Diana Svennes-Smith grew up in the northern farming and logging community of Vanderhoof, British Columbia. After raising her son and daughter in Ontario, Diana earned her BFA at the University of Victoria Creative Writing Co-op Program, supporting herself with work terms in the editorial office at The Heritage Group of Publishers. She went on to graduate with an MFA in Fiction from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop as a Teaching-Writing Fellow and recipient of the Glenn Schaeffer New Zealand Post-Graduate Teaching-Writing Fellowship. She has taught fiction writing at universities in the US, Canada, and New Zealand, and her work has been published in Canada and abroad. A short story, Stranger In Me, won the gold medal in fiction at Canada’s 2018 National Magazine Awards. For the last several years, Diana has been working to expand that story into a novel exploring themes of intergenerational love and exploitation.
Awards and Honours
BRIDPORT SHORT STORY PRIZE SHORTLIST 2025.
ALPINE FELLOWSHIP WRITING PRIZE SHORTLIST 2025.
NATIONAL MAGAZINE AWARD GOLD MEDAL IN FICTION 2018.
CARTER V. COOPER SHORT FICTION COMPETITION SHORTLIST 2016.
MICHENER-COPERNICUS FELLOWSHIP 2014-2015.
ASHAM SHORT STORY AWARD 2013.
GRAYWOLF PRESS PRIZE RUNNER-UP FOR NOVEL OPENING 2012.
BRENDA STRATHERN WRITING PRIZE RUNNER-UP 2012.
BRIDPORT SHORT STORY PRIZE SHORTLIST 2012.
WRITERS’ UNION OF CANADA CONTEST FINALIST 2011.
GLIMMERTRAIN SHORT STORY AWARD FOR NEW WRITERS FINALIST 2011.
GLENN SCHAEFFER NEW ZEALAND POST-GRADUATE TEACHING-WRITING FELLOWSHIP 2008-2009.
IOWA WRITERS’ WORKSHOP TEACHING-WRITING FELLOWSHIP 2007-2008.
MALAHAT REVIEW FAR HORIZONS SHORT STORY CONTEST FINALIST 2005.
F. E. CHAPMAN ACHIEVEMENT AWARD 2005.
PAT BEVAN SCHOLARSHIP IN WRITING 2005.
PAT BEVAN SCHOLARSHIP IN WRITING 2004.
DR. W. P. KINSELLA FICTION SCHOLARSHIP 2004.
Residencies, Seminars and Conferences
VERMONT STUDIO CENTER: Johnson, Vermont. October 2025.
WRITERS’ GUILD OF ALBERTA CONFERENCE – NO PLACE LIKE HOME: Edmonton, Alberta. June 2024.
VENTSPILS INTERNATIONAL WRITERS’ AND TRANSLATORS’ HOUSE: Ventspils, Latvia. April 2023.
HAWTHORNDEN CASTLE WRITING RETREAT: Lasswade, Scotland. February – March 2019.
WALLACE STEGNER HOUSE WRITERS/ARTISTS RESIDENCY: Eastend, Saskatchewan. January – March 2015.
AWP CONFERENCE & BOOK FAIR: Seattle, WA, USA. February 2014.
CRAFTS OF WORLD LITERATURE CONFERENCE: University of Oxford, UK. September 2012.
SUMMER LITERARY SEMINAR: Vilnius, Lithuania. July 2012.
AWP CONFERENCE & BOOK FAIR: New York, NY, USA. January 2008.
Diana Svennes-Smith 