Erica McKeen (she/her) is a Canadian fiction writer. She is the author of two novels, Tear (Invisible Publishing, 2022) and Cicada Summer (W. W. Norton & Co., 2024). Her work has won the Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize, been chosen as a finalist for the ReLit Awards, and been selected as a Globe and Mail best book. Her stories have been published in numerous literary journals, including PRISM international, filling Station, and The Dalhousie Review, among others. She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Erica McKeen (she/her) is a Canadian fiction writer, teacher, and librarian. Born in London, Ontario, she currently lives in Vancouver, BC, where she teaches English literature and is a graduate student at the University of British Columbia.
Erica received an Honors Bachelor of Arts in English Literature & Creative Writing, as well as a Master of Arts in English Literature, from Western University. She was the recipient of multiple scholarships and awards, including a SSHRC Master’s Award (2019-2020). Erica also received her Bachelor of Education from the University of British Columbia.
Her fiction and non-fiction work has been published in PRISM international, filling Station, The Dalhousie Review, Long Con Magazine, and Minola Review, among other literary journals. Her literary reviews have been published in Canthius, CAROUSEL, and The /tƐmz/ Review. Her short story, “Mouth,” was nominated for the 2020 Pushcart Prize, and her novel excerpt, “Cereal / In the Cicada Summer / When Nellie Came,” was shortlisted for The Malahat Review 2021 Open Season Awards.
Erica’s debut novel Tear (Invisible Publishing, 2022) was the winner of the Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize for literary fiction, shortlisted for the ReLit Awards, and listed as a Globe and Mail‘s best book of 2022. Her second novel, Cicada Summer, is forthcoming in 2024 from W. W. Norton & Co. Erica is represented by Carrie Howland at Howland Literary Agency.
Her work frequently explores surrealist feminism, grief, horror, queerness, mental illness, familial inheritance, and systems of empathy and care.