Michel Basilières (born 1960 in Montreal) is a Canadian writer, best known for his 2003 debut novel Black Bird."An ambition fulfilled". Montreal Gazette, April 12, 2003.
Background Basilières, the son of a Québécois father and an English Canadian mother, grew up as an anglophone despite his French surname."Alone between two solitudes". The Globe and Mail, May 5, 2003. 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.
Career Black Bird was published in 2003 as part of Knopf Canada's New Faces of Fiction series of works by emerging writers."The October Crisis you've never seen". Ottawa Citizen, March 27, 2003. A comic, magic realist take on the October Crisis of 1970, the novel won the 2004 Books in Canada First Novel Award,"First Novel prize goes to October Crisis story". Kingston Whig-Standard, October 14, 2004. and was shortlisted for the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour"Leacock shortlisters". National Post, March 25, 2004. and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Novel.
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,"Allowing Oneself To be Deceived". National Post, May 9, 2015. was a ReLit Award finalist in 2016.
Awards +Awards for Basilières's writingYearTitleAwardResultRef.2004Black BirdBooks in Canada First Novel AwardWinner"Basilieres wins first novel award". The Telegram, October 17, 2004.Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First NovelShortlistStephen Leacock Memorial Medal for HumourShortlist2016ReLit Award for NovelShortlist
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