'Writing an honest story'

“I think, as writers, our first responsibility is to writing an honest story. Tell the story you want to tell, without pulling your punches.” – Lynn Coady

Born in Nova Scotia on this date in 1970, Coady now makes her home in Toronto.  A successful creative and journalistic writer, she holds degrees from Carleton University and the University of British Columbia and is credited with developing a specialized course in writing the short story at Athabasca University in Edmonton. 

Coady started writing while still in college and authored her first book, the award-winning Strange Heaven, while earning her Master of Fine Arts degree.  Since then she’s combined a career in teaching, editing and writing, penning several best-selling novels – led by Play the Monster Blind and Mean Boy – and dozens of short stories, many compiled in her critically acclaimed collection Hellgoing.   For that book Coady was named for the prestigious Scotiabank Giller Prize, which often is favorably compared to the Pulitzer Prize.  In 2017, she was honored as a jury member for that same award.  

     Winner of the Canadian Authors Association/Air Canada Award for the best writer under 30, as well as the Dartmouth Book and Writing Award for fiction, her articles and reviews have been featured in leading publications throughout Canada and the U.S.   Since moving to Toronto, she has written several plays and is a regular contributor to the Globe and Mail, also known as “Canada’s National Newspaper.”

“It makes me proud not just to be a Canadian writer but to be a Canadian, to live in a country where we treat our writers like movie stars.”

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