Dr. Suzette Mayr

Pronouns: she/her/they/them

Positions

Professor

Faculty of Arts , Department of English

Contact information

smayr@ucalgary.ca

Phone number

Office: +1 (403) 220-4659

Location

Office: SS1048

Preferred method of communication

I prefer email for all correspondence.

Background

Educational Background

PhD Creative Practice, University of New South Wales, 2016

M.A. English, University of Alberta, 1992

B.A. English (Hons.), University of Calgary, 1990

Mayr CV

Biography

Dr. Mayr received a Killam Annual Professor Award in 2023. She is the author of six novels, including her most recent book The Sleeping Car Porter, winner of the 2022 Scotiabank Giller Prize, the Georges Bugnet Award, and the City of Calgary W. O. Mitchell Award. The Sleeping Car Porter was also shortlisted for the 2024 Dublin Literary Award, nominated for the 2023 Governor General's Award for Fiction, and shortlisted for the inaugural Carol Shields Prize for Fiction and the Republic of Consciousness Prize (US and Canada). Her novel Monoceros won the ReLit and the City of Calgary W. O. Mitchell Awards, and was nominated for the 2011 Scotiabank Giller Prize, the Ferro-Grumley Award for LGBT Fiction, and Georges Bugnet Award for Fiction. Her novel The Widows was a finalist for the Commonwealth Prize for Best Book in the Canada-Caribbean region. Dr. Mayr is a former president of the Writers’ Guild of Alberta, and has been teaching creative writing at the University of Calgary since 2003. Dr. Mayr's research interests include: Creative Writing, Canadian Literature, Haunted House / Horror Literature, and Australian Literature.

Research

Areas of Research

Creative Writing, Contemporary Canadian Literature, Haunted House / Horror Literature, Australian Literature

Courses

Course number	Course title	Semester
ENGL 387	The Harlem Renaissance	Fall 2022
ENGL 594	Creative Writing: Popular Genre	Fall 2022
ENGL 694	Topics in Creative Writing: Popular Genre	Fall 2022

Projects

The Sleeping Car Porter (novel)

Published Sept. 2022. Funded by a SSHRC Insight grant (2013-2017)

Awards

Shortlist, Dublin Literary Award, Dublin City Council (Dublin City Libraries and Dublin UNESCO City of Literature). 2024
Finalist, Governor General's Award for Fiction, Canada Council. 2023
Scotiabank Giller Prize ($100,000), Scotiabank / Giller Foundation. 2022
Killam Annual Professor Award, Killam Program. 2023
George Bugnet Award for Best Novel ($1500) for The Sleeping Car Porter, Writers' Guild of Alberta. 2023
City of Calgary W.O. Mitchell Award ($5000) for The Sleeping Car Porter, 2023
ReLit Award for Monoceros, 2012
Faculty of Arts Distinguished Research Award, 2012
SSHRC Insight grant, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. 2013
City of Calgary W.O. Mitchell Award ($5000) for Monoceros, 2012
Shortlist, Carol Shields Prize for Fiction for The Sleeping Car Porter, 2023
Shortlist, Republic of Consciousness Prize for The Sleeping Car Porter , 2023
Finalist, George Bugnet Award for Best Novel for Dr. Edith Vane and the Hares of Crawley Hall, Writers' Guild of Alberta. 2018
Longlist, Scotiabank Giller Prize , Scotiabank / Giller Foundation. 2011
Finalist, Ferro-Grumley Award for LGBT Fiction, 2012
Nomination, Supervisory Excellence Award , University of Calgary. 2013
Toronto Public Library Book of the Month, 2012
Globe and Mail's "Best 100 Books of 2011" List, 2011
Maisonneuve's "Maisy's Best Books of 2011" List, 2011
Vancouver Sun's "2011's Top 10 Books" List, 2011
Finalist, Commonwealth Prize for Best Book for in the Canadian-Caribbean Region, 1998
Finalist, Georges Bugnet Award for Best Novel for Moon Honey, Writers' Guild of Alberta. 1996
Finalist, Henry Kreisel Award for Best First Book for Moon Honey, Writers' Guild of Alberta. 1996

Publications

The Sleeping Car Porter. Mayr, Suzette. Coach House Books. (2022)
"Finding Black Queer Life Between the Lines of History: Suzette Mayr on Her Search for the Sleeping Car Porter". Suzette Mayr. Literary Hub. (2022)
Dr. Edith Vane and the Hares of Crawley Hall. Mayr, Suzette. Coach House Books. (2017)
Monoceros. Mayr, Suzette. Coach House Books. (2011)
Venous Hum. Mayr, Suzette. Arsenal Pulp Press. (2004)
The Widows. Mayr, Suzette. NeWest Press. (1998)
Moon Honey. Mayr, Suzette. NeWest Press. (1995)
“The Fall of the House of Buck: The "Haunted" House as Revelatory Space in Daniel David Moses’s Big Buck City.” . Mayr, Suzette. Studies in Canadian Literature / Études En Littérature Canadienne (SCL/ÉLU). 91–107. (2019)
“"Misfit" College: The Sentient House as Thing in Joan Lindsay’s Picnic at Hanging Rock.”. Mayr, Suzette. Antipodes: A Global Journal of Australian/New Zealand Literature. 393–406. (2017)
“‘A Place With Its Own Shying: Countering the Aboriginal Uncanny in Vivienne Cleven’s Her Sister’s Eye.”. Mayr, Suzette. Journal of the Association for Studies in Australian Literature. (2017)
“‘House of Mirrors’: The Sentient House as Homosocial and Intimate Space in Andrew Pyper’s The Guardians.” . Mayr, Suzette. Horror Studies. 97-114. (2017)
“Absent Black Women in Dany Laferriere’s How to Make Love With a Negro.” . Mayr, Suzette. Canadian Literature. 31-45. (2006)

In the News

“The Best Historical Fiction of 2022” . New York Times. (2022)
Review of The Sleeping Car Porter (starred review). Publisher's Weekly. (2022)
"The Sleeping Car Porter" (review). Kirkus Reviews. (2022)
"Suzette Mayr’s novel ‘The Sleeping Car Porter’ an artfully constructed story that moves, beguiles, and satisfies". Toronto Star. (2022)
Crushed Blackademics: The Case for Black Women to Ditch Academia (Review of Dr. Edith Vane and the Hares of Crawley Hall). Bitch Media. (2017)
"The Best Canadian Fiction of 2022". CBC Books. (2022)
Book Review: Monoceros, by Suzette Mayr. National Post. (2011)