Rosemary Sullivan Books In Order – Rosemary Sullivan launched her literary career with The Space a Name Makes, which won the Gerald Lampert Award. She discovered her passion for biography with By Heart (1991), followed by Shadow Maker (1995), which won multiple major awards. She continued with acclaimed works like The Red Shoes, Villa Air-Bel, and Stalin’s Daughter, earning national and international recognition.
Rosemary Sullivan Biography
Early Life – Rosemary Sullivan, a Canadian anthologist, biographer, and poet, actively shaped literary and academic circles throughout her career. Born in 1947 in Valois, near Montreal, she earned a scholarship to McGill University and completed her bachelor’s degree in 1968. She then earned her MA from the University of Connecticut in 1969, followed by a Ph.D. from the University of Sussex in 1972 with a thesis on Theodore Roethke, later published in 1975. Sullivan taught in France at the Universities of Dijon and Bordeaux before joining the University of Victoria. In 1977, she began teaching at the University of Toronto, where she remained until retirement.
Writing Career – In 1978, Rosemary Sullivan committed herself to writing while continuing to teach, eventually becoming a professor emerita. Her first poetry collection, The Space a Name Makes, won the 1988 Gerald Lampert Award for best first book of poetry in Canada. She shifted to biography in 1987, publishing By Heart: Elizabeth Smart in 1991, which earned a Governor General’s Award nomination and revealed her passion for the genre. In 1995, she released Shadow Maker: The Life of Gwendolyn MacEwen, which won multiple awards. Her 1998 biography The Red Shoes :Margaret Atwood Starting Out was reprinted in 2020. Sullivan’s 2006 book Villa Air-Bel won the Canadian Jewish Books Yad Vashem Award. Her acclaimed 2015 biography Stalin’s Daughter earned several prestigious prizes. In 2022, she published The Betrayal of Anne Frank, which sparked controversy in the Netherlands. Beyond writing, she worked with Amnesty International and founded an international writers’ congress. Sullivan’s achievements have earned her numerous fellowships and national honors.
Rosemary Sullivan Books In Order
Publication Order of Picture Books
| Book Title | Year | Buy at Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| Molito | (2011) | Buy Now |
Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books
| Book Title | Year | Buy at Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| Theodore Roethke: The Garden Master | (1975) | Buy Now |
| By Heart: Elizabeth Smart, A Life | (1991) | Buy Now |
| Shadow Maker: The Life of Gwendolyn MacEwan | (1995) | Buy Now |
| The Red Shoes | (1998) | Buy Now |
| Memory Making | (2001) | Buy Now |
| Labyrinth of Desire | (2002) | Buy Now |
| Cuba: Grace Under Pressure | (2003) | Buy Now |
| Villa Air-Bel | (2006) | Buy Now |
| Stalin’s Daughter | (2015) | Buy Now |
| The Betrayal of Anne Frank: A Cold Case Investigation | (2022) | Buy Now |
Publication Order of Collections
| Book Title | Year | Buy at Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| The Space a Name Makes | (1986) | Buy Now |
| Blue Panic | (1991) | Buy Now |
| The Bone Ladder | (2000) | Buy Now |
Publication Order of Anthologies
| Book Title | Year | Buy at Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| Elements Of Fiction | (1982) | Buy Now |
| Stories by Canadian Women | (1984) | Buy Now |
| More Stories By Canadian Women | (1987) | Buy Now |
| Poetry By Canadian Women | (1989) | Buy Now |
| Oxford Book of Stories by Canadian Women in English | (1999) | Buy Now |
| Short Fiction: An Anthology | (2003) | Buy Now |
Short Notes on Rosemary Sullivan Books
1. Labyrinth of Desire
Women eagerly share this book with their girlfriends and often wish their lovers would read it too. With provocative insight and sharp wit, it delivers an intellectually sexy experience, unraveling the history of women’s romantic obsession by telling—and deconstructing—a passionate love affair.
2. Molito
A little mole named Molito lived deep underground. His fur looked like burnt toast, and his eyes gleamed yellow like the sun. Molito tells a story of friendship. One day in the underground park, Molito meets an ant named Carlota, who describes a mysterious place called the upperworld. Curious, Molito sets out to explore it. Rosemary Sullivan and Juan Opitz wrote the story, with illustrations by Rosemary’s sister, Colleen Sullivan. Chilean Canadian musician Nano Valverde composed original music to accompany Rosemary Sullivan’s narration. A CD with the music and story comes with the book, published by Black Moss Press in November 2011. Claudio Saldivia plays the zampoña and kena, while Juan Opitz produced, recorded, and mastered the audio through The HeadRoom Productions, Canada.
3. Stalin’s Daughter
Svetlana Stalin was born during the early years of the Soviet Union and spent her childhood behind the Kremlin walls. Shielded by Communist Party privilege, she avoided the famine and oppression that devastated much of Russia—but not personal tragedy. Her mother died by suicide, Stalin’s purges claimed several relatives, and he exiled her lover to Siberia.
After her father’s death, Svetlana uncovered the extent of his cruelty and, in 1967, shocked the world by defecting to the United States, leaving her two children behind. Though uninvolved in Stalin’s regime, she couldn’t outrun his shadow. Her American life proved unstable—marked by frequent moves, failed marriages, and isolation from Russian émigrés—ending in poverty in Wisconsin.
With exclusive access to KGB, CIA, and Soviet archives, and with the help of Svetlana’s daughter, Rosemary Sullivan delivers a powerful and intimate portrait of Svetlana’s extraordinary journey in a biography that is both sweeping in scope and deeply personal.
FAQ on Rosemary Sullivan Books
-
What genres does Rosemary Sullivan write in?
Rosemary Sullivan writes across multiple genres, including biography, poetry, literary criticism, memoir, and children’s literature.
-
What is her most famous book?
Rosemary Sullivan is well known for her book Stalin’s Daughter (2015). Sullivan has won many awards, including the RBC Taylor Prize, Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize, BC National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction, and the Plutarch Award for her book. She is best known for her award-winning biographies of prominent women.
-
Which is the famous poem of Rosemary Sullivan?
“The Space a Name Makes” won the Gerald Lampert Award for best first book of poetry in Canada in 1988.
Read More Authors Like Rosemary Sullivan
Have you read Rosemary Sullivan’s books and novels? Leave your thoughts and comments below