Accession 87-84 - Joan Givner

Joan Givner was born in Manchester, England on September 5, 1936. Joan Givner (nee Short) graduated from the University of London with a Bachelor of Arts Honours degree in 1958 and a Ph.D. in 1972. She earned a Masters degree in Arts from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri in 1965. While in the United States she taught high school from 1959 until 1961. She then taught English at Port Huron Junior College (now St Clair County Community College) from 1961 until 1965. Givner joined the predecessor of the University of Regina, the University of Saskatchewan, Regina Campus, as a Lecturer of English in 1965 and in 1972 became an Assistant Professor, in 1975 an Associate Professor and in 1981 she became a Professor of English. Joan retired from the University of Regina in 1995 to Victoria, British Columbia and taught creative writing at Malaspina College – Cowichan Campus during the spring of 1997.

Givner has published several books: Katherine Anne Porter: A Life (1982), Tentacles of Unreason, (1985), Katherine Anne Porter: Conversations, Introduction, (1987); Unfortunate Incidents (1988), Mazo de la Roche: The Hidden Life (1989), Katherine Anne Porter: A Life (Revised Edition) (1991), Scenes from Provincial Life (1991), The Self-Portrait of a Literary Biographer (1993), In the Garden of Henry James (1996), Thirty-four Ways of Looking at Jane Eyre: Essays and Fiction (1998) Half Known Lives (2001), Playing Sarah Berhardt (2004) and a series of books for young adults: Ellen’s Book of Life; Ellen Fremedon, Voluneteer; Ellen Fremedon, Journalist. She has also published numerous short stories, published articles in Studies in Short Fiction, Genre, International Fiction Review, Southwest Review and Descant to name a few. She has also contributed chapters for several books and delivered many papers and readings on Katherine Anne Porter and other topics across Canada and the United States

Givner currently resides in a small seaside town north of Victoria, B.C. Although she is retired from teaching, Joan still continues to write fiction books such as Half Known Lives and Ellen Fremedon as well as reviewing books for B.C. Bookworld, The Toronto Star, Books in Canada and other publications.