HonsBA (York University), MFA (UBC), PhD (University of Gloucestershire)
Dr. Kelly S. Thompson is a retired military officer who studied Professional Writing at York University, has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia, a certificate in Publishing from Ryerson, and a PhD in Literary and Critical Studies in Creative Writing from the University of Gloucestershire, where her research centered on memoir and representations of grief and trauma. She has taught creative writing within a broad range of venues, organizations, age groups and genres. Kelly won the Anansi Press Golden Anniversary Award for fiction, the 2014 and 2017 Barbara Novak Award for Personal Essay, and was longlisted for the CBC Nonfiction prize in 2021 as well as a National Magazine Award. Her essays have appeared in literary magazines, trade publications and anthologies, as well as publications such as Chatelaine, Maclean’s, Toronto Start, Globe and Mail, and more. Her memoir, Girls Need Not Apply: Field Notes from the Forces, was an instant Globe and Mail bestseller and was listed as one of the top 100 Books of 2019. Her second memoir, Still, I Cannot Save You: A memoir of sisterhood, love, and letting go, released with McClelland & Stewart in 2023 and was also an instant bestseller.
Memoir and personal narrative, marginalized voices, illness and disability, feminism, government, crime, social justice