Urquhart << UR kahrt >>, Jane (1949-…), is a Canadian novelist and poet known for her sensitive novels that blend historical and modern narratives. Urquhart has won praise for her vivid portrayals of the Canadian landscape and her lyrical prose style.
Urquhart won the 1997 Governor General’s Literary Award, one of Canada’s highest literary prizes, for her novel The Underpainters (1997). The novel recounts a painter’s recollections of his life in the North American wilderness. Perhaps her best-known novel is The Stone Carvers (2001), a historical chronicle that follows the lives of three generations of an Ontario family.
Urquhart’s first novel was The Whirlpool (1986), which traces the interactions among several characters in Niagara Falls, Ontario, during the summer of 1889. A Map of Glass (2005) is written in three sections. A modern section is followed by a story set in the 1800’s, ending with another modern section. The novel explores the relationships among three troubled characters living in eastern Ontario.
Urquhart’s other novels include Changing Heaven (1990), Away (1993), Sanctuary Line (2010), and The Night Stages (2015). Her short fiction was collected in Storm Glass (1987). Much of her poetry was originally published in the early 1980’s and reissued in Some Other Garden (2000).
Jane Carter was born June 21, 1949, in Little Long Lac, a small mining town in northern Ontario. She grew up in Toronto. In 1976, she married artist and professor of fine art Tony Urquhart. It was her second marriage. She earned two B.A. degrees from the University of Guelph, in English literature in 1971 and in art history in 1976. Urquhart has been a writer-in-residence at several Canadian universities. In 2004, she was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Canada, one of the country’s highest civilian honors.
