Monday Rent Boy will debut on March 20, 2024.
See Book launch dates here.
Susan Doherty Hannaford is a Montreal-based writer.
Winner of the QWF’s Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-fiction 2019
The Ghost Garden
Winner of two 2020 Word Guild Awards: Culture and Les Prix des Mots
The Ghost Garden
“The Ghost Garden is nothing less than an act of courage, both on the part of Susan Doherty – who took an immense risk devoting herself to a subject so misunderstood and indistinct – and those who shared their stories with her. The Ghost Garden is a poignantly nuanced depiction of a complex painful reality, a depiction that is indeed suffused with empathy and love.” QWF Jury member.
Susan published her debut novel, A Secret Music, with Cormorant Books in 2015. Her second book, The Ghost Garden, Inside the Lives of Schizophrenia’s Feared and Forgotten is a biography about an Ottawa woman who committed a crime and was later diagnosed with schizophrenia. The book chronicles her life careening through the Canadian medical system, jail, group homes and hospitals in an attempt to navigate the symptoms of psychosis. Threaded through the book are 18 vignettes that help to flesh out the landscape of an illness that places people far outside the boundaries of acceptance.
Susan’s passions include: education, music, helping to de-stigmatize mental health issues. She has done 25 years of community service in the area of mental wellness.
RECENTLY PUBLISHED:
THE GHOST GARDEN
Non-fiction that focuses on de-stigmatizing schizophrenia. Finding the human being behind the diagnosis.
PUBLISHED WORK:
A Secret music
Lawrence Nolan, a gifted pianist, grows up in the shadow of his mother’s mental illness. A Secret Music is a rite of passage debut novel that brings prolific music, family neglect and numbing guilt to life in 1936 Montreal. Hindered by unwarranted responsibility and shameful secrets, Lawrence yearns to pursue his passion on the world stage.
NEWS ABOUT A SECRET MUSIC
The Montreal Gazette Review by Ian McGillis
The Toronto Star review by Linda Diebel
Montreal Review of Books by Ami Sands Brodoff
Ottawa Review of Books by Menaka Ramen-Wilms
Accolades for a secret music
Fiction Award in the Young Adult Category presented by The Word Guild
June 2016
$5000 Grace Irwin Award presented by The Word Guild
June 2016
Best Young Adult General Fiction presented by Literary Classics, Silver Award
July 2016
PUBLISHER
Anne Collins, Random House of Canada
320 Front Street West, #1400
Toronto, Ontario, M5V 3B6
Tel: 416 364 4449
Contact SUSAN
E-mail: dohertys@selwyn.ca
Twitter: @susanpdoherty
Instagram: @susanpdoherty
website: susandohertyhannaford.com