About Samantha Garner | Media Kit

Bio | 50 words

Samantha Garner’s debut novel The Quiet is Loud was shortlisted for the 2022 Kobo Emerging Writer Prize. A Canadian of Filipino-Finnish background, her character-driven fantasy and science-fiction novels explore identity and belonging. She’s inspired by history, mythology, folklore, and narrative video game worlds. Find her online at samanthagarner.ca or @SamanthaKGarner.

Bio | 100 words

Samantha Garner’s debut novel The Quiet is Loud was shortlisted for the 2022 Kobo Emerging Writer Prize. A Canadian of Filipino-Finnish background, Samantha’s character-driven fantasy and science-fiction novels explore themes of identity and belonging. She loves writing nuanced relationship dynamics, strategy over swordfights, and outsider characters doing their best. She’s inspired by history, mythology, folklore, and narrative-rich video game worlds.

When not writing, Samantha can be found taking too many photos of trees and rambling to a loved one about the latest historical fact she’s learned. You can find her online at samanthagarner.ca or on most social media at @SamanthaKGarner.

Photograph © Jason Garner
(click here to download high-res)

Name pronunciation:
suh-MAN-thuh GAHR-nur

she/her

Media Info | The Quiet is Loud

To contact my agent, or for media inquiries and review copies of The Quiet is Loud, click here.

The Quiet is Loud English edition cover image (high-res)

Adult literary sci-fi, published in 2021 by Invisible Publishing

Shortlisted for the 2022 Kobo Emerging Writer Prize

The perfect marriage of literary and speculative fiction for readers of Kazuo Ishiguro and NK Jemisin.

When Freya Tanangco was ten, she dreamed of her mother’s death days before it happened. Freya’s life since has been spent in hiding: from the troubled literary legacy created by her author father, and from the scrutiny of a society that is hostile to vekers—people who, like her, have enhanced mental abilities.

When her prophetic dreams take a dangerous turn, Freya finds herself increasingly forced to sacrifice her own anonymity—and the fragile safety that comes with it—in order to protect those around her.

Interwoven with themes of Filipino Canadian and mixed-race identity, fantastical elements from Norse and Filipino mythology, and tarot card symbolism, The Quiet Is Loud is an intergenerational tale about the consequences of secrets and what happens when we refuse to let others tell our stories for us.

“It’s a fearlessly unique book, and I look forward to whatever this exciting new author chooses to write next.”
-Broken Pencil

“In The Quiet Is Loud, Garner announces herself not only as a writer with a clear, fresh vision for what speculative fiction could be but also as a writer who will make it happen.”
-Prairie Fire

“At this moment in time, when so many people are raising their voices and uniting against oppression in all of its forms, The Quiet Is Loud is an especially urgent and important read.”
-Jessica Westhead, author of Avalanche

“The Quiet is Loud made me believe wholeheartedly in the paradextrous powers of its characters and their world, so wholeheartedly that at times I forgot that what I was reading was not possible. Garner’s is an exciting new voice.”
-Liz Harmer, author of The Amateurs and Strange Loops

“Written in clear-eyed prose that effortlessly weaves in Filipino and Norse mythology, The Quiet is Loud is an exciting and sensitive look into the mind of a young woman grappling with the consequences of family secrets, while also coming to terms with her unique talents. It is a powerful debut.”
-Teri Vlassopoulos, author of Escape Plans and Living Expenses

Social Media Links

Interviews, Etc.

• Interview by EA Whyte
• Interview by Eden Boudreau on Dear Lonely Writer podcast
• Interview with Augur Magazine for AugurCon 2022
• Carol Shields Prize – Women Reading Women
• Reading of my poem “When You Don’t See Me” as part of a special Quarantine Review episode of Howl on CIUT 89.5FM, September 28, 2021
• Open Book Writer in Residence – June 2021
• June 2021 Writer-in-Residence & Star Debut Novelist Samantha Garner on Skydiving, Kirtles, & Her Spy Passport at Open Book
• “‘I Had Internalized the Belief That the Stories I Could Tell Had No Audience’ FOLD Guest Authors on Progress & Process” at Open Book
• 12 or 20 questions with rob mclennan
• Writers on Writing with Katie Li
• Interview with Maria Bolaños, Marías at Sampaguitas
• My writing routine at my (small press) writing day by rob mclennan

Interviews related to The Quiet is Loud can be found here.

Read my other articles and discover more creative projects here.