GARY BARWIN is a writer, musician and multimedia artist and the author of 36 books including Scandal at the Alphorn Factory: New and Selected Short Fiction 2024-1984. His national bestselling novel Yiddish for Pirates which won the Leacock Medal and the Canadian Jewish Literary Award, was a finalist for the Governor General’s Award and the Giller Prize and was longlisted for Canada Reads. His last novel, Nothing the Same, Everything Haunted won the Canadian Jewish Literary Award, was shortlisted for the Vine Award and was the Hamilton Reads choice for 2023-2024. He has twice been shortlisted for the League of Canadian Poets’ Spoken Word Award and was awarded their Lifetime Membership Award. He was a finalist for the National Magazine Awards (Poetry), he is four-time recipient of Hamilton Book of the Year, has also received the Hamilton Arts Award for Literature and has co-won the bpNichol Chapbook Award and the K.M. Hunter Arts Award. He was one of the judges for the 2017 CBC Poetry Prize. His most recent novel, The Comedian’s Book of the Dead will be published by Book*Hug in 2026 and a new collaborative poem, Take Rain written with Elee Kraljii Gardiner will appear in spring 2027 from ECW.
His art and media works have been exhibited and presented internationally. Be:longings, a permanent public art sculpture created with Simon Frank and Tor Lukasik-Foss was installed in Churchill Park (Hamilton). His poetry installation, The Ambitious Sky was projected on a five-storey wall in Hamilton in February 2025, an interactive multimedia poetry exhibition Located in the Ink (created with Elee Kraljii Gardiner) was exhibited at Massy Arts (Vancouver) in Fall 2024, and Bird Fiction, an interactive multimedia poetry installation (with Sarah Imrisek) was presented at Nuit Blanche 2024 (Toronto) and, in an expanded Hamilton-specific version in Hamilton Arts Week in June 2025. Be:longings, a public art sculpture created with Tor Lukasik-Foss and Simon Foss is permanently installed in Hamilton’s Churchill Park
He received a PhD in Music Composition (SUNY at Buffalo), a B.F.A. in music performance, a B.A. in English and a B.Ed. He has been a writer-in-residence at many universities and colleges (including McMaster, Western, University of Toronto Scarborough, Laurier, and Sheridan) and has taught courses in creative writing at universities including Western, McMaster, Guelph and OCADU. He is currently a committee member of Parchment Magazine, Meet the Presses Collective and the LitLive Reading Series. He was on this year’s Writers Trust Atwood-Gibson prize jury. He is a frequent collaborator, working with writers, musicians, artists, and programmer. Born in Northern Ireland of South African parents of Lithuanian Jewish descent, he lives in Hamilton where he is currently at work on a novel about Medieval witches. garybarwin.com
OK BARWIN, WE DON’T HAVE MUCH TIME, GIVE US LESS WORDS
GARY BARWIN is a writer, musician and multimedia artist and the author of 36 books of poetry, fiction and essays. His novel, Yiddish for Pirates was a national bestseller, was shortlisted for the Giller Prize and the Governor General’s Award (in fiction and in French translation) and won the Leacock Medal for Humour and the Canadian Jewish Literary Award. Nothing the Same, Everything Haunted was chosen for Hamilton Reads, also won the Canadian Jewish Literary Award and was shortlisted for the Vine Award. He won the League of Canadian Poets’ Lifetime Membership Award and has twice been shortlisted for their Spoken Word prize. A PhD in music, he has taught and been writer-in-residence in many universities, colleges and universities. He lives in Hamilton, Ontario. garybarwin.com
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A LONG-WINDED SORT OF UP-TO-DATE CV ONLY A MOTHER COULD LOVE
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