While Mary Burns is a writer of exceptional talent in the “social-realism” school, Shinny’s Girls is a collection of stories which are more than just a “good read.” All of the stories in this collection are about mothers and daughters, written from a sensitive and perceptive “post-feminist” point of view, examining the lives of the fictional characters in a way which is neither determined by, nor a reaction to, male consciousness or perceptions. These stories all re-examine the myths of mother-daughter relationships, both in the classical sense of “myth” (Gaia / Demeter / Persephone) and in the modern sense of “myth” (social lies about relationships).

Mary Burns’s stories have been published in magazines throughout North America, as well as broadcast on the CBC and the BBC.

Mary Burns grew up near Chicago and emigrated to Canada during the Vietnam War years. A former journalist and documentary filmmaker, she is the author of several stage plays, numerous radio plays and seven books, including the Literary Press Group’s Writer’s Choice, Suburbs of the Arctic Circle, and The Private Eye: Observing Snow Geese, shortlisted for the Science in Society Book award. Talon published her collection of short stories, Shinny’s Girls, and a trilogy of novellas, Centre/Center. Her most recent novel is The Reason for Time, historical fiction set in the turbulent “Red Summer” of 1919 in Chicago, and listed as a “Must Read” Chicago book. For twelve years she served as chair of Creative Writing at Douglas College where she taught fiction, play writing and personal narrative. She now lives on the Sunshine Coast of B.C. and spends regular time each year in Quebec City.

Mary Burns' profile page