Bonnie Burnard

Bonnie Burnard (January 15, 1945 – March 4, 2017) was a Canadian short story writer and novelist, best known for her 1999 novel, A Good House, which won the Scotiabank Giller Prize.

Born in Petrolia, Ontario, she grew up in Forest, Ontario, and moved to Regina, Saskatchewan, in the late 1970s. In the early 1990s she returned to Southwestern Ontario, and was a resident of London, Ontario, where she died on March 4, 2017.

Personal life Born Bonita Amelia Huctwith on January 15, 1945, in Petrolia, Ontario, she grew up with her four brothers in Forest, Ontario. She was the youngest in her family. In 1967, Burnard completed her Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Western Ontario.

She taught at the Humber School for Writers, the University of British Columbia's summer creative writing program Booming Ground, and at the University of Windsor as an adjunct professor in the writing department.

Literary work While attending classes at the University of Regina, Burnard attended one of the reading sessions by another Canadian novelist, Marian Engel, which inspired her to write. Engel had visited Regina to read from her the Governor-General's Literary Award-winning novel, Bear. She edited the 1986 book The Old Dance: Love Stories of One Kind or Another published by Thunder Creek Publishing Co-operative. In 1988, her first individually authored short story collection Women of Influence was published. Four editions of the novel were published in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and in twelve other countries from 1999 to 2002. Also that same year, this collection received the Periodical Publishers Award and was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. In 1995, Burnard was awarded the Marian Engel Award given to the body of work by a female Canadian writer. In 1999, she won the Scotiabank Giller Prize for her novel, A Good House. In 2000, A Good House fetched her the Canadian Booksellers Association People's Choice Award.

Burnard has also received the W. O. Mitchell Bursury at fort San in 1983, the City of Regina Writing Award in 1984, the CBC Literary Competition Award in 1992, and various Saskatchewan Writers Guild awards.