Kim Echlin

{{Short description|Canadian novelist, translator, editor and teacher}}

{{Infobox writer

| name = Kim Echlin

| image =

| caption =

| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1955}}

| occupation = Author

| genre = Literary fiction

| birth_place = Burlington, Ontario

| alma_mater = McGill University, Paris-Sorbonne University, York University

| honorific_suffix =

}}

Kim Echlin (born 1955) is a Canadian novelist, translator, editor and teacher. She has a PhD in English literature for a thesis about the translation of the Ojibway Nanabush myths. Echlin has worked for CBC Television and several universities. She currently works as a creative writing instructor at the University of Toronto School for Continuing Studies. Her 2009 novel, The Disappeared, featured on the shortlist for the 2009 Scotiabank Giller Prize.

Early life and education

Kim Echlin was born in Burlington, Ontario in 1955. While attending Aldershot High School, Echlin's writing was noticed by her English teacher.{{Cite news|url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=n5h&AN=Q4KHSON2016021836882778&site=ehost-live|title=New Writer in Residence Wants to Use Storytelling to Build Community|last=Kenny|first=Amy|date=18 February 2016|work=The Hamilton Spectator|access-date=6 July 2019|url-access=subscription|via=EBSCOhost}} She studied at McGill University and Paris-Sorbonne University, before completing a PhD in English literature at York University, writing a thesis about the translation of the Ojibway Nanabush myths.{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/kim-echlin|title=Kim Echlin|first=Paula|last=Jessop|encyclopedia=The Canadian Encyclopedia|date=October 28, 2012|accessdate=July 5, 2019}}{{cite thesis|title=The translation of Ojibway: The Nanabush myths|first=Kim A.|last=Echlin|year=1982|publisher=York University|isbn=0315086327}}

Career

Echlin is a writer, journalist and educator. She has worked as an arts producer for CBC Television's The Journal and has taught journalism and creative writing at a number of Canadian universities. She is currently a creative writing instructor at University of Toronto School for Continuing Studies, and previously taught at the University of Alberta Women and Words Conference.{{cite web|url=https://learn.utoronto.ca/why-continuing-studies/about-our-instructors/instructors/kim-echlin|title=Kim Echlin|publisher=University of Toronto School for Continuing Studies|accessdate=July 6, 2019}} She was the Mabel Pugh Taylor Writer-in-Residence at McMaster University and the Hamilton Public Library in 2015–16.{{cite news|url=https://dailynews.mcmaster.ca/articles/meet-mcmasters-writer-in-residence/|title=Meet McMaster's Mabel Pugh Taylor Writer-in-Residence|publisher=McMaster University|first1=Erica|last1=Balch|first2=Colin|last2=Czerneda|date=February 1, 2016|accessdate=July 6, 2019}}

Echlin is a founding trustee of the Loran Scholars Foundation.{{cite web|url=https://loranscholar.ca/supporters/kim-echlin-2/|title=Our Supporters: Kim Echlin|publisher=Loran Scholars Foundation|accessdate=July 6, 2019}} She is a board member of El Hogar Projects, Canada.{{cite news|url=https://www.toronto.com/news-story/4368985-beach-teen-shrugs-off-vacation-for-volunteer-work-this-march-break/|title=Beach teen shrugs off vacation for volunteer work this March Break|work=Beach Mirror|first=Joanna|last=Lavoie|date=February 14, 2014|accessdate=August 17, 2019}}

Writing

Elephant Winter, the story of a young woman who returns to her rural Ontario home to tend to her dying mother and finds her life altered due to a romantic relationship with a wildlife caretaker at a neighboring safari park.{{Cite journal|last1=Oloizia|first1=Richard|last2=Havens|first2=Shirley E.|date=1999|title=Word of Mouth|url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lfh&AN=2348539&site=ehost-live|journal=Library Journal|volume=124|issue=16|pages=160|url-access=subscription|via=EBSCOhost}} The book was described as "enormously engaging" by Maureen Garvie in Quill & Quire.{{cite news|url=https://quillandquire.com/review/elephant-winter/|title=Elephant Winter|first=Maureen|last=Garvie|work=Quill & Quire|date=January 1997|accessdate=July 6, 2019}} Frank Moher further observed in a Saturday Night review of the novel that Sophie's growing empathy is reflected by "prose that is as extravagant in feeling as it is in expression". Kirkus Reviews described the book as a "sometimes emotionally scattered debut" but praised it for its "intriguing lore".{{cite web |title=Elephant Winter |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/kim-echlin/elephant-winter/ |website=Kirkus Reviews |accessdate=21 July 2019}}

