Michel Basilières
Michel Basilières | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1960 Montreal, Quebec |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fiction |
| Years active | 2003-present |
| Notable works | Black Bird |
| Notable awards | Amazon.ca First Novel Award (2004) |
Michel Basilières (born 1960 in Montreal) is a Canadian writer, best known for his 2003 debut novel Black Bird.[1]
Background
[edit]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
[edit]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 2004 Books in Canada First Novel Award,[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, published in 2015,[6] was a ReLit Award finalist in 2016.
Awards
[edit]| Year | Title | Award | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Black Bird | Books in Canada First Novel Award | Winner | [7] |
| Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Novel | Shortlist | [4] | ||
| Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour | Shortlist | [5] | ||
| 2016 | A Free Man | ReLit Award for Novel | Shortlist |
Publications
[edit]- Black Bird. Vintage Books. 2003. ISBN 978-0-676-97528-4.
- A Free Man. a misFit book. 2015. ISBN 978-1-770-41233-0.
References
[edit]- ^ a b "An ambition fulfilled". Montreal Gazette, April 12, 2003.
- ^ "Alone between two solitudes". The Globe and Mail, May 5, 2003.
- ^ a b "The October Crisis you've never seen". Ottawa Citizen, March 27, 2003.
- ^ a b c "First Novel prize goes to October Crisis story". Kingston Whig-Standard, October 14, 2004.
- ^ a b "Leacock shortlisters". National Post, March 25, 2004.
- ^ "Allowing Oneself To be Deceived". National Post, May 9, 2015.
- ^ "Basilieres wins first novel award". The Telegram, October 17, 2004.
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