{{Short description|Canadian fiction writer, poet and essayist}} '''Frances Susan Itani''', née '''Hill''' (born August 25, 1942) is a Canadian fiction writer, poet and essayist. She is a Member of the Order of Canada.
==Biography== Itani was born in Belleville, Ontario,<ref name=belleville>[http://www.intelligencer.ca/2014/08/29/belleville-born-author-frances-itani-won-acclaim-for-new-books-prequel "Belleville-born author Frances Itani won acclaim for new book's prequel"]. ''Belleville Intelligencer'', August 29, 2014.</ref> and grew up in Quebec. She studied nursing in Montreal and North Carolina, a profession which she taught and practised for eight years. However, after enrolling in a writing class taught by W. O. Mitchell, she decided to change careers.
She married Tetsuo (Ted) Itani, a retired Canadian Forces officer and humanitarian, in 1967. They resided in Ottawa, until his death due to a traumatic accident while out running.<ref>{{cite web |title=Frances Itani |url=https://advancereadingcopy-jon.blogspot.com/2015/01/frances-itani.html |website=advancereadingcopy-jon.blogspot.com/ |accessdate=June 24, 2020}}</ref><ref name=belleville/>
Itani has published eighteen books, ranging from fiction and poetry to a children's book. Her 2003 novel ''Deafening'' was shortlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Award, and won the Commonwealth Writers Prize, Caribbean and Canada region, and has been published in 16 countries.
==Awards== ''Deafening'' was shortlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Award, and won the Commonwealth Writers Prize, Caribbean and Canada region.
Itani was the 2021 recipient of the Writers' Trust of Canada's annual Matt Cohen Award.<ref>Jane van Koeverden, [https://www.cbc.ca/books/katherena-vermette-tomson-highway-and-cherie-dimaline-among-winners-at-2021-writers-trust-awards-1.6234384 "Katherena Vermette, Tomson Highway and Cherie Dimaline among winners at 2021 Writers' Trust Awards"]. CBC Books, November 3, 2021.</ref>
== Bibliography ==
===Children's=== *''Linger By the Sea'' (1979) (illustrated by Molly Bobak) *''Best Friend Trouble'' (2014) (illustrated by Genevieve Despres)
===Short stories=== *''Pack Ice'' (1989) *''Truth or Lies'' (1989) *''Man Without Face'' (1994) *''Poached Egg on Toast'' (2004)
===Poetry=== *''A Season of Mourning'' *''No Other Lodgings'' (1978) *''Rentee Bay: poems from the Bay of Quinte, 1785-89'' (1983)
===Novels=== *''Leaning, Leaning Over Water'' (1998) *''Deafening'' (2003) *''Remembering the Bones'' (2007)<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rifkind |first=Donna |date=25 Dec 2007 |title=The Anatomy of an Ordinary Existence |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/style/2007/12/25/the-anatomy-of-an-ordinary-existence/6c4e9ac9-4c6a-42fc-9c25-2fe872246b9c/ |work=Washington Post}}</ref> *''Missing'' (2011) *''Requiem'' (2011) *''Tell'' (2014) (shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize) *''That's My Baby'' (2017) *''The Company We Keep'' (2020)
==References== {{reflist|2}}
== External links == * [http://www.cbc.ca/canadareads/author/francesitani.html Biography at Canada Reads] * Archives of Frances Itani [http://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=fonandcol&id=3671854&lang=eng (Frances Itani fonds (R11753)] are held at National Archives of Canada
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Itani, Frances}} Category:1942 births Category:20th-century Canadian novelists Category:21st-century Canadian novelists Category:20th-century Canadian poets Category:21st-century Canadian poets Category:Canadian nurses Category:Canadian women nurses Category:Living people Category:Writers from Belleville, Ontario Category:Canadian women short story writers Category:Poets from Ottawa Category:20th-century Canadian women novelists Category:21st-century Canadian women novelists Category:20th-century Canadian short story writers Category:21st-century Canadian short story writers Category:Novelists from Ottawa Category:20th-century Canadian women poets Category:21st-century Canadian women poets {{Canada-poet-stub}}