Biography

Newfoundland writer Lisa Moore’s work has been described as sparse, imagistic, and subtle while at the same time being vicious and funny. Born in St. John’s, Newfoundland in 1964, Moore grew up there before heading to the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax to pursue studies in visual arts. Although schooled as a painter, Moore made her name writing short stories. She first garnered critical acclaim for her 2002 collection of short stories, Open, which was nominated for the Winterset Award and the Giller Prize and won the Canadian Authors’ Association Prize for short fiction. Moore has also published another collection of short stories, Degrees of Nakedness (1995). By her own report, however, she “tasted the freedom of long-form fiction” while writing her Giller-nominated novel Alligator (2005) - which won the Commonwealth Writers' fiction prize - and followed that up with February (2009), a moving portrait of a woman whose husband is killed during the sinking of the oil rig Ocean Ranger. With the support of St. John’s “Burning Rock” writer’s group (whose members include Michael Winter, Ramona Dearing and Claire Wilkshire), Moore’s writing navigates the “struggle between … two notions of audience—those who know the place you write about, and those who must imagine it through the writing.” Ultimately, however, Moore acknowledges that she is “writing about Newfoundland whether [she] write[s] about it nor not.” Lisa Moore lives in St. John’s with her husband and two children.

Bibliography

  • Open. Toronto: House of Anansi Press, 2002.
  • Degrees of Nakedness. Toronto: House of Anansi Press, 2004.
  • Alligator. Toronto: House of Anansi Press, 2005.
  • February. Toronto: House of Anansi Press, 2009.
  • Caught. Toronto: House of Anansi Press, 2013.
Selected Overviews
Alligator
Open

Click on selected overview to read...

Critical Sources

  • Alghamdi, Alaa. “Different Spheres: Clashing Realities and the Transformative Reprising of      'Women's Work' in Lisa Moore's February.” Pacific Coast Philology 49.1 (2014): 41-57.
  • Creelman, David. "Seeking in Chaos." Canadian Literature 185 (2005): 169-170.
  • Dyer, Alison. "Two Faces of the Rock." Quill & Quire 71.8 (2005): 16-17/19.
  • Garvie, Maureen. "Modern Rock." Quill & Quire 68.5 (2002): 26.
  • Haraldsen, Kjeld. "Skittish Dance of Relationships—Its Tangled Ambivalence." Rev. of Open, by Lisa Moore. Books in Canada 31.7(October 2002): 7. [Link]
  • Johnson, Bruce. "Life Caught in a Still Moment." Atlantic Books Today 50 (Winter 2005): 5.
  • Kinsella, W.P. Rev. of Alligator, by Lisa Moore. Books in Canada 35.1 (Jan/Feb 2006): 37.     [Link]
  • Marshall, Susanne. "'As if there were just the two choices': Region and Cosmopolis in Lisa Moore's Short Fiction." Studies in Canadian Literature 33.2 (2008): 80-95.
  • Moore, Lisa. "Kernels." Writers Talking. Ed. John Metcalf and Claire Wilkshire. Erin, ON: The Porcupine's Quill, 2003. 41-49.
  • "Naked Talent from Newfoundland." Atlantic Books Today 14 (Fall 1996): 14.
  • Nurse, Donna. Rev. of Degrees of Nakedness, by Lisa Moore. Quill & Quire 62.1 (1996): 33.
  • Petersen, Christian. "The Presence of Voices." The Fiddlehead 188 (1996): 114-8.
  • Posesorski, Sherie. "More Bridges, Please." Rev. of Degrees of Nakedness, by Lisa Moore. Books in Canada 25.4 (May 1996): 15. [Link]
  • Tihanyi, Eva. "Plenty of Light and Shadow within which to Seduce the Reader: Interview with Lisa Moore." Books in Canada 31.7 (October 2002): 8-9. [Link]
  • Vardon, John. "To Leave You Wanting Moore." New Quarterly: New Directions in Canadian Writing 91 (2004): 60-63.
  • Warder, Kristen. “Random Act.” Rev. of Lisa Moore’s Alligator and Lori Lansens’ The Girls. Canadian Literature 189 (2006):162-3.
  • Whalen, Tracy. “An Aesthetics of Intensity: Lisa Moore's Sublime Worlds." Newfoundland and Labrador Studies 23.1 (2008):1-20.
  • Wiersema, Robert J. Rev. of Alligator, by Lisa Moore. Quill & Quire 71.8 (2005): 36.
  • Wigston, Nancy. “The Vulnerable and the Predator.” Rev. of Alligator, by Lisa Moore. Books in Canada 34.8 (2005): 4. [Link]
  • Wyile, Herb. “All Over the Canvas: An Interview with Lisa Moore.” The Antigonish Review 152 (2008): 107-23.
  • “February is the Cruelest Month: Neoliberalism and the Economy of Mourning in Lisa Moore's February." Newfoundland and Labrador Studies 25.1 (2010): 55-71.

    See also:
  • Lisa Moore's Weblog

Videos

On her Artistic Background (6mb)
The Burning Rock Collective (6.7mb)
The Contemporary Cultural Milieu of Newfoundland (7.7mb)

On her Writing Process (6.5mb)
The Genesis of Alligator (7.4mb)