Ann-Marie MacDonald

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Template:Short description Template:For Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox writer Ann-Marie MacDonald Template:Post-nominals (born October 29, 1958) is a Canadian playwright, author, actress, and broadcast host who lives in Toronto, Ontario.

Life and career

MacDonald is the daughter of a member of Canada's military; she was born at an air force base near Baden-Baden, West Germany. She is of partial Lebanese descent through her mother.<ref>Helen Chryssides, "Prose, plays and the joy of creating", The Canberra Times, April 9, 2000, p. 20</ref>

MacDonald won the Commonwealth Writers Prize for her first novel, Fall on Your Knees (1996),<ref name="prize">Template:Cite news</ref> which was selected for Oprah Winfrey's Book Club in January 2002.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

MacDonald received the Governor General's Award for Drama,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> the Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and the Canadian Authors Association Drama Award<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> for her play, Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet).

MacDonald hosted the CBC documentary series Life and Times for seven seasons. MacDonald also hosted CBC's flagship documentary program, Doc Zone for eight seasons.

She appeared in the films I've Heard the Mermaids Singing and Better Than Chocolate, among others.

MacDonald's 2003 novel, The Way the Crow Flies, was partly inspired by the Steven Truscott case. Her third novel Adult Onset was released in 2014 and has been translated into five languages. Her fourth novel Fayne was published in 2022.<ref name="Grubisic">Template:Cite news</ref>

She was the inaugural Mordecai Richler Reading Room Writer in Residence at Concordia University,<ref name="McGillis">Template:Cite news</ref> and she coaches students in the Acting and Playwriting Programs at the National Theatre School of Canada.

In 2008, MacDonald was awarded an honorary doctorate of humanities by the University of Windsor.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In May 2015, MacDonald was the "big-name author" and "public face"<ref name="PW">Template:Cite magazine</ref> of the inaugural Canadian Authors for Indies Day, organized to bring attention to independent bookstores across the country. Nearly 100 stores and 270 authors participated in the nationwide event.<ref name="PW"/>

In December 2018, MacDonald was named as an Officer of the Order of Canada, in recognition of "her multi-faceted contributions to the arts in Canada and for her advocacy of LGBTQ+ and women's rights".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2019, MacDonald was diagnosed with seronegative rheumatoid arthritis, which affected every aspect of her life, including work. She finished her novel Fayne while strapped to a chair in order to be able to type. Her illness caused the novel's completion to be delayed by a year. As of 2023, she is symptom-free.<ref name="Maga">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name="ASC">Template:Cite web</ref>

MacDonald is married to the Canadian playwright and theatre director Alisa Palmer.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Works

Theatre

Novels

Filmography

Films

Television (as actress or host)

Television (as writer)

See also

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References

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