Michel Basilières

Michel Basilières
Born 1960
Montreal, Quebec
Occupation novelist
Language English
Nationality Canadian
Genre fiction
Notable works Black Bird
Years active 2003-present

Michel Basilières (born 1960 in Montreal) is a Canadian writer, best known for his 2003 debut novel Black Bird.[1]

Background

Basilières, the son of a Québécois father and an English Canadian mother, grew up as an anglophone despite his French surname.[2] He studied creative writing at Concordia University, but dropped out before graduating, and spent much of his adult life working in bookstores in both Montreal and Toronto.[1]

Career

Black Bird was published in 2003 as part of Knopf Canada's New Faces of Fiction series of works by emerging writers.[3] A comic, magic realist take on the October Crisis of 1970,[3] the novel won the Books in Canada First Novel Award for 2004,[4] and was shortlisted for the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour[5] and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Novel.[4]

Following his award win, Basilières was a freelance book reviewer for the Toronto Star, the National Post and The Globe and Mail, and taught creative writing at the University of Toronto.

His second novel, A Free Man, was published in 2015,[6] and was a ReLit Award finalist in 2016.

References

  1. 1 2 "An ambition fulfilled". Montreal Gazette, April 12, 2003.
  2. ↑ "Alone between two solitudes". The Globe and Mail, May 5, 2003.
  3. 1 2 "The October Crisis you've never seen". Ottawa Citizen, March 27, 2003.
  4. 1 2 "First Novel prize goes to October Crisis story". Kingston Whig-Standard, October 14, 2004.
  5. ↑ "Leacock shortlisters". National Post, March 25, 2004.
  6. ↑ "Allowing Oneself To be Deceived". National Post, May 9, 2015.
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