Martha Baillie lives and works in Toronto. Her novel The Incident Report was longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and is being made into a feature film to be released in 2023. The Search for Heinrich Schlgel was an Oprah editors' pick. Sister Language, co-written with her late sister, Christina Baillie, was a 2020 Trillium Award finalist. Martha's non-fiction can be found in Brick: A Literary Journal. Her poetry has appeared in the Iowa Review. Her multimedia project based on The Search for Heinrich Schlgel is archived at www.schlogel.ca.
""There is No Blue is a study in the tyranny of fragility. . . It's strangely mesmerizing, also disturbing. It's a book about memory--whose memory counts--but it's also a book about art."" – Christina Patterson, The Sunday Times ""[Baillie] knows she’ll never find out why a shared childhood should have had such different outcomes; the only truth she arrives at will be variable and of her own making. Still, the 'disobedient tale' she tells is tough, tender and compelling."" – Blake Morrison, The Guardian ""Baillie’s memoir in essays, There Is No Blue, emerges from a desire to collapse [the] distance between sister and sister."" – Rachel Gerry, Literary Review of Canada “Revealing, puzzling, dazzling, The Search for Heinrich Schlögel resists reduction, rewards rereading. It draws you forward as a narrative should, but ultimately unfolds in you like poetry.” – Jamie Zeppa, Literary Review of Canada on The Search for Heinrich Schlögel “Baillie delivers a work of magical realism that captures the experience of postcolonial guilt ... and gives voice to a silenced past.” – Publishers Weekly, starred review of The Search for Heinrich Schlögel “A poetic journey into mystery that asks hazy questions about time, culture and one’s sense of self.” – Kirkus Reviews on The Search for Heinrich Schlögel “The beautiful descriptions of the wild outdoors in northern Canada alone make this book worth reading. Baillie is an excellent storyteller, combining adventure with deeper elements and the characters' search for self. Highly recommended.” – Library Journal on The Search for Heinrich Schlögel “Clara, despite her volatility, is the novel's linchpin – a creative choice that speaks to Baillie's characteristic cerebral playfulness as well as her allegiance to characters held on society's margins … Baillie's empathetic portrayal of Clara shows a mind following its own kind of logic. There's a lighter tone to this novel, so it might surprise readers how much it has to say about creativity and the fractured self.” – The Globe and Mail on If Clara “If Clara finds Baillie at the top of her game with this complex, deftly layered new novel … a richly rewarding read to sink into for a solitary afternoon.” – The Toronto Star on If Clara