Naomi K. Lewis - 2011 Writer in Residence: Sept 1 to Nov 30

Naomi K. Lewis is our Writer-in-Residence for 2011.  She ably fulfills our requirements for a published writer with teaching experience who is able to critique a wide variety of genres in both fiction and non-fiction writing.

Visit her website.

Publications and writing credits

Lewis has published in a variety of genres including a novel, short stories, essays, memoirs, journalism and poetry, and she describes her writing process thus: “My work is driven by my lifelong fascination with people – the contradiction between our inner lives and the personas we cultivate, and our competing desires to communicate with each other and to avoid doing so.  I long to dig my claws into the layers of complexity we clothe ourselves in, to expose a little bit of truth – and I strive to do so with fierceness and good humour.” Her first novel, Cricket in a Fist, was published by Goose Lane Editions in 2008.

Her short stories have appeared in journals across Canada.  “The Guiding Light,” won first prize in the 2007 Fiddlehead fiction contest, was included in the 2008 Journey Prize anthology, and appeared in No Such Thing as a Free Ride, an anthology dedicated to the theme of hitchhiking, published by Goose Lane Editions in 2008.  She is currently working on short stories and a novel.

In the area of non-fiction, Lewis has published magazine articles, personal essays and ghostwriting.  For three years, she held the position of associate editor of Legacy magazine, where she wrote feature stories and a quarterly column.  She is currently co-editing, with Rona Altrows, an anthology about shyness, a project that stemmed from her own essay “Say Water,” which won third place in the 2009 Prairie Fire non-fiction prize.  She co-wrote In Case of Fire, the 2010 memoir of burn survivor and workplace safety advocate, Spencer Beach.

Relevant Experience and Employment

Lewis teaches Creative Writing Level 1, Creative Writing Level 2 and Grammar and Style for Creative Writers at Mount Royal University, and the yearlong Novel Approach at the Alexandra Writers’ Centre.  In 2007 and 2008, she taught Writing Skills: Clarity and Style at the University of Alberta, and in 2009, she conducted a workshop on character development for teens at Calgary Public Library.

Education

Bachelor of Arts, with highest honours in philosophy.  Carleton University: 2000

Master of Arts: English and Creative Writing. University of New Brunswick: 2005