Gail Anderson-Dargatz

Who is Gail Anderson-Dargatz?

Gail Kathryn Anderson-Dargatz is a Canadian novelist.

Anderson-Dargatz was born in Salmon Arm, British Columbia and studied creative writing at the University of Victoria

Her first novel, The Cure for Death by Lightning, was an experimental yet accessible work whose story unfolded partly through narrative and partly through a collection of recipes and household tips belonging to the narrator's mother. It was a Canadian bestseller that year, making Anderson-Dargatz one of the most popular new names in Canadian literature. The novel was nominated for the Giller Prize and was awarded the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize. Her latest novel, Turtle Valley, is set near Salmon Arm during a forest fire and tells the story of Kat, a woman who faces the challenge of simultaneously caring for her aging parents, young child and ill husband. It was inspired by the 1998 Salmon Arm fire, which the author had to evacuate her parents from. A major focus of the novel is "to give an unflinching portrait of the caregiver, how very hard it is on the caregiver and on all family relationships."