The Cipher

Genni Gunn is an author, musician and translator. Born in Trieste, she came to Canada as a child. She has published fourteen books: four novels -- The Cipher (Signature Editions, 2024); Solitaria (long-listed for the Giller Prize); Tracing Iris (made into a film, The Riverbank); and Thrice Upon a Time; three short story collections – Permanent Tourists, Hungers and On the Road; three poetry collections—Accidents, Faceless and Mating in Captivity), and a collection of personal essays, TRACKS: Journeys in Time and Place. As well, she has translated from Italian three collections of poems by two renowned Italian authors: Devour Me Too and Traveling in the Gait of a Fox by Dacia Maraini, and Text Me by Corrado Calabrò. Two of Gunn’s books have been translated into Italian and Dutch. As well as books, she has written an opera libretto, Alternate Visions, produced by Chants Libres in 2007 (music by John Oliver), and projected in a simulcast at The Western Front in Vancouver; her poem, "Hot Summer Nights" has been turned into classical vocal music by John Oliver, and performed internationally. Before she turned to writing full-time, Gunn toured Canada extensively with a variety of bands (bass guitar, piano and vocals). Since then, she has performed at hundreds of readings and writers’ festivals. Gunn has a B.F.A. and an M.F.A. from the University of British Columbia. She lives in Vancouver.