Echlin draws on the ancient myths of Demeter and Persephone, as well as on the story of Inanna, in her second novel, Dagmar's Daughter, in which a motherless teen is almost drowned before finding safety on a small island. The woman's story is interwoven with those of three generations of gifted Gaelic-speaking women into a novel that, although difficult, "rewards the effort", according to Canadian Woman Studies reviewer Clara Thomas.{{cite journal|title=Dagmar's Daughter|first=Clara|last=Thomas|journal=Canadian Woman Studies|year=2001|volume=21|issue=2|pages=150–151|url=https://cws.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/cws/article/view/12649}} Noting that the novel's plot moves at a brisk pace, Elaine Jones added in Resource Links that Dagmar's Daughter relates "a powerful and intriguing story".{{cite journal|title=Dagmar's Daughter|first=Elaine|last=Jones|journal=Resource Links|volume=8|issue=1|page=55|year=2002}}

Echlin has adapted the ancient Sumerian myth of Inanna for an illustrated book, Inanna: From the Myths of Ancient Sumer, published in 2003.{{cite news|url=https://quillandquire.com/authors/2015/08/13/inanna-gilgamesh-and-bruno-mars-kim-echlins-ongoing-quest-narrative/|title=Inanna, Gilgamesh, and Bruno Mars: Kim Echlin's ongoing quest narrative|work=Quill & Quire|first=Steven W.|last=Beattie|date=August 13, 2015|accessdate=July 6, 2019}} Associated with the planet Venus, Inanna is an ancient goddess that figured prominently in the civilization that existed in the location of modern-day Iraq over four thousand years ago.{{Cite journal|last=Long|first=Joanna Rudge|date=2004|title=Inanna: From the Myths of Ancient Sumer|url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lfh&AN=11723991&site=ehost-live|journal=Horn Book Magazine|volume=80|issue=1|pages=94|url-access=subscription|via=EBSCOhost}} Although lost for centuries, her stories, carved on stone tablets, were recently recovered by archeologists. Sister to Gilgamesh, Inanna grows to maturity and through her determination, wisdom, and ambition she learns the extent of her own destructive and creative powers. In Inanna Echlin relates the warrior goddess's story in poetic form, from her birth as the daughter of the moon god to her growing desire for her handsome shepherd brother Dumuzi, her death and descent into the underworld, and her fight to regain her place on Earth as well as her power within the pantheon of Sumerian gods. Noting that the book, which is illustrated by European artist Linda Wolfsgruber, would be most valuable to young-adult readers, Patricia D. Lothrop wrote in School Library Journal that Inanna "could be an enticing introduction to a little-known figure from ancient Near East myth".{{Cite journal|last=Lothrop|first=Patricia D.|date=2004|title=Inanna: From the Myths of Ancient Sumer (Book)|url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lfh&AN=12497508&site=ehost-live|journal=School Library Journal|volume=50|issue=3|pages=229|url-access=subscription|via=EBSCOhost}} In crafting her book-length story, Echlin positions traditional stories about the goddess "in chronological order, following Inanna's development from an eager, ambitious goddess to the position of the all-powerful queen whose 'light shines through everything,'" according to Resource Links contributor Joan Marshall. Marshall dubbed the book a "fascinating tale of a young goddess who knows how to get the power she wants".{{cite journal|title=Inanna|first=Joan|last=Marshall|journal=Resource Links|volume=9|issue=2|pages=36–37|year=2003}}

