Susan Zettell

Photo by Carol Kennedy.

Susan Zettell is the author of The Checkout Girl (Signature Editions, 2008), Night Watch (Signature Editions, 2000) and Holy Days of Obligation (Nuage Editions, 1999). Her stories have been anthologized in Quintet (BuschekBooks, 1998), Spider Women (J. Gordon Shillingford Publications, 1999), The Day the Men Went to Town (Breton Books, 1999), a collection of stories by Cape Breton women, and The Company We Keep (BuschekBooks, 2004). She edited, with Frances Itani, the posthumous story collection One of the Chosen (BuschekBooks, 1997) by Danuta Gleed.

Born and raised in Kitchener, Ontario, she has lived in Cambridge, Vancouver, Halifax, Ottawa and Whitehorse. She now lives in Cape Breton with her husband Andy Watt.

Selected List of Publications

Books

The Checkout Girl. Signature Editions, Winnipeg. Fall 2008.

Night Watch. Signature Editions, Winnipeg. 2000. ISBN 0921833741.
     Shortlisted for the Upper Canada Bewing Company Writers' Craft Award, 2000.
     Shortlisted for the City of Ottawa Book Award (Fiction), 2000.

"Zettell writes with skill and understated grace, depicting the many surprises, illuminations and losses of daily life. The mood is often somber but despite the shadows and the sadness in these stories, Zettell's characters leave us with the impression that they go forward and occasionally find ways to retrieve the small unexpected joys from life."
      - Virginia Beaton, Chronicle Herald.

Holy Days of Obligation. Nuage Editions, Winnipeg. 1998. ISBN 092183361X.

"These stories pulsate and resonate with the intimacies and intricacies of family life. Sometimes, as is the case with great art, they touch the reader unexpectedly, reaching toward the deep centre of the human heart."
      - Alistair MacLeod.

"Life events that inspire the hackneyed in art are here crafted almost invariably with a precision that brings primal shocks of recognition. Keen unsparing observation expressed in palpable, sometimes shimmering prose moves mind and heart on almost every level. "
      - Jim Bartley, Globe and Mail.

"What a welcome addition to the literature of our country. Susan Zettell has a passion for careful, sensuous detail. Her mature and skilful handling of story convinces us that illusion is truth. She creates characters with compassion and love. While reading the title story, I held my breath. A wonderful debut."
      - Frances Itani.

Anthologies

The Company We Keep, Editors: Rita Donovan & Joan Buschek. BuschekBooks, Ottawa, 2004. ISBN 1894543203.

The Day the Men Went to Town, Editors: Ron Caplan & Bonnie Thompson. Breton Books, Cape Breton, 1999. ISBN 1895415438.

Spider Woman: A Tapestry of Creativity and Healing, Editors: Carol Rose & Joan Turner. J. Gordon Shillingford Publishing, Winnipeg, 1999. ISBN 1896239447.

Quintet, Editor: Rita Donovan. BuschekBooks, Ottawa, 1998. ISBN 0969990456.

Editorial Work

One of the Chosen, Danuta Gleed, Editors: Frances Itani & Susan Zettell. BuschekBooks, Ottawa, 1997. ISBN 096999043X.

You can send mail to Susan Zettell
c/o Writers' Federation of Nova Scotia