Casey Plett (born June 20, 1987) is a Canadian writer, best known for her novel Little Fish, her Lambda Literary Award winning short story collection, A Safe Girl to Love, and her Giller Prize-nominated short story collection, A Dream of a Woman. Plett is a transgender woman, and she often centers this experience in her writing.

Casey Plett
Born (1987-06-20) June 20, 1987 (age 37)[1]
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
OccupationWriter
NationalityCanadian
Period2010-present
Notable worksA Safe Girl to Love, Little Fish, A Dream of a Woman
Website
caseyplett.wordpress.com

Personal life

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Plett was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba and grew up in a Mennonite family in Morden, Manitoba.[2][3] She attended high school in Eugene, Oregon, and later moved to Portland for college and New York for graduate school.[2] She has lived in Windsor, Ontario.[4] Plett currently teaches at Ohio University.[5][6]

Career

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Plett previously wrote a regular column about her gender transition for McSweeney's Internet Tendency.[7] She is a book reviewer for the Winnipeg Free Press[7] and has published work in Rookie, Plenitude, The Walrus, and Two Serious Ladies.[8]

In addition to her work as an author she is the co-editor with Cat Fitzpatrick of Meanwhile, Elsewhere: Science Fiction and Fantasy from Transgender Writers, an anthology of speculative fiction from transgender authors from Topside Press.[9] Meanwhile, Elsewhere received a Stonewall Book Award in 2018.[10] After Topside was disbanded, Plett and Fitzpatrick co-founded LittlePuss Press, done initially to continue the printing of Meanwhile, Elsewhere. Afterwards, they published Faltas, which was the recipient of the 2023 Stonewall Award in the nonfiction category.[11]

She has cited Imogen Binnie, Elena Rose, and Julia Serano as some of her influences.[8]

Her 2014 short story collection A Safe Girl to Love was reprinted by Arsenal Pulp Press with a new afterword from the author in 2023.[12]

Her short story collection, A Dream of a Woman, was longlisted for the 2021 Giller Prize.[13] Plett then served on the Giller Prize jury in 2022.[14]

Awards

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Work Awards Result Ref.
A Safe Girl to Love Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Fiction Won [15]
Dayne Oglivie Prize Nominated [16][17]
Meanwhile, Elsewhere Stonewall Book Award: Barbara Gittings Literature Award Won [10]
Little Fish Amazon.ca First Novel Award Won [18]
Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Fiction Won [19]
A Dream of a Woman Giller Prize Longlisted [20][13]
On Community Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Nonfiction Nominated [21][22]

Selected works

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Works by Plett include the following:

  • Plett, Casey (2014). A Safe Girl to Love. Topside Press. ISBN 978-1627290050.
  • Plett, Casey Plett; Fitzpatrick, Cat, eds. (2017). Meanwhile, Elsewhere: Science Fiction and Fantasy from Transgender Writers. Topside Press. ISBN 978-1627290180.
  • Plett, Casey (2018). Little Fish. Arsenal Pulp Press. ISBN 978-1551527208.
  • Plett, Casey (2021). A Dream of a Woman. Arsenal Pulp Press. ISBN 978-1551528564.
  • Plett, Casey (2023). On Community. Biblioasis. ISBN 978-1771965774.

References

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  1. ^ Plett, Casey [@caseyplett] (June 15, 2014). "Btw Winnipeg I am gonna be giving a hometown reading at @mcnallyrobinson on June 20, my 27th birthday, coincidentally" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  2. ^ a b "She's an open book | The Drive Magazine". The Drive Magazine. 27 July 2018. Retrieved 2019-11-01.
  3. ^ Plett, Casey (April 20, 2018). "5 Questions With Author Casey Plett". Mennotoba (Interview). Interviewed by Erin Koop Unger. Retrieved January 29, 2019.
  4. ^ Plett, Casey (May 17, 2018). "Get to Know: Casey Plett". PRISM International (Interview). Interviewed by Jessica Johns. Retrieved March 30, 2019.
  5. ^ "Casey Plett Ohio University". Retrieved 24 October 2024.
  6. ^ Plett, Casey (30 June 2024). "'Protect trans kids!' 'You're sick!' What a new bridge in Windsor taught me about reaching out across our cultural divides". Toronto Star. Retrieved 24 October 2024.
  7. ^ a b "Winnipeg author mines her experiences and those of other trans women in fearless collection of short stories". Winnipeg Free Press, June 19, 2014.
  8. ^ a b Page/Odofemi, Morgan M. "Trans Women's Lit? An Interview with Trish Salah and Casey Plett". Canadian Women in the Literary Arts. Archived from the original on September 13, 2015. Retrieved June 23, 2015.
  9. ^ "CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: SHORT SPECULATIVE FICTION BY TRANSGENDER WRITERS" Archived June 22, 2015, at the Wayback Machine. Topside Press, February 18, 2015.
  10. ^ a b Jarnagin, Briana (February 13, 2018). "2018 Barbara Gittings Literature Award and Israel Fishman Non-Fiction Award of the Stonewall Book Awards Announced". American Library Association News. Retrieved June 15, 2018.
  11. ^ Beeck, Nathalie op de (April 28, 2023). "Independent Spirit: LGBTQ Voices in Publishing". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
  12. ^ "This Short Story Collection Helped Revolutionize Trans Women's Fiction". Them. 2023-04-04. Retrieved 2024-01-10.
  13. ^ a b "Miriam Toews, Omar El Akkad & Katherena Vermette among 12 authors longlisted for $100K Scotiabank Giller Prize". CBC Books, September 8, 2021.
  14. ^ "Casey Plett, Kaie Kellough and Waubgeshig Rice among 5 writers to jury 2022 Scotiabank Giller Prize". CBC Books. Retrieved January 24, 2022.
  15. ^ "Lambda Literary Awards laud best gay, lesbian and transgender books". Los Angeles Times, June 2, 2015.
  16. ^ "Casey Plett | Writers' Trust of Canada". Casey Plett | Writers' Trust of Canada. Retrieved 2022-01-16.
  17. ^ "Alex Leslie wins 2015 Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBT Emerging Writers". Quill and Quire. Retrieved 2022-01-16.
  18. ^ "Casey Plett wins $60,000 Amazon first novel prize". Toronto Star, May 22, 2019.
  19. ^ Dundas, Deborah (2019-06-04). "Canadians win three Lambda awards for LGBTQ writing". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2022-01-16.
  20. ^ "Casey Plett brings trans love to the forefront". CBC. Retrieved October 16, 2021.
  21. ^ "Announcing the Finalists for the 36th Annual Lambda Literary Awards". them. 2024-03-27. Retrieved 2024-04-05.
  22. ^ "Announcing the Winners of the 2024 Lammy Awards". Lambda_Literary_Foundation. 2024-06-12. Retrieved 2024-10-24.
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