Janette Turner Hospital
Janette Turner Hospital held an endowed chair as Carolina Distinguished Professor of English at the University of South Carolina for over a decade. She is now Carolina Distinguished Professor Emerita of English. She was born in Australia and received a B.A. from the University of Queensland, and an M.A. from Queens University, Canada. She has lectured at universities in Australia, Canada, England, and the United States.
The author of nine books (including one crime novel under the name Alex Juniper) and four short-story collections, Hospital believes in resilience and redemption. No matter how dark the events her characters endure in her work, she always offers them a chance at hope in the end. Her first two novels have a linear structure, her later novels are more postmodern; but all feature women who are feisty, independent, and creative.
Hospital’s first published short story appeared in the Atlantic Monthly in 1978, winning an “Atlantic First” citation. Her first novel, The Ivory Swing (set in the village in South India where she lived in 1977) won Canada’s $50,000 Seal Award in 1982. She lived for many years in Canada and in 1986 was listed by the Toronto Globe & Mail as one of Canada’s “Ten Best Young Fiction Writers.” Three of her short stories appeared in Britain’s annual Best Short Stories in English in the year of publication and one of these, “Unperformed Experiments Have No Results,” was selected for The Best of the Best anthology in 1995.
The Last Magician, her fifth novel, made a Publishers’ Weekly list of the 12 best novels published in 1992 and was a New York Times “Notable Book of the Year.” Oyster, her sixth novel, was a finalist for Australia’s Miles Franklin Prize Award and for Canada’s Trillium Award and was again a New York Times “Notable Book of the Year.” Due Preparations for the Plague, her seventh novel, won the Queensland Premier’s Literary Award in 2003, the Davitt Award from Sisters in Crime for “best crime novel of the year by an Australian woman,” and was shortlisted for the Christina Stead Award.
In 2003, Hospital received the Patrick White Award, as well as a Doctor of Letters honoris causa from the University of Queensland. Her eighth novel, Orpheus Lost, was one of five finalists for the Australia-Asia Literary Prize in 2008, one of Booklist’s top 30 novels of the year, and one of Library Journal’s Best 25 Books of the Year. In her latest short-story collection, Forecast: Turbulence (2012), the theme of violent weather reflects the cataclysmic emotions swirling through the protagonists’ lives. Hospital returned permanently to Australia in 2019. She and her husband live in Brisbane.
The author of nine books (including one crime novel under the name Alex Juniper) and four short-story collections, Hospital believes in resilience and redemption. No matter how dark the events her characters endure in her work, she always offers them a chance at hope in the end. Her first two novels have a linear structure, her later novels are more postmodern; but all feature women who are feisty, independent, and creative.
Hospital’s first published short story appeared in the Atlantic Monthly in 1978, winning an “Atlantic First” citation. Her first novel, The Ivory Swing (set in the village in South India where she lived in 1977) won Canada’s $50,000 Seal Award in 1982. She lived for many years in Canada and in 1986 was listed by the Toronto Globe & Mail as one of Canada’s “Ten Best Young Fiction Writers.” Three of her short stories appeared in Britain’s annual Best Short Stories in English in the year of publication and one of these, “Unperformed Experiments Have No Results,” was selected for The Best of the Best anthology in 1995.
The Last Magician, her fifth novel, made a Publishers’ Weekly list of the 12 best novels published in 1992 and was a New York Times “Notable Book of the Year.” Oyster, her sixth novel, was a finalist for Australia’s Miles Franklin Prize Award and for Canada’s Trillium Award and was again a New York Times “Notable Book of the Year.” Due Preparations for the Plague, her seventh novel, won the Queensland Premier’s Literary Award in 2003, the Davitt Award from Sisters in Crime for “best crime novel of the year by an Australian woman,” and was shortlisted for the Christina Stead Award.
In 2003, Hospital received the Patrick White Award, as well as a Doctor of Letters honoris causa from the University of Queensland. Her eighth novel, Orpheus Lost, was one of five finalists for the Australia-Asia Literary Prize in 2008, one of Booklist’s top 30 novels of the year, and one of Library Journal’s Best 25 Books of the Year. In her latest short-story collection, Forecast: Turbulence (2012), the theme of violent weather reflects the cataclysmic emotions swirling through the protagonists’ lives. Hospital returned permanently to Australia in 2019. She and her husband live in Brisbane.
