Joan Thomas is the author of three books. The Opening Sky (2014), a contemporary novel set in Joan’s home city of Winnipeg, was nominated for the Governor General’s Award and won the McNally Robinson Prize. Curiosity (2010), a fiction based on the life of pre-Darwin fossilist Mary Anning, was nominated for the Giller Prize and the IMPAC Dublin Award. Her first novel, Reading by Lightning (2008) won a Commonwealth Prize and the Amazon.ca First Novel Award. In 2014, Joan was awarded the Writers’ Trust Engel/Findley Award for mid-career achievement. Joan is delighted to be writer-in-residence for Leg 13.