Alison Pick

Alison Pick (born 1975) is a Canadian novelist and poet. She has published two novels and two collections of poetry.

Life
Pick was born in 1975 in Toronto, and grew up in Kitchener, Ontario. In 1999, she graduated from the University of Guelph with a B.A. in psychology.

During her early years, she discovered that her father's Czech family was originally Jewish (he had been raised a Christian). Pick herself later converted to Judaism.

Her first book was written while living in Saskatchewan at a Benedictine monastery, then at a cattle ranch, and then in Saskatoon. She currently lives in Toronto with her husband, writer Degan Davis, and their daughter.

Recognition
The title section of Pick's poetry collection Question & Answer won the 2002 Bronwen Wallace Memorial Award for Poetry and the 2003 National Magazine Award for Poetry. The book itself was short-listed for the League of Canadian Poets Gerald Lampert Award for best first book of poetry, and for a Newfoundland and Labrador Book Award. Pick also won the 2005 CBC Literary Award for Poetry.

Awards

 * 2002 - Bronwen Wallace Memorial Award for Poetry (for the title section of Question & Answer)
 * 2002 - Shortlist, League of Canadian Poets Gerald Lampert Award (for Question & Answer)
 * 2002 - Shortlist, Newfoundland and Labrador Book Award (for Question & Answer)
 * 2003 - National Magazine Award for Poetry
 * 2005 - CBC Literary Award for Poetry (for "The Mind's Eye")
 * 2008 - The Globe and Mail Top 100 Book (for The Sweet Edge)
 * 2011 - Helen and Stan Vine Canadian Jewish Book Award, fiction category (for Far to Go)
 * 2011 - Longlist, The Man Booker Prize for Fiction (for Far to Go)

Novels

 * The Sweet Edge (2005, Raincoast Books)
 * Far to Go (2010, House of Anansi Press)

Poetry

 * Question & Answer (2002, Raincoast Books)
 * The Dream World (2008, McClelland & Stewart)