Billie Livingston

Who is Billie Livingston?

Billie Livingston is a Canadian novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Livingston grew up in Toronto and Vancouver, British Columbia. She lives in Vancouver.

Her critically acclaimed first novel,Going Down Swinging, was followed by The Chick at the Back of the Church, a poetry book that was shortlisted for the Pat Lowther Award. Her second novel, Cease to Blush, was published in 2006 and subsequently chosen as one of the year's best books by The Globe and Mail, January Magazine, and The Tyee. Livingston's One Good Hustle, a novel about a young woman's fear that she is genetically doomed to become a con artist, was long-listed for the 2012 Giller Prize and selected by The Globe and Mail, January Magazine, and Toronto's Now Magazine as one of the year's best books.

Livingston's short story collection, Greedy Little Eyes, was cited by The Globe and Mail as one of 2010's best books and by The Georgia Straight as one of the fifteen most outstanding books of the year. In 2011 Greedy Little Eyes won the Danuta Gleed Literary Award for Best Short Story Collection as well as the CBC's Bookie Award.