Jane Urquhart was awarded the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, at the 2:00 p.m. ceremony on Friday, June 10, “in recognition of her extraordinary talent and success as an author, enriching Canada’s literary canon and the lives of her readers.”
She is the author of eight internationally acclaimed novels, a collection of short fiction and four books of poetry. Her work, which often centres on relationships between Canada and Ireland, is published in many countries and has been translated into numerous foreign languages.
Ms. Urquhart has received the Marian Engel Award and the Harbourfront Festival Prize, and is a Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France and an Officer of the Order of Canada.
She has been writer-in-residence at the University of Ottawa and Memorial University. She also held the Presidential Writer-in-Residence Fellowship at the University of Toronto. She has given readings and lectures around the world. She has served on several international prize juries and is the editor of the most current Penguin Book of Canadian Short Stories.