# Alan Cumyn

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{{Short description|Canadian novelist (born 1960)}}
{{more footnotes needed|date=February 2013}}
{{Infobox military person
|name=Alan Cumyn
|rank=
|branch=[Canadian Forces](/source/Canadian_Forces)
|commands=
|family=
|nickname=
|allegiance= [Canada](/source/Canada)
|birth_date= 8 January 1960
|birth_place= [Ottawa](/source/Ottawa)
|death_place=
|service_years=
|awards= [Writers' Trust of Canada](/source/Writers'_Trust_of_Canada)'s [Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People](/source/Vicky_Metcalf_Award_for_Literature_for_Young_People)
|other_work          = Novelist
}}
'''Alan Cumyn''' (born 8 January 1960) is a Canadian [novelist](/source/novelist) who lives in [Ottawa](/source/Ottawa), [Ontario](/source/Ontario).

== Biography ==

Born in [Ottawa](/source/Ottawa), Alan Cumyn studied at [Royal Roads Military College](/source/Royal_Roads_Military_College) in 1983, and Queen's University before earning an M.A. in Creative Writing and English Literature at the [University of Windsor](/source/University_of_Windsor).<ref name=ce>[http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/alan-cumyn/ <!--Bot repaired link--> Alan Cumyn's] entry in [The Canadian Encyclopedia](/source/The_Canadian_Encyclopedia)</ref> He has lived across Canada and in China and Indonesia, and worked variously as a geologist's assistant, group home manager, tai chi instructor, English teacher, program officer in international development, human rights researcher and freelance writer. Cumyn's fiction focuses on personal and political relations, often in a cross-cultural context. He now lives in Ottawa with his wife and two daughters.

In 2016, he won the [Writers' Trust of Canada](/source/Writers'_Trust_of_Canada)'s [Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People](/source/Vicky_Metcalf_Award_for_Literature_for_Young_People) for his body of work.<ref>[http://www.cbc.ca/books/2016/11/2016-writers-trust-awards.html "Eden Robinson, Gregory Scofield, Yasuko Thanh among 2016 Writers' Trust Prize winners"]. [CBC Books](/source/CBC_Books), November 2. 2016.</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Photos: Writers' Trust Awards 2016 |url=https://quillandquire.com/awards/2016/11/07/photos-writers-trust-awards-2016 |website=Quill and Quire |language=en |date=2016-11-07}}</ref>

==Works==
*''Waiting for Li Ming'' - 1993
*''Between Families and the Sky'' - 1995
*''Man of Bone'' - 1998 - (Winner of the [Ottawa Book Award](/source/Ottawa_Book_Award))
*''Burridge Unbound'' - 2000 - shortlisted for the 2000 [Giller Prize](/source/Giller_Prize)
*''Losing It'' - 2001
*''The Secret Life of Owen Skye'' - 2002 (Received a [Mr. Christie's Book Award](/source/Mr._Christie's_Book_Award); nominated for a [Governor General's Award](/source/2002_Governor_General's_Awards))<ref name=ce/>
*''The Sojourn'' - 2003
*''After Sylvia'' - 2004 (Nominated for the 2005 TD Canadian Children's Literature Award)
*''The Famished Lover'' - 2006 (longlisted for the [Giller Prize](/source/Giller_Prize))
*''Dear Sylvia'' - 2008  (Winner 2009 Silver Birch Express Award; short-listed Canadian Library Association's Book of the Year for Children)
*''Tilt'' - 2011 (selected by the Junior Library Guild as one of the best young adult novels of 2011)
*''Hot Pterodactyl Boyfriend'' - 2016
*''North to Benjamin'' - 2018 (Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year Selection Title)<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.simonandschuster.ca/books/North-to-Benjamin/Alan-Cumyn/9781481497534|title=North to Benjamin|date=2019-12-03|isbn=978-1-4814-9753-4|language=en|last1=Cumyn|first1=Alan}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=North to Benjamin |url=https://quillandquire.com/review/north-to-benjamin |website=quillandquire.com |language=en |date=2018-11-05}}</ref>

==References==
* W. H. New, ed. ''Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002.
{{reflist}}
* Author's Website: https://web.archive.org/web/20110903150747/http://www.alancumyn.com/acumyn.html (as of September 3, 2011)

==External links==
{{Portal|Children and Young Adult Literature}}
* [http://www.cbc.ca/wordsatlarge/features/feature.php?storyId=190 Online interview from CBC Words at Large]
* [http://alancumyn.com/wp/ Alan Cumyn's web page]
* [https://www.writersunion.ca/member/alan-cumyn Writer's Union profile on Alan Cumyn] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220627145745/https://www.writersunion.ca/member/alan-cumyn |date=2022-06-27 }}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cumyn, Alan}}
Category:1960 births
Category:Living people
Category:Canadian male novelists
Category:20th-century Canadian novelists
Category:21st-century Canadian novelists
Category:Canadian writers of young adult literature
Category:20th-century Canadian male writers
Category:21st-century Canadian male writers
Category:Novelists from Ottawa

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Alan Cumyn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Cumyn) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Cumyn?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.