Anna Porter
Anna Porter | |
|---|---|
| Born | Anna Maria Szigethy Budapest, Hungary |
| Alma mater | University of Canterbury |
| Occupation(s) | Publisher, writer |
| Spouse | Julian Porter |
Anna Maria Porter[1] OC OOnt is a Canadian publisher and novelist.
Life and career
[edit]Born Anna Szigethy in Budapest, Hungary, she emigrated to New Zealand in 1956. She received a bachelor's degree and Master of Arts degree from the University of Canterbury. She started at McClelland & Stewart in 1969 and became president and publisher of Seal Books. In 1979, she founded Key Porter Books[2] and in 1986 she purchased a majority stake in Doubleday Canada.[citation needed]
In 2004, she was appointed to the Board of Governors of York University.
In 1991, she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada for being "instrumental in bringing Canadian titles to the attention of the international market place".[3] In 2003, she was awarded the Order of Ontario. She has been awarded honorary degrees from Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitan University), St. Mary's University, and the Law Society of Upper Canada.
In 2004, Porter sold her interest in Key Porter Books to focus on writing. She has published three mystery novels and three books on Middle European history. Her most recent book is The Ghosts of Europe, published in September, 2010.[4]
She is married to the lawyer Julian Porter.[citation needed]
Selected works
[edit]- Farewell to the 70's: a Canadian salute to a confusing decade (1979)
- Hidden Agenda (1985)
- Mortal Sins (1987)
- The Bookfair Murders (1997)
- The Storyteller: memory, secrets, magic and lies (2000)
- Kasztner's Train: the true story of an unknown hero of the Holocaust (2007)
- The Ghosts of Europe: journeys through central Europe's troubled past and uncertain future (2010)
- Buying a Better World: George Soros and billionaire philanthropy (2015, Dundurn Press)
- The Appraisal (2017)
- In Other Words: How I Fell in Love with Canada One Book at a Time (2018)
Awards and honours
[edit]- 2010: Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing, winner, The Ghosts of Europe
- 2008: Charles Taylor Literary Prize for Non-Fiction, short-list, Kasztner's Train
- 2007: Nereus Writers' Trust Non-Fiction Prize, winner, Kasztner's Train
References
[edit]- ^ "Anna Porter". Retrieved 16 December 2015.
- ^ CBC Arts (7 Jan 2011). "Key Porter Books ceases operations". CBC.
- ^ Order of Canada citation
- ^ MacSkimming, Roy. "Anna Porter's latest phase", Quill & Quire, 76.8 (2010): 13.
Sources
[edit]- "Women in the Canadian book trade". Archived from the original on 2006-02-27. Retrieved March 3, 2006.
- "York University profile". Retrieved March 3, 2006.
- "Women's Post Profile". Retrieved October 19, 2007. [dead link]
External links
[edit]- Anna Porter's official website
- Canadians of Hungarian ancestry
- Anna Porter at Library of Congress, with 10 library catalogue records
- "Anna Porter fonds - Search Research Collections". McMaster University Library. William Ready Division of Archives and Research Collections. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
- 1940s births
- 20th-century Canadian novelists
- 20th-century Canadian women writers
- 21st-century Canadian novelists
- 21st-century Canadian women writers
- Canadian book publishers (people)
- Canadian women novelists
- Hungarian emigrants to New Zealand
- Living people
- Members of the Order of Ontario
- New Zealand emigrants to Canada
- Officers of the Order of Canada
- University of Canterbury alumni
- Women book publishers (people)