Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1992-1995 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
20 cm of textual materials
1 computer disk
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Suzette Mayr is an award-winning author, poet, editor and educator who was born in Calgary, Alberta in 1967. As a Canadian of German and Afro-Caribbean background, Mayr often explores issues of race, identity and sexuality in her writing through the stylistic use of humour, cultural mythologies and surreal imagery.
Her novels include Moon Honey (1995 NeWest Press), The Widows (1998 NeWest Press), Venous Hum (2004 Arsenal Pulp Press), Monoceros (2011 Coach House Books) and Dr. Edith Vane and the Hares of Crawley Hall (2017 Coach House Books). Her novel Moon Honey was nominated for the Henry Kreisel Award for Best First Book and the Georges Bugnet award for Best Novel. The Widows was nominated for the Commonwealth Prize for Best Book in the Canada-Caribbean Region. Monoceros was the winner of the 2012 ReLit Award and the City of Calgary W.O. Mitchell Award, longlisted for the 2011 Scotiabank Giller Prize and was also nominated for the Ferro-Grumley Award for LGBT Fiction and the Georges Bugnet Award for Fiction.
A former President of the Writers’ Guild of Alberta, Mayr has edited six literary anthologies, and collaborated with Calgary theatre company Theatre Junction and visual artists Lisa Brawn and Geoff Hunter. She has been a writer-in-residence at the University of Calgary and at Widener University, Pennsylvania. Mayr is currently is a Professor at the University of Calgary’s Department of English, where she teaches courses in creative writing and contemporary literature studies.
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Subseries consists of handwritten, typescript and digital drafts of Mayr's novel Moon Honey. Some drafts appear under the working titles "And a Penny in Her Shoe" and "Two Birds and a Brown Girl." Includes edits by Aritha van Herk and others, as well as research material on the Frank Slide and other subjects.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Subseries is arranged in chronological order.