About
I grew up with a bunch of brothers and sisters on a small farm in the south-east corner of Saskatchewan, a bleak, flat, sublime landscape that continues to define my identity and sensibilities. I was never interested in farming -- and my parents knew I would likely lose a limb trying to do it -- so I went to university. And then I went some more. And then some more. Eventually, I completed a PhD in sixteenth-century literature from the University of Toronto. ​I taught for a while in the south of France, and then for twelve years at the University of Winnipeg, in Manitoba. I really enjoyed teaching.
While I was in Winnipeg, I also started doing writing and broadcasting for CBC radio, first for a regional show and then for a national show called Definitely Not the Opera. My "gig" was talking about the intersections of language and culture. Eventually, I broadcast more than a hundred columns. Also while in Winnipeg, I co-founded the Winnipeg International Writers Festival, and wrote four nonfiction books, and more than fifty columns for Gastronomica: A Journal of Food and Culture published by the University of California Press.
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Best of all, while in Winnipeg I met my wife (I mean she wasn't my wife yet, but she became that😊). She -- Melanie Cameron -- is also a writer, having published two award-winning books.
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We moved to Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, where I started working at the Centre for Teaching Excellence at the University of Waterloo. Melanie and I then adopted two older children -- Brandon and Laika -- and then, a few years later, two more -- Rukhsana and Matthew. Not surprisingly, our writing ground to a halt while we devoted ourselves to raising our children (and our four dogs -- dogs have always been integral to our family!). All of our kids are now are in their twenties and are doing well.
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After our kids grew up, I started writing again, but I shifted to fiction. That's when I wrote The Headmasters, which was published by Shadowpaw Press. I've also completed another novel and have started writing a third one.