Thomas Wharton
Encyclopedia
Life
Born in Grande PrairieGrande Prairie, Alberta
Grande Prairie is a city in the northwestern part of the province of Alberta in Western Canada. It is located on the southern edge of the Peace River Country . The city is surrounded by the County of Grande Prairie No...
, Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
, Wharton attended the University of Alberta
University of Alberta
The University of Alberta is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta and Henry Marshall Tory, its first president, it is widely recognized as one of the best universities in Canada...
and the University of Calgary
University of Calgary
The University of Calgary is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1966 the U of C is composed of 14 faculties and more than 85 research institutes and centres.More than 25,000 undergraduate and 5,500 graduate students are currently...
. He was a student of Rudy Wiebe
Rudy Wiebe
Rudy Henry Wiebe, OC is a Canadian author and professor emeritus in the department of English at the University of Alberta since 1992.-Life:...
and Greg Hollingshead
Greg Hollingshead
Gregory "Greg" Hollingshead is a Canadian novelist. He is currently a professor of English at the University of Alberta. He lives in Edmonton, Alberta...
. His first novel began as his M.A. thesis, under the supervision of Kristjana Gunnars
Kristjana Gunnars
Kristjana Gunnars is an Icelandic-Canadian poet and novelist. Her volumes of poetry include Settlement Poems, which focuses on 19th century Icelandic settlers in Manitoba, and One-Eyed Moon Maps.-External links:...
. He worked on his PhD at Calgary with Aritha van Herk
Aritha Van Herk
Aritha van Herk is a Canadian writer, critic, editor, and university professor.She was born in Wetaskiwin, Alberta . Her parents and elder siblings immigrated to Canada from the Netherlands before she was born. She grew up in a bilingual home, speaking English and Dutch. In 1974, she married...
. Wharton is currently a professor of writing and English at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, and head of the creative writing department.
Writing
Wharton's first book, Icefields (1995), was awarded the “Best First Book” in the Canada and Caribbean division of the Commonwealth Writers Prize, the Writers Guild of Alberta “Best First Book Award”, and the Banff Book Festival grand prize.His second book, Salamander (2002), won the Georges Bugnet Award for Fiction and was short-listed for the Governor General's Award
Governor General's Award
The Governor General's Awards are a collection of awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, marking distinction in a number of academic, artistic and social fields. The first was conceived in 1937 by Lord Tweedsmuir, a prolific author of fiction and non-fiction who created the Governor...
for Fiction, and the Grant MacEwan Author's Award (2002). It was also a finalist for the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize
Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize
The Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize is a Canadian literary award presented by Rogers Communications and the Writers' Trust of Canada after an annual juried competition between publishers who submit entries....
.
The Logogryph was short listed for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
The International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award is an international literary award for a work of fiction, jointly sponsored by the city of Dublin, Ireland and the company IMPAC. At €100,000 it is one of the richest literary prizes in the world...
.
Wharton's Icefields was a finalist in the Canada Reads competition in early 2008.
He is currently working on a three-volume fantasy novel for younger readers.