Harrowsmith – September 2019

114

BorninKitimat,British
Columbia,EdenRobinsonis
a memberoftheHaislaand
HeiltsukFirstNations.Anaward-
winningwriter,sheistheauthor
ofa collectionofshortstories
writtenwhenshewasa goth,
calledTraplines(1995),which
wontheWinifredHoltbyPrize
intheU.K.
Twonovels,MonkeyBeach
(2000)andBloodSports(20 06),
werewrittenbeforeshediscovered
shewasglutenintolerant;they
tendtobequitegrim,thelatter
beingespeciallygruesomebecause
halfwaythroughwritingthe
manuscript,Robinsongaveupa
two-pack-a-daycigarettehabit,
andthemoreshesuffered,the
morehercharacterssuffered.
MonkeyBeachwontheEthel

WilsonFictionPrizeandwasa

finalistfortheGillerPrizeandthe

GovernorGeneral’sAward

forFiction.

Robinson’snovelSonofa

Tricksterwaspublishedin

2017 andwasa finalistforthe

ScotiabankGillerPrize.Inthat

sameyear,shewasawarded

theWriters’TrustofCanada

Fellowship.

TricksterDrift(2018),

Robinson’slatestnovel,isa

humorouscoming-of-agestory

andthefollow-uptoSonofa

Trickster. IttookRobinsoneight

yearstowriteandwasoriginally

conceivedasa shortstory.

Whatwillyoubeuptoin

2019–20?Itwillmostlybespent

writingandspoilingmyniece

andnephew.

EDEN ROBINSON

Kitimat Village,

British Columbia

RED WORKS STUDIO