Echlin's 2009 novel, The Disappeared was shortlisted for the 2009 Scotiabank Giller Prize.{{cite news|url=https://scotiabankgillerprize.ca/scotiabank-giller-prize-2009-shortlist/|title=The 2009 Scotiabank Giller Prize Announces its Shortlist|publisher=Scotiabank Giller Prize|date=October 6, 2009|accessdate=July 6, 2019}} The Disappeared deals with Cambodian genocide and its connection to Canadian history.{{Cite journal|last=Y-Dang|first=Troeung|date=2013|title=Witnessing Cambodia's Diappeared|url=http://muse.jhu.edu/article/510188|journal=University of Toronto Quarterly|volume=82|issue=2|pages=150–167|doi=10.3138/UTQ.82.2.150|s2cid=161956598|url-access=subscription}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/books/review/Sofer-t.html|title=Love in the Time of Genocide|first=Dalia|last=Sofer|work=New York Times|date=January 8, 2010|accessdate=July 6, 2019}}

Under the Visible Life was published in 2015.[https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/the-50-most-anticipated-books-of-2015-the-first-half-anyway/article22273982/ "The 50 most anticipated books of 2015 (the first half, anyway)"]. The Globe and Mail, January 2, 2015. The Globe and Mail called it "a love song to music itself," while Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner, said "this story of motherhood and friendship, anchored by two extraordinary heroines, will stay with me for a long time.”{{Cite web |title=Under the Visible Life by Kim Echlin |url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/417252/under-the-visible-life-by-kim-echlin/9780143178330 |access-date=2024-01-07 |website=Penguin Random House Canada |language=English}} In 2015, Echlin also published Inanna: A New English Version, a new translation of the Inanna myth with extensive linguistic and cultural notes.{{cite news|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-14-319458-3|title=Inanna: A New English Version|work=Publishers Weekly|date=January 25, 2016|accessdate=July 6, 2019}}

Speak, Silence was published in 2021 and won the 2021 Toronto Book Award.{{cite web |author1=Toronto Book Awards Committee |title=Toronto Book Awards 2022 |url=https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/awards-tributes/awards/toronto-book-awards/toronto-book-awards-jury-finalists-winners/ |website=City of Toronto |date=16 August 2017 |access-date=18 March 2022}} Weaving a fiction story against the Bosnian war crimes trial at the Hague, the Toronto Book Award jury described Speak, Silence as 'impeccably researched' and as 'a story of tragedy and community rebuilding that hooks the reader from the beginning to the last page.'{{cite web |author1=Toronto Book Awards Committee |title=Toronto Book Awards 2022 |url=https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/awards-tributes/awards/toronto-book-awards/toronto-book-awards-jury-finalists-winners/ |website=City of Toronto |date=16 August 2017 |access-date=18 March 2022}} Speak, Silence is also among ten finalists for the 2022 Evergreen award, run by Forest of Reading{{cite web |author1=Ontario Library Association |title=Evergreen Award 2022 Nominees |url=https://forestofreading.com/evergreen-nominees/ |website=Forest of Reading |access-date=18 March 2022}}

In Katherine Ashenburg's extensive review of Echlin's fiction work in the Literary Review of Canada she wrote "Echlin’s books, difficult as their subjects can be, are much more than worth the pain. Beyond their considerable literary merit and pleasure, they offer a richer, deeper, truer entrée than non-fiction can provide into happenings we would often prefer to ignore. They give us a peerless chance to listen."{{cite web |author1=Katherine Ashenburg |title=The Quality of Her Passion |url=https://reviewcanada.ca/magazine/2021/11/the-quality-of-her-passion/ |website=Literary Review of Canada |date=19 October 2021 |access-date=18 March 2022}}

List of works

=Books=

Elephant Winter (1997) {{ISBN|978-0143170587}}
Dagmar's Daughter (2001) {{ISBN|978-0143170594}}
Inanna: From the Myths of Ancient Sumer (2003) {{ISBN|978-0888994967}}
Elizabeth Smart: A Fugue Essay on Women and Creativity (2004) {{ISBN|978-0889614420}}
The Disappeared (2009) {{ISBN|978-0143170457}}
Under the Visible Life (2015) {{ISBN|978-1781255803}}
Inanna: A New English Version (2015) {{ISBN| 978-0143194583}}
Speak, Silence (2021) {{ISBN| 978-0735240612}}

