About

Hugh Blackthorne is a trans writer of queer fiction and poetry, from a working class background. His writing has been published by Plenitude Magazine, Scottish Book Trust, Anti-Heroin Chic, Impossible Archetype, P.S. I Love You, The Junction, Infernal Ink, The Mad River, and Bull Kelp Press in Coinspirator.

In 2022, his unpublished literary/upmarket novel, ‘Artefacts,’ received generous funding support from from both the Canada Council for the Arts and the BC Arts Council. ‘Artefacts’ was also longlisted in the 2023 BPA Pitch Prize. As well in 2022, he received grants from both of these agencies to support his professional development as a writer. In 2021, his unpublished literary/upmarket novel, ‘The Curation of Eamon O’Reilly,’ received supporting grants from both the Canada Council for the Arts and the BC Arts Council. In 2022, he’s received additional grants from both the Canada Council for the Arts and BC Arts Council for professional development. In 2024, he has received funding from the BC Arts Council for his unpublished novel ‘How to Bury the Living,’ as well as for professional development by the Canada Council. His latest literary novel, ‘Real Boys Don’t Cry’ has received funding support from the BC Arts Council and Canada Council for the Arts in 2025.

In 2020, his novel ‘The Curation of Eamon O’Reilly’ was Runner Up in the BPA First Novel Award. In 2019, his writing was longlisted for both the Bath Novel Award for his novel ‘How to Bury the Living’ in the UK and the CBC Nonfiction Prize for ‘Original Copy’ in Canada. Hugh was a 2019 PitchWars mentee, a mentoring contest in the USA. Also in 2019, he received the Diversity Scholarship from the Surrey International Writers’ Conference. You can read more about awards here.

Hugh currently lives in the urban wilds of Victoria, Canada. He’s lived in various places in western Canada and the UK. He messes about with old stuff when he’s not writing. He works as a professional archaeologist and previously as a curator. You can find him on Twitter @hughblackthorne.

Website Photos:

Hugh Blackthorne, Rene Bohmer, Zoran Borojevic, Patrick Brinksma, Benjamin Davies, Morgan Harris, Ethan Hoover, Frank McKenna, Clem Onojeghuo, Maria Geller, Social Cut, Zoltan Tasi, Craig Whitehead