Kathleen Winter

Shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, the Governor General's Award for Fiction, and the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize In 1968, into the beautiful, spare environment of remote coastal Labrador, a mysterious child is born: a baby who appears to be neither fully boy nor girl, but both at once. Only three people are privy to the secret — the baby's parents, Jacinta and Treadway, and a trusted neighbour, Thomasina. Together the adults make a difficult decision: to raise the child as a boy named Wayne. But as Wayne grows to adulthood within the hyper-masculine hunting culture of his father, his shadow-self — a girl he thinks of as "Annabel" — is never entirely extinguished, and indeed is secretly nurtured by the women in his life. Haunting, sweeping in scope, and stylistically reminiscent of Jeffrey Eugenides' Middlesex, Annabelis a compelling tale about one person's struggle to discover the truth about their birth and self in a culture that shuns contradiction.

Annabel

The long-awaited follow up to Annabel and Kathleen Winter’s first work of narrative nonfiction.

Tracing Land and Dream in a New Northwest Passage

Boundless

Long-awaited, thrilling new fiction from Kathleen Winter, whose previous novel Annabel was a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller, Governor General's Award, Writers' Trust and Orange prizes, was a Globe and Mail "Best Book" and a New York Times "Notable," and was a #1 bestselling Canada Reads selection. From one of Canada's most exciting writers comes a gripping, compassionate and stunning novel that overturns and rewrites history. Enter the world of Jimmy--a tall, red-haired, homeless thirty-something ex-soldier, battered by PTSD--as he camps out on the streets of modern-day Montreal, trying to remember and reclaim his youth. While his past is something of an enigma, even to himself, the young man bears a striking resemblance to General James Wolfe, "Conqueror of Canada" and "Hero of Quebec," who died on the Plains of Abraham in 1759. As a young soldier in his twenties, the historical James Wolfe (1727-1759) was granted a short and much longed-for leave to travel to Paris to study poetry, music and dance--three of his passions. But in that very year, 1752, the British Empire abandoned the Julian calendar for the Gregorian, and every citizen of England lost eleven days: September 2 was followed by September 14. These lost eleven days happened to occur during the period that Wolfe had been granted for his leave. Despondent and bitter, he never got the chance to explore his artistic bent, and seven short years later, on the anniversary of this foreshortened leave, he died on the Plains of Abraham. Now, James is getting his eleven days back . . . but instead of the salons of 18th century Paris, he's wandering the streets of present-day Montreal and Quebec City, not as "the Hero of Quebec" but as a damaged war veteran wracked with anguish. Much like George Saunders in Lincoln in the Bardo, award-winning author Kathleen Winter takes a brief, intensely personal incident in the life of a famous historical figure, and using her incomparable gifts as a fiction writer, powerfully reimagines him. Here is a wrenching, unforgettable portrait--like none you have ever seen or read--of one of the most well-known figures in Canadian history.

Lost in September

When young James Dixon, a local jack-of-all-trades recently returned from the Battle of Waterloo, meets Dorothy Wordsworth, who's in her early thirties and living an unconventional life. Dixon is approached by Dorothy's brother William to do some handiwork around the estate, but he quickly understands that his real responsibility is to keep an eye on Dorothy. The pair form a strong bond, and soon Dixon is witness to the everyday life of this extraordinary family and their unusual circle. Author of "Annabel." Residence: Montreal, QC. Print run 5,000.

Undersong

In 1968, in het verre noordoosten van Canada, waar de mannen jagen en de vrouwen thuisblijven, wordt een mysterieus kind geboren; een baby met zowel mannelijke als vrouwelijke geslachtsdelen. Er zijn maar drie mensen op de hoogte van het geheim: de beide ouders, Jacinta en Treadway Blake, en hun discrete buurvrouw. Treadway, een man van weinig woorden maar stevige principes, besluit de pasgeborene als jongen op te voeden. Dit tot groot verdriet van Jacinta. Zo begint de kleine Wayne zijn leven als jongen. Maar zelfs in de ruige mannenwereld van zijn vader voelt hij de aanwezigheid van zijn schaduwzelf - het meisje dat hij in gedachten Annabel noemt. Wanneer Wayne in de puberteit komt, wordt zijn lichaam het strijdtoneel van seksuele ontdekkingen en zijn ware identiteit.

een harverscheurende literaire roman over identiteit en het verlangen naar acceptatie

Kathleen Winter began writing the notebooks from which these passages have been taken in the summer of 1992, shortly after her husband's diagnosis. She continued writing them until his death two years later. For Kathleen, the notebooks became a place to name the elements that hurt her relationships with her husband and their daughter, and to regain the perspective of solitude in a ravaged landscape. The notebooks became a place of both lamentation and healing. This volume is Kathleen's selection from the entire two-year journal. It includes journal entries written by her husband James during his final Christmas at home, and in his last days. And there is a poem by their daughter Esther.

