Montréal-born, Calgary-based Gisèle Villeneuve is a bilingual creative writer working in multiple genres. She has lived in London, England, and has travelled five continents. When not at her desk, she can be found roaming the Rockies.

"The seven quirky stories in Gisèle Villeneuve’s new collection, Rising Abruptly, all have mountains at their heart.... The characters’ relationship with mountains evolves throughout the stories, creating an arc that models a romantic relationship: infatuation, the conflict between independence and commitment, and the acceptance of love coupled with death. Rising Abruptly is a literary ode to climbers and the mountains that captivate them, and presents a fascinating portrait of passion for the high peaks." Karen Ackland, Foreword Magazine, Fall 2016

"Mountain climbing is a metaphor in the stories found in her new collection, Rising Abruptly, which use form, language, and narrative to deal with raw emotions like fear, love, and passion... Villeneuve's stories convey to readers a sense of the dual nature of the mountains, which are at once hard, difficult, and intimidating, but also fragile. In fact, it is precisely the juxtaposition of two opposites that often fuels Villeneuve's writing." Paula F. Kirman, Prairie Books Now, Fall/Winter 2016

"Sept nouvelles impressionnantes, écrites dans une langue irréprochable, qui donnent -- ou ne donnent pas -- envie d'affronter les toits du monde." -- Lettres québécoises, 20170316

# 5 on Edmonton Fiction Bestsellers list, April 23, 2017 -- 20170423

These are not your typical alpinist accounts. The climbers are mothers, sisters and sexagenarians--the stories often focused on loved ones or filtered through the lenses of emotion and heightened perception. Desire, dread and madness run like an undertow, often threatening to overtake the characters... These stories can be emotionally wrought, as off-kilter as their mountains, yet Villeneuve invites us into this thorny, exposed terrain with confidence. As a climber I found it gratifying to see women's desires so strongly expressed. Rising Abruptly is a complex, satisfying collection that bears reading again." -- Elaine Morin, -- Alberta Views, 20171115

Alberta Readers' Choice Award (2017) - Long-listed [Canada]

Georges Bugnet Award for Fiction (2017) - Winner [Canada]

Banff Mountain Book Competition - Mountain Fiction & Poetry (2017) - Winner [Canada]

Alberta Book Publishing Awards, Trade Fiction (2017) - Winner [Canada]