Hiromi Goto is a queer Japanese Canadian award-winning writer, editor, and creative writing teacher who is the 2024 Jake MacDonald Writer-in-Residence (online).
Hosted annually by the Department of English, Goto’s residency will take place entirely online from September 9 to December 9, 2024. UWinnipeg students, as well as community members, can book writing consultations through h.goto@uwinnipeg.ca.
“It gives me great pleasure to welcome Hiromi Goto to our department and The University of Winnipeg this fall as our fourth Jake MacDonald Writer-in-Residence,” shared Dr. Doris Wolf, Chair, Department of English. “She is an extraordinary writer of adult fiction, YA fiction, graphic novels, and poetry. She is always pushing the boundaries of our understandings of identity, place, and genre and we are honoured to host her.”
During her residency, Goto will be working on a collection of short stories while sharing her craft with fellow writers of all levels.
“I am thrilled and honoured to be able to serve as the 2024 Jake MacDonald Writer-in-Residence at The University of Winnipeg,” shared Goto. “This cross-pollination of experiences/cultures/imaginations/craft flows both ways – it is always a gift to be able to learn to see the world in a way new to oneself. Stories are saturated sites. I’m so looking forward to reading the work of writers at the university and community members. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu.”
Goto’s first novel, Chorus of Mushrooms, won the 1995 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize Best First Book, Canada and Caribbean Region, and was the co-winner of the Canada-Japan Book Award. Her second adult novel, The Kappa Child, was awarded the 2001 James Tiptree Jr. Memorial Award. She’s published three novels for children and youth, a book of poetry, and a collection of short stories (adult). Her other honours include The Sunburst Award and the Carl Brandon Parallax Award.
Goto’s most recent book, Shadow Life (2021) with artist Ann Xu and published by First Second Books, is her first graphic novel. She is currently at work trying to decolonize her relationship to writing and the land.
