Naomi K. Lewis (born 1976, London, England) is a Canadian fiction and nonfiction writer who resides in Calgary, Alberta. She was a finalist[1] for the 2019 Governor General's Literary Award for non-fiction.
Life and career
editLewis was born in London, and grew up near Washington, D.C. and in Ottawa. Her sister and brother-in-law are the artists Chloe Lewis and Andrew Taggart,[2] and her great uncle was the poet and artist Izrael Lejzerowicz. Lewis lived in Toronto, Fredericton and Edmonton, and completed degrees in philosophy and English literature, before settling in Calgary. She served as writer-in-residence both at the Calgary Public Library in 2011, and at the University of New Brunswick in 2015.[3] Lewis was an associate editor of Alberta Views magazine from 2012 to 2015.[4]
Works
editLewis's first novel, Cricket in a Fist, was published by Goose Lane Editions in 2008. Lewis's story, "The Guiding Light" won the 2007 Fiddlehead fiction contest and appeared in McClelland and Stewart's 2008 Journey Prize Anthology.[5][6] Lewis' collection of short stories I Know Who You Remind Me Of won the 2012 Colophon Prize, from Great Plains Publishing.[7] Lewis's 2011 Alberta Views article "The Urge to Purge",[8] about detox diets, was shortlisted for a 2011 Canadian National Magazine Award, as was her 2014 article "A Bridge Too Far: The Story of My Big Jewish Nose."[9] With Calgary writer Rona Altrows, she edited an anthology of essays and poetry about shyness entitled Shy, published by the University of Alberta Press in 2013.[10]
Lewis also co-wrote In Case of Fire, a 2010 memoir about Edmonton burn survivor and workplace safety advocate Spencer Beach.
More recently, Lewis's 2019 memoir Tiny Lights for Travellers won Alberta's Wilfrid Eggleston Award for Nonfiction,[11] the Vine Award for Canadian Jewish Literature (nonfiction), [12] and the Pinsky Givon Family Prize for Nonfiction, a Western Canada Jewish Book Award.[13] It was a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award for Non-Fiction and the W.O. Mitchell City of Calgary Book Award.[14]
References
edit- ^ CBC Books. "The finalists for the 2019 Governor General's Literary Award for nonfiction". CBC. Retrieved November 3, 2020.
- ^ "Chloe Lewis named as Mary Macdonald's replacement at Eastern Edge Gallery". 2015-06-04. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
- ^ Rivard, Philip. "Naomi K. Lewis 2011 Writer in Residence". Calgary Public Library. Archived from the original on 27 December 2011. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
- ^ Alberta Views. "Contact Page". Retrieved 1 August 2012.
- ^ Journey Prize Stories. "List". McLelland & Stewart. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
- ^ "List of Backissues". The Fiddlehead. Archived from the original on 13 September 2010. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
- ^ Staff (2012-01-28). "Jan 2012: Calgary writer wins prize from Winnipeg's Great Plains". Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved 2021-03-24.
- ^ "The Urge to Purge". November 2011. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
- ^ "Swerve nominated for two national magazine awards". 2015-05-04. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
- ^ When Words Collide Festival. "When Words Collide Speakers". Retrieved 1 August 2012.
- ^ "Alberta Literary Awards". Calgary Arts Development. Retrieved November 3, 2020.
- ^ "The 2020 Vine Awards ShortlistedNon-Fiction Writers Panel". Kultura Collective. Retrieved November 3, 2020.
- ^ "WCJ Book Awards". Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver. Retrieved November 3, 2020.
- ^ "Finalists for The City of Calgary W.O. Mitchell Book Prize Announced". Writers Guild of Alberta. Retrieved November 3, 2020.