Kenneth Joseph Thomas Harvey (born January 22, 1962) is a Canadian writer and filmmaker from Newfoundland and Labrador.Bob Clark, "Harvey writes what he knows; Author laments erosion of Newfoundlanders' identity". Edmonton Journal, October 31, 2008.
Harvey's debut short story collection, Directions for an Opened Body, was published in 1990.,Stephen Henighan, "Heartland journey yields mixed result; Lively scenes, much hokum" Montreal Gazette, May 11, 1991. and was nominated for the Commonwealth Writers Prize. He followed up in 1992 with his first novel, Brud,Tim Wynne-Jones, "The moral of the story". The Globe and Mail, September 12, 1992. which was a shortlisted finalist for the SmithBooks/Books in Canada First Novel Award in 1993."Finalists announced for first novel award". The Globe and Mail, March 4, 1993.
His 2003 novel The Town That Forgot How to Breathe was his first book to be republished in the United States, and was the winner of the Thomas Head Raddall Award in 2004."Kenneth J. Harvey wins Atlantic fiction prize". The Globe and Mail, May 26, 2004. The novel also won Italy's Libro del Mare for best book about the sea.
In 2006, his novel Inside won the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction PrizeJames Adams, "Harvey wins $15,000 Writers' Trust fiction prize". The Globe and Mail, March 8, 2007. and the Winterset Award,Tara Mullowney, "Novelist Ken Harvey wins Winterset". The Telegram, March 30, 2007. and was nominated for the 2006 Giller Prize."15 writers vie for Giller Prize". Prince George Citizen, September 22, 2006.
His 2008 novel Blackstrap Hawco was nominated for the Giller Prize in 2008."Giller winners up again for award". Hamilton Spectator, September 20, 2008.
As a filmmaker Harvey is most noted for his 2018 documentary film Immaculate Memories: The Uncluttered Worlds of Christopher Pratt,"New documentary explores the order and disorder of N.L. painter Christopher Pratt". CBC News Newfoundland and Labrador, August 30, 2018. a profile of artist Christopher Pratt which was a Canadian Screen Award nominee for Best Feature Length Documentary at the 7th Canadian Screen Awards in 2019, and won the award for Best Canadian Film at the 2019 International Festival of Films on Art."Newfoundland filmmaker’s Christopher Pratt documentary wins international award". SaltWire Network, March 28, 2019.
In 2000, with his former wife Janet, Harvey founded the ReLit Awards, an annual award for independent Canadian literature. Management of the ReLits was taken over in 2021 by his daughter, Katherine Alexandra Harvey.Ryan Porter, "ReLit Awards launches literary journal, teen mentorship under new executive director". Quill & Quire, January 7, 2021.
Books Directions for an Opened Body - 1990 Brud - 1992 Stalkers - 1994 The Hole That Must Be Filled - 1995 Nine-Tenths Unseen - 1996 Kill The Poets: Anti-verse - 1998 The Flesh So Close - 1998 The Great Misogynist - 1998 Everyone Hates a Beauty Queen - 1998 The Woman in the Closet - 1998 Skin Hound - 2000 Little White Squaw: A White Woman's Story of Abuse, Addiction, and Reconciliation - 2002, with Eve Mills Nash The Town That Forgot How to Breathe - 2003 Shack: The Cutland Junction Stories - 2004 Inside - 2006 Blackstrap Hawco - 2008 Reinventing the Rose - 2011
Films I'm 14 and I Hate the World - 2011 box It's a Girl Remains Geek Assassin - 2013 It Was Sunny The Day I Killed Her - 2015 The Immigrant's Handbook The Drinking Life - 2017 I Heard the Birch Tree Whisper in the Night: Gerald Squires on Creation and Death - 2017 Immaculate Memories: The Uncluttered Worlds of Christopher Pratt - 2018 It Was All So Wonderful: The Everyday Magic of Mary Pratt - 2019 The Incredible Vanishing Sisters - 2022 What the Darkness Cannot Extinguish: The Storytelling Madness of Clifford George - 2023 The Governor of Georgetown - 2024 The Bear Inside a Whale - 2025
TV The Slattery Street Crockers (Writer/Director/Producer) B U C K Y (Writer/Director/Producer) Lore (Writer/Director/Producer)
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