Suzette Mayr


Suzette Mayr is a Canadian novelist who has written six critically acclaimed novels and is currently a professor at the University of Calgary's Faculty of Arts. Mayr's works have won and been nominated for several literary awards.

Biography

Suzette Mayr was born in Calgary, Alberta. Originally planning to study science in her post-secondary career, Mayr changed focus due to her strong performance in English. A creative writing course at the University of Calgary led to her decision to pursue a writing career. She graduated with an Honours bachelor's degree in English. Following her graduation from the University of Calgary, Mayr went on to acquire a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Alberta and a PhD from the University of New South Wales.
Mayr worked as a waitress and sandwich maker before establishing herself as a professional writer. In addition to her six novels, Mayr has published books of poetry and co-edited a literary anthology. Her novels and other literary works have been nominated for several awards. In 2002, Mayr participated in the Calgary Distinguished Writers Program at the University of Calgary, where she is now a professor in the Department of English and teaches courses on creative writing and contemporary literature studies. Mayr, a Canadian of German and Afro-Caribbean background, often explores issues of race, identity and sex in her writing through the stylistic use of humour, cultural mythologies and surreal imagery.

''The Sleeping Car Porter'' (2022)

The Sleeping Car Porter, published in 2022, centres on R.T. Baxter, a closeted gay Black Canadian man working as a porter on a cross-Canada railway. Publishers Weekly named it one of the top ten works of fiction published in 2022.
The novel was the winner of the 2022 Giller Prize. In 2023, it was longlisted for the inaugural Carol Shields Prize for Fiction, and shortlisted for the Governor General's Award for English-language fiction at the 2023 Governor General's Awards. It was also shortlisted for the 2024 International Dublin Literary Award.

Awards

Mayr's first published novel, Moon Honey, was nominated for two Alberta Literary Awards: the Georges Bugnet Award for Best Novel and the Henry Kreisel Award for Best First book. The Widows, Mayr's second novel, was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for best book in the Canadian-Caribbean region.
Mayr's fourth novel, Monoceros, won the ReLit Award and W. O. Mitchell Award. It was also nominated for a Ferro-Grumley Award, and longlisted for the 2011 Giller Prize.
In 2022, Mayr won the Giller Prize for her novel The Sleeping Car Porter.
YearWorkAwardCategoryResultRef
2004The WidowsCommonwealth Writers' PrizeBook
2011MonocerosFerro-Grumley AwardLGBTQ Fiction
2011MonocerosGiller Prize—
2011MonocerosW. O. Mitchell Award—Won
2012MonocerosReLit AwardsNovelWon
2022The Sleeping Car PorterGiller Prize—Won
2023The Sleeping Car PorterCarol Shields Prize for Fiction—
2023The Sleeping Car PorterGovernor General's AwardEnglish-language fiction
2024The Sleeping Car PorterInternational Dublin Literary AwardFiction

List of works

Novels

Moon Honey The Widows Venous Hum Monoceros Dr. Edith Vane and the Hares of Crawley Hall The Sleeping Car Porter
;PoetryZebra Talk
  • ''Tale''

Anthologized works

  • "Scalps" in Boundless Alberta
  • "Glass Anatomy" in Eye Wuz Here
  • "Toot Suite Matricia" in Threshold and So Long Been Dreaming
  • "Nipple Gospel" in ''And Other Stories''

Other

Mayr is a past president of the Writers' Guild of Alberta. In 2010, she served on the jury for the Dayne Ogilvie Prize, a literary award for emerging LGBT writers in Canada, selecting Nancy Jo Cullen as that year's prize winner.