How did your time in the Creative Writing Program influence your work?
My MFA at UBC helped me see I was a writer all along, even when I carried countless other roles within me. It was like being handed a tool to excavate those writing skills, polish them up and employ them creatively, in a style that could be all mine.
What’s your latest published/performed work?
Girls Need Not Apply: Field Notes from the Forces (McClelland & Stewart, Aug 2019)
What are your most recent awards?
-Memoir noted as top 100 Books of 2019 with Globe and Mail and instant National Bestseller
-2nd place in the 2019 Room Magazine Creative Non Fiction contest
-2018 Runner-up Feature Article of the Year with Professional Writers Association of Canada
-House of Anansi Press Golden Anniversary Prize for fiction
-Barbara Novak Award for Personal Essay, 2012 and 2017
Are you connected to any creative writing communities you’d like to mention (UBC alums, film and theatre communities, etc)?
-Writers’ Union of Canada
-Canadian Non Fiction Collective Society
-Canadian Freelance Guild
Is there anything else about your writing career you’d like to share?
Have taught at Trent University, Royal Roads University, and Loyalist College.
Kelly’s website: https://kellysthompson.com/