Grace
O’Connell
Grace O’Connell is the author of the novels Be Ready for the Lightning and Magnified World, the latter of which was a national bestseller and a Globe and Mail 100 selected book. She was the 2014 winner of the Canadian Authors Association Emerging Writer Award, and her work has appeared in publications such as The Globe and Mail, the National Post, ELLE Canada, This Magazine, The Journey Prize Stories 24, and Taddle Creek, where she previously served as associate editor. She holds an MFA in creative writing and teaches at the University of Toronto while working as a freelance writer and editor.
Award History
Jury Citation
“Drily funny, more than a little sad – and all of it sadly, funnily believable – ‘The Bottlenecks’ is a fictional document of loneliness that makes for good company. The writing is straightforward, considered, on the money. And there is a construction to the narrative that, subtly, surprisingly, pulls you along to the next scene with a slow-burn emotional suspense. This is a story that knows itself, never strays from its tone, assured in its resolution. It’s what you look for in a well-executed piece of short fiction.” — 2008 RBC Bronwen Wallace Award Jury (Natalee Caple, Michelle Berry, and Andrew Pyper)
