Zoe Whittall Books & Biography

ZOE WHITTALL’s fourth novel, The Spectacular, was published in 2021. The New York Times called it “a competent and highly readable testament to the strength of the maternal bond” and the Toronto Star called it “a singularly impressive piece of fiction.” Her third novel, The Best Kind of People, published in 2017, was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, named Indigo’s #1 Book of 2016 and a best book of the year by the Walrus, the Globe and Mail, Toronto Life and the National Post. Her second novel, Holding Still for as Long as Possible, won a Lambda Literary Award for trans fiction and was a Stonewall Honor Book. Her debut novel, Bottle Rocket Hearts, won the Writers’ Trust of Canada’s Dayne Ogilvie Award for Best Emerging LGBTQA+ novel. She has worked as a TV writer on the Emmy Award–winning comedy show Schitt’s Creek and Degrassi, and she won a Canadian Screen Award for comedy writing on the Baroness Von Sketch Show. Zoe Whittall has published three volumes of poetry, most recently an anniversary edition of The Emily Valentine Poems. Born on a sheep farm in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, she lived in Toronto for many years before moving to Picton, Ontario.