Hiromi Goto is a queer Japanese-Canadian award-winning writer, editor, and creative writing teacher who is the 2024 Jake MacDonald Writer-in-Residence (online).
Goto’s residency is hosted annually by the Department of English and will take place entirely online from September 9 to December 9, 2024. UWinnipeg students and community members can book writing consultations through [email protected].
“It is my great pleasure to welcome Hiromi Goto to our department and the University of Winnipeg this fall as our fourth Jake MacDonald Writer-in-Residence,” shared Dr. Doris Wolf, Head of the Department of English. “She is an exceptional writer of adult fiction, young adult fiction, graphic novels, and poetry. She continues to push the boundaries of our understanding of identity, place, and genre, and we are honored to have her with us.”
During her stay, Goto will work on a collection of short stories while sharing her craft with other writers of all levels.
“I am thrilled and honoured to be the Jake MacDonald Writer-in-Residence at the University of Winnipeg in 2024,” Goto shared. “This cross-pollination of experiences/cultures/imaginations/crafts flows both ways – it is always a gift to be able to see the world in a way that is new to you. Stories are saturated pages. I am so excited to read the work of university writers and community members. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu.”
Goto’s first novel, Chorus of Mushroomswon the 1995 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for best debut book in Canada and the Caribbean and was co-winner of the Canada-Japan Book Award. Her second novel for adults, The Kappa Childwas awarded the James Tiptree Jr. Memorial Award in 2001. She has published three novels for children and young adults, a book of poetry, and a collection of short stories (for adults). Her other awards include the Sunburst Award and the Carl Brandon Parallax Award.
Goto’s latest book, Shadow life (2021), with artist Ann Xu and published by First Second Books, is her first graphic novel. She is currently working on decolonizing her relationship to writing and land.
