Michel Basilières

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

Michel Basilières
Born1960
Montreal, Quebec
OccupationNovelist
LanguageEnglish
GenreFiction
Years active2003-present
Notable worksBlack Bird
Notable awardsAmazon.ca First Novel Award (2004)

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 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
Awards for Basilières's writing
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
  • 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
  1. "An ambition fulfilled". Montreal Gazette, April 12, 2003.
  2. "Alone between two solitudes". The Globe and Mail, May 5, 2003.
  3. "The October Crisis you've never seen". Ottawa Citizen, March 27, 2003.
  4. "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.
  7. "Basilieres wins first novel award". The Telegram, October 17, 2004.
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