A Woman's Journal of Living With Her Husband's Cancer

The Necklace of Occasional Dreams

Poetry. I WILL NOT KICK MY FRIENDS by Kathleen Winter is one of the winners of the 17th Annual Elixir Press Poetry Awards. Contest judge, Jane Satterfield, had this to say about I WILL NOT KICK MY FRIENDS: "Sparkling, satirical, and highly referential, Winter's poems offer deep rewards. They consistently resist scholarly insularity, and the overall effect is a refreshingly choral, intoxicating verse." Bob Hicok said this: "Kathleen Winter is unusually attuned to the intersection of the imagined and the common place. She weaves her loves -- personal, artistic, intellectual -- into her daily life, making this a book of passionate intimacies. Kathleen's attitude -- her appetite -- is made clear by her vision of Eve in the poem, 'Noir' -- 'He offered me the apple -- / what could I do?' This is a wonderful book."

I Will Not Kick My Friends

Kathleen Winter's first novel Annabel will be published in the United States by Grove Atlantic in Spring 2011. Her first short story collection boYs, winner of the Metcalf-Rooke and Winterset Award, was one of the most memorable fiction debuts to come out of Canada in many years. Check it out for yourself.

(stories)

Boys

A literary gem, Winter's luminous debut novel is a deeply affecting portrait of life in an enchanting seaside town and the trials of growing up unique in a restrictive environment.

“A stunning, spellbinding, poetic triumph." —Toronto Star From Giller-shortlisted author Kathleen Winter (author of the bestseller Annabel): A stunning novel reimagining the lost years of misunderstood Romantic Era genius Dorothy Wordsworth. When young James Dixon, a local jack-of-all-trades recently returned from the Battle of Waterloo, meets Dorothy Wordsworth, he quickly realizes he’s never met another woman anything like her. In her early thirties, Dorothy has already lived a wildly unconventional life. And as her famous brother William Wordsworth’s confidante and creative collaborator—considered by some in their circle to be the secret to his success as a poet—she has carved a seemingly idyllic existence for herself, alongside William and his wife, in England’s Lake District. One day, Dixon is approached by William to do some handiwork around the Wordsworth estate. Soon he takes on more and more chores—and quickly understands that his real, unspoken responsibility is to keep an eye on Dorothy, who is growing frail and melancholic. The unlikely pair of misfits form a sympathetic bond despite the troubling chasm in social class between them, and soon Dixon is the quiet witness to everyday life in Dorothy’s family and glittering social circle, which includes literary legends Samuel Coleridge, Thomas de Quincy, William Blake, and Charles and Mary Lamb. Through the fictional James Dixon—a gentle but troubled soul, more attuned to the wonders of the garden he faithfully tends than to vexing worldly matters—we step inside the Wordsworth family, witnessing their dramatic emotional and artistic struggles, hidden traumas, private betrayals and triumphs. At the same time, Winter slowly weaves a darker, complex “undersong” through the novel, one as earthy and elemental as flower and tree, gradually revealing the pattern of Dorothy's rich, hidden life—that of a woman determined, against all odds, to exist on her own terms. But the unsettling effects of Dorothy’s tragically repressed brilliance take their toll, and when at last her true voice sings out, it is so searing and bright that Dixon must make an impossible choice.

Croydon Harbour, ein verschlafener kleiner Ort an der Küste Labradors, 1968. Die Aufbruch- und Proteststimmung der Zeit ist nicht bis in diese abgelegene Gegend vorgedrungen, als ein freudig erwartetes Baby zur Welt kommt. Doch dieses Kind ist anders: nicht ganz Junge und auch nicht ganz Mädchen. Die Eltern – in erster Linie jedoch der Vater – entscheiden, es als Jungen aufwachsen zu lassen. Aber das männliche Rollenbild, verhaftet in alten Traditionen und bestimmt durch Jagen und Fischen, bleibt dem Jungen fremd. Und er sucht einen Weg, um zu sich selbst zu finden und selbstbestimmt leben zu können. Zur Seite steht ihm dabei eine gute Freundin der Eltern, die um sein Geheimnis weiß.

Kathleen Winter

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