Background
Greg Hollingshead was born on February 25, 1947, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is the son of Albert Hollingshead, a clothier, and Joyce (McGlashan) Hollingshead, an office clerk.
Greg Hollingshead was born on February 25, 1947, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is the son of Albert Hollingshead, a clothier, and Joyce (McGlashan) Hollingshead, an office clerk.
Hollingshead received his bachelor's degree from the University of Toronto in 1968, as well as master's degree 2 years later. Then he graduated from the University of London as a Doctor of Philosophy in English in 1974.
Hollingshead began his career at the University of Alberta as a professor of English. He worked as a teacher of creative writing for 30 years. Hollingshead retired from teaching as emeritus in 2005. From 2000 to 2018 he was a director of the Writing Studio at the Banff Centre.
Concerning his writings, Hollingshead has said that his fiction is about people who do not see or understand “what’s there,” according to Maclean's contributor Charles Foran. A patient writer whose stories require some time to reveal their courses, Hollingshead took decades to find his voice as an author.
Famous Players was his first book. Hollingshead’s second story collection, White Buick, was lauded as “fine” and “accomplished” by Anne Denoon in Books in Canada. “Wild, weird, and wonderful” is how a Kirkus Reviews contributor perceived Hollingshead’s next story collection, The Roaring Girl.
Hollingshead won Georges Bugnet Award from Writers Guild of Alberta, and SmithBooks/BooLs in Canada First Novel Award nomination, both in 1992, and both for his Spin Dry. He also received Howard O’Hagan Award for short fiction, and Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, both in 1993, for his White Buick. He earned Governor General’s Literary Award for fiction in 1995, and Howard O’Hagan Award for short fiction in 1996, both for his The Roaring Girl.
Hollingshead also received other awards from the Writers Guild of Alberta. Among his other awards are Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize and Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Gold Medal for Excellence in the Arts. He was awarded Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012 and Writers’ Guild of Alberta Golden Pen Award for Lifetime Achievement four years later. In 2012 Hollingshead was awarded the Order of Canada.
(An International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award Nominee A To...)
(When it first appeared in 1992, Spin Dry received raverev...)
(When recently widowed journalist Tim Wakelin heads north ...)
Hollingshead is a member of the Writers’ Guild of Alberta and the PEN Canada.
Hollingshead married Rosa Spricer in 1983. They have a son named David Benjamin.
