A.S. Penne

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Works by A.S. Penne:

She is the author of the creative nonfiction memoir Old Stones (Touchwood Editions, Horsdal & Schubart, Victoria, 2002). Her writing has won awards on both sides of the Atlantic, including the UK’s Ian St. James Award (1996, 1994), the Writers’ Digest award (1994), and the Prairie Fire Creative Non-fiction Contest (1999). Her journalism has appeared in Explore, Western Living, and Cross Country Skier, among others, and has been a finalist in the Western Magazine Awards (2000). Penne has an MFA from UBC and writes both fiction and nonfiction as well as for the stage. Reckoning, her most recent book (Turnstone Press, Winnipeg,2008) is a collection of short fiction.

Penne has been a participant at both the Banff Writing Studio and the Iowa Writers Workshop. Born and raised in BC, she has made her home in various places during her writing career, from London to Sacramento, Glasgow to Montreal. Currently a resident of BC's Sunshine Coast, Penne facilitates creative writing workshops for both private groups and literary arts festivals. From ABC BookWorld, "She received her MFA from UBC's Creative Writing Dept in 1995 and has attended various workshops, notably Banff Center for the Arts and the Iowa Writers Workshop. Old Stones: The Biography of a Family is the story of her search for family roots. She teaches English literature and literature in translation and she previously has facilitated Youth Writes, a creative writing workshop for the Festival of Written Arts in Sechelt, B.C. The quest for self-understanding in various characters percolates through the short stories in Penne's first fiction collection, Reckoning (Turnstone 2008), her follow-up to her search for family roots in Old Stones: The Biography of a Family (2003). A.S. Penne's play Coming Back had its premiere at the Gibsons Heritage Playhouse in November, 2015. It's about the effects of war on three generations of family. While speaking with several mothers in 2005, Penne heard their fears about sons being deployed overseas to Afghanistan. These discussions brought back memories of living with her father, a WW II veteran who brought the war home with him. Coming Back addresses the effects of damage done to the families of veterans; those wives, husbands and children who have to find their own way through the battles re-enacted at home." Awards: 2000 WMA Finalist; 1999 Prairie Fire Creative Nonfiction contest winner; 1996 & 1994 Ian St. James Awards (UK) winner; 1994 Writers Digest (USA) winner; 1993 Honourable Mention, Norma Epstein CrWr Comp. (University College, Toronto)