Shaena Lambert is a novelist, short story writer and teacher. Born and raised in Vancouver, she has lived in Toronto, New York and the Okanagan Valley (where some of her short stories are set).

Radiance, her first novel - about an enigmatic Hiroshima survivor who comes to New York for surgery on her face & the complex relationship she has with her hosts - was published by Random House Canada in February 2007 to widespread critical acclaim. Virago Press, in the United Kingdom, launched the book in May, 2007, distributing it within the European Union and to New Zealand and Australia, where it was also met with high praise.

Shaena’s book of short stories, The Falling Woman (Vintage, 2002), was chosen by The Globe and Mail as a top book of the year, and was short-listed for the Danuta Gleed Award. The Falling Woman was also published internationally by Virago Press in the United Kingdom and by Berlin Verlag in Germany in 2003.

Shaena’s fiction and poetry have appeared in many prominent journals and magazines, including Zoetrope: All Story, Toronto Life, Image (Dublin), Marvels & Tales – The Journey of Fairytale Studies, Nimrod, Descant, The Malahat Review, The North American Review and Prism International, as well as being selected twice for Best Canadian Stories and The Journey Prize Anthology.

Lambert received her BFA in Honours Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia and has studied fiction with Margaret Atwood, Bonnie Burnard and Peter Carey. She currently teaches short story and novel writing through the Vancouver Manuscript Intensive, and will be joining the faculty at SFU's Writers' Studio in 2011, as Fiction Mentor. She also provides critical feedback to writers on a freelance basis (see Thoughts on Writing).

Shaena lives in Vancouver with her husband, Bob Penner, who runs a national communications company, Strategic Communications. They have two children – Peter and Lucy. Shaena is at work on a new novel and a book of short stories.