Fonds F0250 - Angie Abdou fonds

Angie Abdou was born and raised in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. She earned her B.A. in English at the University of Regina (1991), and an M.A. in English from the University of Western Ontario (1992). She entered a Ph.D. program in Mediaeval Studies and left the program while working on her doctoral thesis. At this time she began writing fiction while recovering from a serious highway accident. She later earned her Ph.D. in English and Creative Writing from the University of Calgary (2009). Since 2001 she has been teaching English and creative writing at the College of the Rockies in B.C.

Abdou's first book Anything Boys Can Do (2006), a collection of short stories focused on women's changing life choices and sexual encounters. Her most successful novel, The Bone Cage (2007), explores the psychology of two athletes as they train intensely for the Olympic Games. Athletic prowess is tested in Abdou's The Canterbury Trail (2011) as a number of diverse snow enthusiasts travel by snowshoe or sled up and over a mountain. In her unique style, Abdou combines humour and danger in her character studies. In her novel, Between (2014), Abdou explores cultural differences in the relationship of two women: a Canadian working mother and her Philipino nanny. In her novel, Between, a young couple moves from a "sweet suite" above the husband's parent's garage to their own place.

In Home Ice: Reflections of a Reluctant Hockey Mom (2018) Angie Abdou gives readers a truthful account of her experiences as a hockey mom, frankly describing her young son’s sporting experiences on and off the ice in Fernie. In her second memoir, Angie Abdou challenges her daughter, Katie to hike a peak a week with her over the summer holidays one year. Abdou learns some valuable lessons – most importantly that she loves hiking but Katie doesn’t. She writes about their bonding experiences in This One Wild Life: A Mother-Daughter Wilderness Memoir.

Angie can be heard regularly on CBC radio, where she does a monthly book column on Daybreak Alberta with Russell Bowers and occasional recommendations on The Next Chapter with Shelagh Rogers.