Thomas Wharton
Born (1963-02-25) February 25, 1963
Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada
Education
Period1990s–present
Notable works
  • Icefields
  • Salamander
  • The Logogryph
  • The Book of Rain
Website
Official website

Thomas Wharton (born February 25, 1963) is a Canadian writer from Edmonton, Alberta.[1]

Life

Born in Grande Prairie, Wharton later spent part of his teen years living in Jasper.[2] He attended the University of Alberta and the University of Calgary,[1] where he was a student of Rudy Wiebe and Greg Hollingshead. His first novel began as his M.A. thesis, under the supervision of Kristjana Gunnars. He worked on his PhD at Calgary with Aritha van Herk.

Wharton is currently an associate professor of writing and English at the University of Alberta, and head of the creative writing program.[2]

Career

Wharton's first novel, Icefields, was published in 1995.[3] It was awarded Best First Book in the Canada and Caribbean division of the Commonwealth Writers Prize,[4] the Writers Guild of Alberta's Henry Kreisel Award for Best First Book,[5] and the Banff Mountain Book Festival Grand Prize.[6] It was selected for inclusion in the 2008 Canada Reads competition, where it was advocated by astronaut Steve MacLean.[7]

His second book, Salamander, was published in 2001.[8] It was shortlisted for the Governor General's Award for English-language fiction at the 2001 Governor General's Awards[9] and the 2002 Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize.[10] At the 2002 Writers Guild of Alberta awards, it was a finalist for the Grant MacEwan Author's Award, and won the Georges Bugnet Award for Fiction.[11]

His third book, The Logogryph, was published in 2004,[12] and was shortlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award in 2006.[13]

Wharton subsequently published a three-volume fantasy novel for younger readers, The Perilous Realm.[14] The three books in the series are The Shadow of Malabron (2008), The Fathomless Fire (2012), and The Tree of Story (2013).

Wharton's 2014 novel Every Blade of Grass was the story of a decades-long correspondence between a man and woman who share a love for the wonders and oddities of nature.

His 2023 novel The Book of Rain was a shortlisted finalist for the 2023 Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize.[15]

Bibliography

  • Icefields - 1995 ISBN 0920897878
  • Salamander - 2001 ISBN 0-7434-4415-9
  • The Logogryph: A Bibliography of Imaginary Books - 2004 ISBN 1-894031-93-8
  • The Shadow of Malabron: Book One of The Perilous Realm - 2008
  • The Fathomless Fire: Book Two of The Perilous Realm - 2012
  • The Tree of Story: Book Three of the Perilous Realm - 2013
  • Every Blade of Grass - 2014
  • The Book of Rain - 2023

References

  1. 1 2 Gordon Morash, "Alberta author warms to fame with Icefields novel". Ottawa Citizen, December 22, 1996.
  2. 1 2 Alban Harvey, "Thomas Wharton". The Canadian Encyclopedia, March 15, 2009.
  3. ↑ Mark Giles, "Mystery fires the spirit in glacier icefield". Calgary Herald, July 22, 1995.
  4. ↑ Gordon Morash, "Edmonton's NeWest scores big with Icefields; But is success with Thomas Wharton's novel enough to prevent another Coach House?". Edmonton Journal, July 21, 1996.
  5. ↑ Gordon Morash, "Awards celebrate Alberta writers; Writers Guild, Book Publishers Association trot out annual honor rolls". Edmonton Journal, May 5, 1996.
  6. ↑ Ken McGoogan, "First novel wins award at Banff book festival". Calgary Herald, November 3, 1995.
  7. ↑ James Adams, "CBC's battle of the books gives publishing industry a shot in the arm". The Globe and Mail, February 25, 2008.
  8. ↑ Mario Trono, "Wharton's Salamander is equal parts adventure, romance and history". Kingston Whig-Standard, April 28, 2001.
  9. ↑ "Urquhart, Wright nominated for Gov. Gen.'s book awards". North Bay Nugget, October 24, 2001.
  10. ↑ "Double nominations in Writers' Trust awards". The Telegram, February 17, 2002.
  11. ↑ Shelly Boettcher, "Calgarians split book award". Calgary Herald, May 12, 2002.
  12. ↑ Marc Horton, "Worth the paper it's written on: Author Thomas Wharton imagines wondrous world". Edmonton Journal, October 6, 2004.
  13. ↑ "Alberta author Wharton makes short list for prestigious literary prize". Canadian Press, April 5, 2006.
  14. ↑ Richard Helm, "Edmonton's Wharton plans fantasy trilogy". Edmonton Journal, October 27, 2006.
  15. ↑ Cassandra Drudi, "Three debut novels among finalists for 2023 Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize". Quill & Quire, September 27, 2023.
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