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Robin McGrath
Robin McGrath is the author or editor of 15 books. Robin has published more than 200 articles in magazines such as The Beaver (now Canada’s History), Inuit Art Quarterly, Fiddlehead and Room of One’s Own. She is the literary editor of Nursery Rhymes of Newfoundland published with Boulder in 2005. Besides publishing numerous academic articles and history in Newfoundland Judaism, McGrath’s distinctions include:
- The Helen and Stan Vine Canadian Jewish Book Award (Fiction) for The Winterhouse, the Halbert Chair for Canadian Studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem (1996-1997)
- The Henry Fuerstenberg Award (1999) for her collection of poems Escaped Domestics. She was also shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize (2003) and won the first annual Heritage and History Award (2004) for Donovan’s Station.
- The Geldert Medal (2004) for her article, “Simon Solomon: Newfoundland’s First Postmaster.”
Robin was born in St. John’s two days prior to Confederation. She is part of the “confederation baby” generation, whose mothers often took castor oil to speed the delivery process so that their children would be born as Newfoundlanders rather than Canadians. She is a member of The Writers’ Union of Canada, WANL and the Letterset Association of Newfoundland and Labrador. She currently writes a monthly column for The Northeast Avalon Times. Robin now lives in Harbour Main, NL with her husband, retired provincial court judge, John Joy.