Alumna Shortlisted for Governor General Award for Y.A. Novel
Kate Story also to perform first solo theatre performance in nearly ten years
November 14, 2022
Trent University alumna Kate Story '86 has been shortlisted for the 2022 Governor General’s 
Award for young people’s literature. The timely recognition of her young adult (Y.A.) novel Urchin coincides with the announcement of Anxiety, her first one-woman theatre show in nearly a decade. Both pieces celebrate the unique speech often used in Newfoundland, where she was born and raised.
Urchin, set in 1900s St. John's, weaves a tale of curses, fairies, and the impact of modern technology – and the outside world – on remote Newfoundland; and on non-binary teenaged spy and adventurer, Dor. The story captures the cultural and personal conflicts that arise when Guglielmo Marconi arrives on Signal hill with a wireless telegraphy team whose work threatens what old-timers believe to be fairy path—a gateway to the world of the Little Strangers.
While Kate had published numerous books in the past, she says Urchin was special.
“My publisher, Marnie Parsons of Running the Goat Books & Broadsides, challenged me to write it,” she reveals. “She wanted it to be “Y.A., set in Newfoundland, historical, with fairies.” I said “Yes! I can do that!”
There was one caveat:
“I told her that she had to say “no” to it if I sent her a manuscript she didn’t like.”
Instead, it went on to acclaim.
“I have lots of feelings about Urchin,” says Kate. “It was a challenge, but a good one. And, ultimately, it’s a finalist. One of five Y.A. books. It’s a huge honour.”
In the Beowolf-inspired Anxiety, Kate skillfully weaves the epic poem into a humorous, poignant, and honest exploration of her own story growing up as the daughter of a famed Newfoundland lexicographer. Using one of the most studied sagas of all time as a jumping off point, Anxiety examines the history of the English language and the roots of white supremacy as she seeks to understand her place in a modern world seemingly gone mad.
Anxiety runs from November 24 to December 3 at The Theatre on King in downtown Peterborough.
Kate says a close connection between the written Urchin and the performed Anxiety is in the use of language.
“Urchin delights in the words and linguistic rhythms of Newfoundland, where I was born and raised,” she notes. “Anxiety explores, in part, a perspective on Newfoundland English.”
“My father George Story was a co-author of the immensely important Dictionary of Newfoundland English,” she continues. “The DNE has become a key work for many important Newfoundland authors, and also for E. Annie Proulx’s The Shipping News. The DNE is a wonderful work, and being around that work - and growing up in Newfoundland where people still sometimes use very old English words and forms - deeply informed my relationship with the English language. And then when I started investigating Beowulf and developing Anxiety, that went further… hence my relationship to my father crept into the theatre work too.”
Kate has had five novels published, winning the Sunburst Award’s Honourable Mention. Her short fiction has appeared in World Fantasy and Aurora Award-winning collections, been shortlisted for the CBC Literary Award, and appeared in Imaginarium 4: Best Canadian Speculative Writing. Nearly 30 of her performance works have been presented in Peterborough, Toronto, and St. John’s, including 8 plays and several writing/performance collaborations.
Tickets for Anxiety are available at eventbrite.ca/e/anxiety-tickets-428049526657. For more information about Anxiety, visit publicenergy.ca/performance/anxiety/.