Bernice Morgan


Bernice Morgan is a Canadian novelist and short-story writer. Much of her work portrays the history and daily life of Newfoundland.

Early life

Morgan was born in St. John's, in pre-Confederation Newfoundland, to William and Sadie Vardy. She attended Macpherson High School.

Career

Morgan worked for many years in public relations, first with Memorial University of Newfoundland, and later with the Newfoundland Teachers' Association. Many of her short stories have been published in small magazines, anthologies, and school textbooks.
In 1992, her first novel, Random Passage, was published. The sequel to her first novel, Waiting for Time, was awarded the 1995 Thomas Head Raddall Award. Her third novel, Cloud of Bone, was released in August, 2007.
In 2002, the four-part TV mini-series Random Passage, produced by Barbara Doran, was aired in Canada by the Canadian Broadcasting Company and in Ireland. The screenplay by St. John's writer Des Walsh, was based on Morgan's first two novels. The film site remained as a tourist attraction after the series ended.
The mother of a son and two daughters, she lives in St. John's.
In 2012, she was made a Member of the Order of Canada. In 2016 she participated in a protest against a sales tax on books in Newfoundland.
In 2015, Morgan's limited-edition letterpress printed novella The Dragon's Song, illustrated with wood engravings and lithographs by her daughter Jennifer Morgan, was released by Running the Goat Books and Broadsides. Her children's book, Seasons Before the War, illustrated by Brita Granstrom, was published by the same press in 2018.

Novels