Kristyn Dunnion was born in Essex County, the southern tip of Canada, and now lives in Toronto. She earned a B.A. from McGill University in Montreal and an M.A. from the University of Guelph. Dunnion is a deft prose stylist who brings visceral street-punk and speculative worlds to the page with elegance and heart. Her literary fiction appears in Best Canadian Stories 2020, Orca, Foglifter, Toronto 2033, and many other fine publications. She is one of six Canadian authors featured in Off the Record, edited by John Metcalf (Biblioasis, 2023).
Dunnion is the self-anointed Can Lit Doula and, with compassion and skill, will guide a stuck manuscript to its astounding next draft. She facilitates innovative workshops for emerging and established writers, and currently teaches writing courses at the University of Calgary’s School of Continuing Education. For years Dunnion was a community mental health support worker and healthy food advocate in her neighbourhood. A queer punk performance artist, Dunnion also played bass in Heavy Filth (2008-2011) and Bone Donor (2014-2017).
"What really unites Stoop City is its punk ethos, the way even a well-ordered condo careens towards anarchy with the addition of one feral cat or a dead girlfriend's ghost."
"I want to give comparisons but there are none. No one writes like Kristyn Dunnion, not even those of us who really, really want to."
"Stoop City is a tender snarl of an album, a glorious collection of wreckage and beauty and insight. Dunnion's care shines through each carefully crafted page."
In the spirit of 2025, check out this mini review of my five favourite books where female protagonists disrupt patriarchal authority. These five books connect to the themes driving a lot of my own creative Read more…
2025 has been pretty rough so far – but the sun came out the day I received this generous support from #OntarioArtsCouncil for a new work-in-progress. Thank you for generously supporting a new work-in-progress that Read more…
Thank you to Dr. Cyndi Brannen of the Keeping Her Keys podcast for including me in a panel discussing Hekate and Spirits: Poltergeists, Departed Loved Ones and Ancestors. We talk about ancestor veneration, intergenerational healing Read more…
Toronto, Ontario
Canada
