Leona Gom was born at and lived for twenty years on an isolated farm in northern Alberta, where her parents homesteaded. She received a B.Ed. and M.A., both with honours, from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, and taught there in the Dept. of English for two years. She then taught English and Creative Writing at Douglas/Kwantlen College in B.C., where she was editor and poetry editor of the award-winning literary magazine Event; she has also taught graduate and undergraduate creative writing courses at U.B.C. She was writer-in-residence at the University of Alberta in 1987-88, at the University of Lethbridge in 1989, and at the University of Winnipeg in 1990. She now lives and writes full-time in White Rock, B.C.
Leona has been published extensively in journals and anthologies in Canada, the U.S., England, Germany, France, the Czech Republic, Australia and New Zealand, and she has given hundreds of readings, lectures and workshops on writing. In 1980 her book Land of the Peace won the CAA Award for best book of poetry of the year and was short-listed for the Pat Lowther Award. In 1986 her novel Housebroken was awarded the Ethel Wilson Prize for Fiction. She has also had two full-length radio plays, The Inheritance and Sour Air, produced by CBC, and one of her novels has recently been optioned for a movie.
Publications (Selected)
Poetry
The Collected Poems. Sono Nis Press, 1991.
Private Properties. Sono Nis Press, 1986.
NorthBound. Thistledown Press, 1984.
Land of the Peace. Thistledown Press, 1980.
The Singletree. Sono Nis Press, 1975.
Kindling. Fiddlehead Press, 1972.
Novels
Hating Gladys. Sumach Press, 2002.
Freeze Frame. Sumach/Second Story Press, 1999.
Double Negative. Sumach/Second Story Press, 1998.
After-Image. Sumach/Second Story Press, 1996.
The Y Chromosome. Sumach/Second Story Press, 1990.
Zero Avenue. Douglas & MacIntyre, 1989.
Housebroken. NeWest Press, 1986.