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Martha Baillie

マーサ・ベイリー

Māsa Beirī

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1960 （Toronto）
Nationality
Canada
Languages
English, French, Russian
Residence History
Toronto

Career

Occupations
poet, novelist, librarian
Active Years
1981-2024
Affiliations
Toronto Public Library
Nominations
Shortlisted 2017 Governor General's Awards, Category Translation English-French

Education

University of Edinburgh
Faculty of Arts / History, French and Russian
Country: United Kingdom
Sorbonne
Country: France
University of Toronto
Country: Canada
Involved in theatre

Awards

Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction
2024
Work: There Is No Blue
Category: Nonfiction
Organization: Writers' Trust of Canada
Result: won
Scotiabank Giller Prize
2009
Work: The Incident Report
Result: longlisted

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The Shape I Gave You

2006 novel

Her most popular novel to date, listed as a national bestseller.

loveidentity

The Incident Report

2009 novel

Uses the format of 144 short reports to recount incidents from her experiences as a librarian. Contains a love story and a mystery.

librariesmarginalized people
Adaptations
  • [film] Darkest Miriam (2024)

There Is No Blue

2023 nonfiction

Winner of the Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction.

Bibliography

  • My Sister, Esther (1995)
  • Madame Balashovskaya's Apartment (1999)
  • The Shape I Gave You (2006)
  • The Incident Report (2009)
  • The search for Heinrich Schlögel (2014)
  • La disparition d'Heinrich Schlögel (2017, French translation)
  • If Clara (2017)
  • Sister Language (2019)
  • There is No Blue (2023)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
innovative formatsreport-style
Recurring Motifs
librariespersonal experiences

Legacy

Canadian poet and novelist known for innovative novel formats.