“St. John’s my middle name. The books go under M,” insists the subhead of Emily St. John Mandel’s Tumblr blog. Much like her name, her award-winning novel Station Eleven defies conventions. The book chronicles the lives of a travelling troupe 20 years after a pandemic has wiped out most of Earth’s population. It’s often categorized as sci-fi, but technology is a shadow of what it was in the 21st century. It’s a dystopian novel, but there is no Big Brother, no oppressive government, just Shakespearean players and gossip magazines.

“It didn’t occur to me that if I wrote a literary novel set partly in the future that it would be categorized as speculative fiction,” says Mandel.  “It’s such a funny thing, genre. I’ve always just set out to write the best novel I possibly could. I’m often surprised by the way it’s categorized after it’s come out.”

It was this straddling of the lines that gave editors pause about Mendel’s first book, which took two years to get published. “The comment I kept getting was ‘We like it, but we’re not sure how we would market it,’ ” she says.   

Recently, Station Eleven snatched the 2015 Toronto Book Award out from under heavyweight writers Margaret Atwood and Andre Alexis. Humble and self-deprecating, Mandel plays down her win.

“I’m absolutely honoured and delighted. One always has to bear in mind that awards are entirely subjective. A different jury would have picked a different short list and a different winner, so I keep that in mind at all times.”

Though she currently lives in Brooklyn, N.Y., Mandel was born in British Columbia and went to school in Toronto.

In Station Eleven, she summons the city to the page with bright points of detail. She has written three previous novels, including The Singer’s Gun, which won the Prix Mystere de la Critique award in France. However Station Eleven, a 2015 Arthur C. Clarke Award winner and National Book Award finalist, has catapulted her into the literary spotlight.

She speaks candidly about the life changes that have come with such critical acclaim.

“I really never thought I would be able to leave my day job,” she says, adding that she left her part-time job as an administrative assistant only eight weeks ago. “I’ve been engaged in a very long tour for

Station Eleven, which is why I, unfortunately, couldn’t be in Toronto the other night [to accept the award]. The resulting tour for the book has been somewhat life consuming.”

Although she is grateful for the attention the novel is getting, Mandel says she looks forward to getting back to writing. When asked about her future literary goals, she says they haven’t changed much.  

“I just want to write a great novel. I guess it’s the same literary goal I’ve always had.”