Fiction. Jack Hodgins's first book, published originally in 1976, is once again in print—in a new edition. Winner of the Eaton's Book Prize and nominated for the Governor General's Award, SPIT DELANEY'S ISLAND, a collection of short stories, put Vancouver Island on the map as a Canadian literary locale and set Hodgins off on his literary career. Often compared to Faulkner's fiction of the deep South, Hodgins' stories develop through people who seem to live at the edge of the world, always in danger of falling off that edge. There is Spit himself, the keeper of a steam locomotive that has been exiled to Ottawa for display; there are loggers, country wives, bookstore owners, and people who "live up the mountain" in isolated communes.

Author City: Victoria , BC CAN

Jack Hodgins' fiction has won the Governor General's Award, the Canada-Australia Prize, the Commonwealth Prize (Canada and the Caribbean) and the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, amongst others. He has given readings, talks, and workshops in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and several European countries, and has taught an annual fiction workshop in Mallorca, Spain.

A Passion for Narrative (a guide to writing fiction) is used in classrooms and writing groups across Canada and Australia. In 2006 he received both the Terasen Lifetime Achievement Award and the Lieutenant Governor's Award for Literary Excellence in British Columbia. In 2009 the Governor General appointed him a Member of the Order of Canada.