Katherine Govier is an award winning novelist with a special interest in historical figures who are artists. Her novel, Creation, about John James Audubon in Labrador, was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year in 2003. Her fiction and non fiction has appeared in the United Kingdom , Canada , the United States , the Commonwealth and in translation in Holland , Italy , Turkey , and Slovenia . She is the winner of Canada's Marian Engel Award for a woman writer in mid-career, (1997) and the Toronto Book Award (1992).

She is the author of 8 novels and 3 short story collections and the editor of two collections of travel essays.

Katherine has been a visiting lecturer in both Creative Writing and Magazine Journalism at York University (Toronto), Ryerson Polytechnical University, (Toronto), and The University of Leeds (Leeds, England).

Katherine has been instrumental in establishing two innovative writing programs. In 1989, with teacher Trevor Owen, she founded Writers in Electronic Residence, a national online writing program connecting Canadian writers in their homes to high school students in classrooms across Canada from Newfoundland to the Arctic to Vancouver Island . Since 2004 she has been on the Program Advisory Committee for the post-degree certificate program, Canadian Journalism for Internationally Trained Writers, at Sheridan College, Oakville, Ontario. a post-degree certificate for immigrant, refugee or exiled writers.

She is currently at work on her ninth novel, about Hokusai's daughter.

CURRICULUM VITAE

EDUCATION

M.A. English, York University, Toronto, Canada (1972)

B.A. Honours English (first class), The University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (1970)

Shodan (black belt) Kobudo, ancient Japanese weapons (2002); Brown Belt, Iaido, Japanese sword, 2003

Illustrated Japanese Books, 1 week course, 2006, Rare Books School, University of Virginia

PUBLICATIONS

FICTION

2005 THREE VIEWS OF CRYSTAL WATER a novel
4th Estate, London 2005,
Harper Collins Toronto 2005
Harper Perennial Toronto and London 2006

2002 CREATION a novel
Random House Canada, 2002,
Overlook Press New York (May 2003)
Vintage Canada 2003

2000 THE TRUTH TELLER a novel
Random House Canada, 2000
Vintage Canada, 2001

1996 ANGEL WALK a novel
Little Brown Canada, 1996
Little Brown Canada, 1997; reprint Vintage Canada, 2000

1994 THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION PHOTOGRAPHY GALLERY short stories
Little, Brown Canada, 1994
Little, Brown Canada, 1995; reprint Vintage Canada, 2000

1991 HEARTS OF FLAME a novel
Viking Canada, 1991
Penguin Canada, 1992

1989 BEFORE AND AFTER a collection of short stories,
Viking Canada, 1989
Penguin Canada, 1990

1987 BETWEEN MEN a novel
Viking Canada , 1987 Penguin Canada , 1988
Viking U.K. , 1988 Penguin U.K. , 1988

1985 FABLES OF BRUNSWICK AVENUE short stories
Penguin Canada, 1985; Penguin U.K., 1986
Harper Perennial Canada, 2005

1982 GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS a novel
McClelland & Stewart, Toronto, 1982,
St. Martins Press, New York, 1983
Seal Books, Toronto, 1983

1979 RANDOM DESCENT a novel
Macmillan of Canada, 1979,
New American Library, 1980
Penguin Canada and U.K., 1986
Vintage Canada, 2000

NON-FICTION, editor

2003 SOLO: WRITERS ON PILGRIMAGE: Stories by Margaret Atwood, Ivan Klima, Mark Kurlansky, Kate Grenville and others

McClelland and Stewart, Toronto ; Mondadori Italy ; Mouria , Netherlands

1994 WITHOUT A GUIDE: Contemporary Women's Travel Adventures, MacFarlane, Walter & Ross, 1994, Toronto ; Hungry Mind Press, U.S, 1996; Pandora UK , 1996; Bzztoh , Netherlands ,1996

WRITING ON/WITH ART AND ARTISTS

“Moorings” in Tim Zuck: Learning to Talk , Art Gallery of Nova Scotia /Museums London 2002

“Chasing Audubon” Imperial Oil Review, Toronto 2002

“Lisette Model, A Life in Pictures” in PAPER GUITAR: 27 WRITERS CELEBRATE 25 YEARS OF DESCANT MAGAZINE, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 1995

“Grass”, The McIntyre Ranch Project, Southern Albert Art Gallery , 2005. A wall mounted prose poem in exhibition of visual and prose artists.

SCRIPTS

1997 'Angel Walk': for Bravo Fact video

1998 'Angel Walk': full-length dramatization for Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) Radio

1994 'The Immaculate Conception Photography Gallery': 3 stories for CBC radio

1992 'The Immaculate Conception Photography Gallery': television half-hour commissioned by CBC

1989 Three stories from BEFORE AND AFTER, 'Toronto/New York', 'Monte Carlo Night', and 'The Bomb Scare': for CBC radio

SPEAKING TOURS

2006 India tour: World Book Fair, New Delhi; American International School, Delhi University

2004 Princeton University Canadian Studies program

2004 TOKYO-Embassy of Canada

2003 New York and Boston Public Libraries

2002 Distinguished Visiting Lecturer, Alberta College of Art and Design, Calgary Alberta

2000 Fellow, Maclean Hunter Program for Creative Non-Fiction, Banff Center for the Arts, Chaired by Michael Ignatieff, July.

1995 Lahti International Writers' Reunion, June, Lahti, Finland (Representing Canada)

1993 Reading tour of Japan, at invitation of the Canadian Embassy

AWARDS

“Famous Fifty” : one of 50 alumni chosen to celebrate 50 years of York University , Toronto

Distinguished Alumni Award, the University of Alberta, 1998

Marian Engel Award for a Woman Writer in mid-Career, 1997

Toronto Book Award, for Hearts of Flame , 1993

ACTIVITIES

2005- PRESENT Board member Toronto Arts Council

2000- PRESENT. Board member, Canadian Council for Civil Liberties

1997- PRESENT Board Member, Canadian Centre for Studies in Publishing, Simon Fraser University

1997-98 President, PEN Canada

1989-92 Chair, Writers' Development Trust

APPOINTMENTS

• Visiting Lecturer, Canadian Journalism for Foreign Trained Writers, Sheridan College, Oakville, Ontario
• Writer-in-Residence, Richmond Hill Public Library,
• Lecturer, Journalism after degree (JRAD), 2002
• Writer-in -Residence, Toronto Reference Library, April- June, 1998
• Writer-in-Residence, Toronto Public Library System, October 1994-April 1995
• Research Fellow, Leeds University, Leeds, England 1987
• Visiting Lecturer, Programme in Creative Writing, York University, Toronto 1982-1986