=Other writing=

(Translator and editor with Nie Zhixiong) Yuan Ke, Dragons and Dynasties: An Introduction to Chinese Mythology (London: Penguin, 1991), {{ISBN|978-0140586534}}
(Editor) To Arrive Where You Are: Literary Journalism from the Banff Centre for the Arts (Banff, Alberta: Banff Centre Press, 1999) {{ISBN|978-0920159712}}
(Co-translator) Rasha Omran, [https://samizdatpress.typepad.com/hal_book_rasha_omran/hal-book-defy-the-silence-poetry-by-rasha-omran.html Defy the Silence] (Hamilton: Hamilton Arts & Letters, 2018) {{ISBN|978-0993721328}}

Awards and honors

2022: Nominated: Evergreen Book Award, Forest of Reading, for Speak, Silence{{cite web |author1=Ontario Library Association |title=2022 Evergreen Award nominees |url=https://forestofreading.com/evergreen-nominees/ |website=Forest of Reading |access-date=18 March 2022}}
2021: 1st Prize, Toronto Book Awards for Speak, Silence{{cite web |title=2021 Toronto Book Awards |url=https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/awards-tributes/awards/toronto-book-awards/toronto-book-awards-jury-finalists-winners/ |website=City of Toronto |date=16 August 2017 |access-date=18 March 2022}}
2011: 1st Prize: Barnes and Noble Discovery Writer for The Disappeared{{cite web |title=Kim Echlin wins Barnes & Noble Discover Award |url=https://quillandquire.com/book-news/2011/03/03/kim-echlin-wins-barnes-noble-discover-award/ |website=Quill & Quire |date=3 March 2011 |access-date=18 March 2022}}
2011: Nominated (long list): Impac Dublin Literary Award for The Disappeared{{cite web |title=2011 Longlist |url=https://dublinliteraryaward.ie/2011-longlist |website=Dublin Literary Award |access-date=18 March 2022}}
2009: Nominated: Scotiabank Giller Prize for The Disappeared{{cite web |title=The 2009 Scotiabank Giller Prize Announces its Shortlist |url=https://scotiabankgillerprize.ca/scotiabank-giller-prize-2009-shortlist |website=Scotiabank Giller Prize |date=6 October 2009 |access-date=18 March 2022}}
2006: 1st Prize for Creative Non-Fiction, CBC/Air Canada Literary Awards: for I, Witness (on the Cambodian genocide).{{citation needed|date=March 2022}}
1997: Torgi Award, for Elephant Winter{{citation needed|date=March 2022}}
1997: Nominated, Chapters/Books in Canada First Novel Award for Elephant Winter{{citation needed|date=March 2022}}
1986: Nominated, National Magazine Award for Travel Writing for "Island Sacrifices"{{citation needed|date=March 2022}}

References

External links

[https://kimechlin.com/ Official website]
"My Country is The World" issue of HA&L magazine, guest-edited by Kim Echlin.[https://samizdatpress.typepad.com/hal_magazine_sixteen-1/hal-magazine-issue-sixteen1-cover.html]
Material collected by Kim Echlin [http://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=fonandcol&id=3816178&lang=eng (Kimberly Echlin Collection of Elizabeth Smart Letters, Scrip, and Photographs, R12501)] are held at Library and Archives Canada. The collection consists of materials gathered by Kim Echlin while she conducted research for her biography of Elizabeth Smart, including publicity photographs of Smart; a radio script from a BBC production; and letters.
To break the silence: an interview with Kim Echlin https://www.raintaxi.com/to-break-the-silence-an-interview-with-kim-echlin/

Category:1955 births

Category:Living people

Category:Canadian children's writers

Category:Canadian women novelists

Category:Canadian women children's writers

Category:People from Burlington, Ontario

Category:21st-century Canadian novelists

Category:21st-century Canadian women writers

Category:McGill University alumni

Category:Novelists from Ontario