felt and appreciated. We are pleased to honour Audrey Thomas’ contributions to the literary community both as an engaged member and as a contributor.”

Audrey Thomas is the author of a number of highly praised novels, including, Intertidal Life, which was nominated for the Governor General’s Award for Fiction. She has also written short story collections and radio dramas in a career that has spanned four decades. She has received three honours from the Writers’ Trust of Canada: the Marian Engel Award, the W.O. Mitchell Literary Prize, and the Matt Cohen Award: In Celebration of a Writing Life. Thomas has won three Ethel Wilson Fiction Prizes for her books Intertidal Life, Wild Blue Yonder and Coming Down from Wa. Equally known for her generosity of spirit, she has supported and mentored countless other writers, and was revered by students at the numerous universities where she taught or served as writer-in-residence. In 2008, she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.