Aislinn Hunter (born 1969 in Belleville, Ontario) is a Canadian poetry and fiction author.

Early life

She studied art history and writing at the University of Victoria where she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. Her Master of Fine Arts degree came from the University of British Columbia, her MSc in Writing and Cultural Politics came from the University of Edinburgh as did her PhD where she wrote on writers' houses/museums and resonant things with a focus on the Victorian era and thing theory via Heidegger. She currently teaches Creative Writing part-time at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. Hunter's research interests include material culture, museums, books-as-things, Victorian writers, and ephemera.

Career

Her 2002 novel Stay was adapted for film by Wiebke Von Carolsfeld and released as a Telefilm / Irish Film Board co-production in 2013, premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival. It stars Aidan Quinn and Taylor Schilling. Her novel, The World Before Us, set in a UK museum, was published by Doubleday, Canada in 2014 and by Hamish Hamilton in the UK, Hogarth Press in the US, and Marchand de Feuilles in Quebec. It won the 2015 Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize and was a New York Times Editor's Choice Book, an NPR 'Best Book' and a Chatelaine Book Club pick.

In the spring of 2017 her third book of poetry, Linger, Still, was published by Gaspereau Press. It won the Fred Cogswell Award for Excellence in Poetry and was long-listed for the Pat Lowther Poetry Prize.

Dr Hunter was selected to be a Canadian War Artist and in 2018 she worked with the Canadian Armed Forces and with NATO Forces at CFB Suffield.

Her most recent novel The Certainties was released in 2020 and published by Knopf Canada. It was shortlisted for the Ethel Wilson Fiction prize and was a best-seller.

Personal life

She was married for 25 years but lost her husband to brain cancer in 2018. She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia with her partner Tait and step-son Freddy.

Bibliography

Fiction

  • 2001: What's Left Us. Vancouver: Polestar. 27 December 2023. ISBN 9781551924120. French translation by Carole Noël: Ce qu'il nous reste. Toronto: Les Allusifs. 27 December 2023. ISBN 9782922868173.
  • 2002: Stay. Vancouver: Polestar. 27 December 2023. ISBN 9781551925684.
  • 2014: The World Before Us. Toronto: Doubleday. 31 March 2015. ISBN 9780385680660.
  • 2020: The Certainties. Toronto: Knopf Canada. 27 December 2023. ISBN 9780735276871.

Poetry

  • 2001: Into the Early Hours. Vancouver: Polestar. 27 December 2023. ISBN 9781551924984.
  • 2004: The Possible Past. Vancouver: Polestar. 27 December 2023. ISBN 9781551927213.
  • 2017: Linger, Still. Kentville: Gaspereau Press. 27 December 2023. ISBN 9781554471706.

Essay collection

  • 2009: A Peepshow with Views of the Interior. Kingsville: Palimpsest Press. 27 December 2023. ISBN 9780978491765.

Awards and recognition

YearWorkAwardCategoryResultRef
1996Journey PrizePoetryNominated
National Book AwardFictionNominated
2000National Magazine AwardNominated
2002Into the Early HoursGerald Lampert AwardWon
Dorothy Livesay Poetry PrizeFinalist
What's Left UsDanuta Gleed Literary AwardShortlisted
ReLit AwardFictionShortlisted
2003StayAmazon Canada First Novel AwardFinalist
2004The Possible PastDorothy Livesay Poetry PrizeShortlisted
Pat Lowther AwardShortlisted
ReLit AwardPoetryShortlisted
2015The World Before UsEthel Wilson Fiction PrizeWon
2017Linger, StillFred Cogswell Award for Excellence in PoetryWon
2018Pat Lowther AwardLonglisted

External links