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Photo: Ned Pratt

JOAN CLARK

Place of birth: Liverpool, Nova Scotia
Place of residence: St. John’s, Newfoundland

Having lived in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, Alberta, and, most recently, Newfoundland, Joan Clark brings an intimate knowledge of many parts of Canada to her writing. Her writing is also influenced by wide and varied interests in life around her and in her reading material. Even as a child her tastes were diverse; she enjoyed Dickens, Alcott, and Mark Twain as well as The Book of Knowledge and Nancy Drew. She has written several novels for children, young adults, and adults. Many of her poems and short stories have been published in literary and popular magazines. In 1974 she co-founded a Calgary-based literary magazine, Dandelion. She is past president of the Writers’ Guild of Alberta and the Writers’ Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador and has been a member of CANSCAIP (Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators and Performers) and the Writers’ Union of Canada. In 1991-92 she was part of the Canada-Scotland Writers-in-Residence Exchange. In 1995 she was a juror for the Governor General’s Literary Awards for English fiction. Even with all these activities, her writing is a full-time occupation. She writes every day, without interruption, preparing several drafts of works-in-progress and possibly taking several years to bring a novel to completion. She is constantly revising her texts -- even after publication!

Awards

• 1989 Canadian Authors Association Award for Fiction for The Victory of Geraldine Gull.

• 1991 Marian Engel Award (for an author’s body of work).

• 1995 Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People for The Dream Carvers.

Selected Bibliography

Books for Children and Young People

The Dream Carvers. Toronto: Viking, 1995.
226 p.: ill.; 23 cm.
ISBN 0670858587

Girl of the Rockies. Illustrated by Douglas Phillips. Toronto, Ont.: Ryerson Press, 1968.
142 p.: ill.; 22 cm.

The Hand of Robin Squires. Illustrations by William Taylor and Mary Cserepy. Toronto: Stoddart, 1994 (c1977).
136 p.: ill.; 18 cm.
ISBN 0773674268

The Leopard & the Lily. Illustrated by Velma Foster. Lantzville, B.C.: Oolichan Books, c1984.
43 p.: ill. (some col.); 21 x 26 cm.
ISBN 0889820783

La Main de Robin Squires: le mystère de l'île aux Chênes. Translated by Claude Aubry; illustrated by William Taylor et Mary Coerepy [i.e. Cserepy]. Montreal: P. Tisseyre, c1984.
179 p.: ill.; 23 cm. (Collection des deux solitudes, jeunesse)
ISBN 2890511588
(French edition of The Hand of Robin Squires)

The Moons of Madeleine. Markham, Ont.: Puffin Books, 1988, c1987.
221 p.; 18 cm.
ISBN 0140321829

Thomasina and the Trout Tree. Illustrated by Ingeborg Hiscox. Montreal: Tundra Books, 1971.
40 p.: col. illus.; 21 cm.
ISBN 0912766026

Wild Man of the Woods. Markham, Ont.: Puffin Books, 1986, c1985.
170 p.; 18 cm.
ISBN 0140317880

Books for Adults

Eiriksdottir: A Tale of Dreams and Luck: A Novel. Toronto: Penguin, 1995 (c1994).
418 p.: ill.; 18 cm.
ISBN 0140249508

From a High Thin Wire. Edmonton: NeWest Press, c1982.
150 p.; 22 cm.
ISBN 0920316514 (bound)
ISBN 0920316514 (bound)
ISBN 0920316530 (pbk.)

Swimming Toward the Light: Short Stories. Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, c1990.
235 p.; 22 cm.
ISBN 0771599757

The Victory of Geraldine Gull: A Novel. Dunvegan, Ont.: Cormorant Books, c1994 (C1988).
287 p.; 22 cm. (Canadian Classics Series)
ISBN: 0920953697