Helen Humphreys is a highly acclaimed author, known for her poetic writing in both fiction and non-fiction genres. She was born in Kingston-on-Thames, England, and later moved to Kingston, Ontario, Canada, where she currently resides. Humphreys has written a total of twenty books, including five books of poetry, eleven novels, and three works of non-fiction.
Humphreys's debut novel, Leaving Earth, published in 1997, won the City of Toronto Book Award in 1998 and was also recognized as a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Her second novel, Afterimage, published in 2000, won the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, was nominated for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, and was also featured as a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. The Lost Garden, published in 2002, was a #1 national bestseller in Canada, a 2003 Canada Reads selection, and a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.
Humphreys's other notable works include Wild Dogs, which won the 2005 Lambda Prize for fiction, and Coventry, which was a #1 national bestseller in Canada and chosen as one of the top 100 books of the year by the Globe & Mail. Her work of creative non-fiction, The Frozen Thames, was also a #1 national bestseller in Canada. Humphreys's collections of poetry include Gods and Other Mortals, Nuns Looking Anxious, Listening to Radios, and The Perils of Geography.
Helen Humphreys's fiction is published in Canada by HarperCollins and in the U.S. by W.W. Norton. Her work has been translated into many languages and has been adapted for stage, screen, and opera. Humphreys's exceptional writing skills have earned her numerous awards and recognitions, including the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize and a Lambda Prize for Fiction.