Emma Hooper

Emma Hooper is a Canadian writer. She is most notable for her 2018 novel Our Homesick Songs, which was named as longlisted for the 2018 Scotiabank Giller Prize.^[1]

Born and raised in Alberta, Hooper moved to England in 2004 after completing her Bachelor of Arts in music and writing at the University of Alberta.^[2] She completed a Master of Arts in creative writing at Bath Spa University before undertaking a Doctor of Philosophy in creative and critical writing at the University of East Anglia, which she completed in 2010.^[3] She subsequently taught at Bath Spa University. Her debut novel, Etta and Otto and Russell and James, was published in 2015,^[4] and was a shortlisted finalist for the amazon.ca First Novel Award.^[5] Our Homesick Songs followed in 2018.^[6]

We Should Not Be Afraid of the Sky was longlisted for the inaugural Carol Shields Prize for Fiction in 2023.^[7] In 2025, Etta and Otto and Russell and James was a finalist for Canada Reads, championed by Michelle Morgan.^[8]

She teaches regularly for Arvon, and runs writing courses annually in Spain with the author Samantha Harvey.^[9]

Bibliography

• Etta and Otto and Russell and James. Simon & Schuster. 2015. ISBN 978-1-4767-5567-0.
• Our Homesick Songs. Simon & Schuster. 2018. ISBN 978-1-5011-2448-8.
• We Should Not Be Afraid of the Sky. Penguin Canada. 2023. ISBN 978-0-735-23276-1.