Camilla Gibb

Early life and education

Born in London, England, she grew up in Toronto, Ontario and studied at the North Toronto Collegiate Institute and the Jarvis Collegiate Institute. She studied at the American University in Cairo before receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in anthropology and Middle Eastern studies from University of Toronto and a Doctor of Philosophy in social anthropology from University of Oxford. She left academia in 2000 in order to pursue writing full-time.

Career

Gibb gained recognition as a writer with the publication of her first novel, Mouthing the Words, in 1999. In 2000, the novel won Gibb the City of Toronto Book Award, and in 2001, she won the CBC Canadian Literary Award for short fiction.

Gibb's second novel, The Petty Details of So-and-So's Life, was published in August 2002.

Gibb's third novel, Sweetness in the Belly (2005), is set against the backdrop of the Ethiopian Revolution and largely takes place in the ancient walled city of Harar. It was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize in 2005, longlisted for the Dublin IMPAC Award and won the Trillium Award for best book in Ontario in 2006.

Her fourth novel, The Beauty of Humanity Movement was published in Canada in September 2010, and in the US and the UK in spring 2011.

Gibb's memoir, This is Happy, was released in Canada on August 18, 2015.

Personal life

In 2009, Gibb separated from her partner, Heather Conway, after almost ten years together. Gibb was pregnant at the time; she later gave birth to a daughter.