Joseph Boyden

Picture: University of New Orleans English Faculty

In 2005, Joseph Boyden published a novel called Three Day Road (Penguin). "You must read this," said Pat, my old friend and fellow English major from UBC. Her tone brooked no argument. That first novel created a lot of buzz. Since Pat put that volume into my hand, the work has been translated into 15 languages and published in over 50 countries. It's reviewed by Bronwyn Drainie in Quill and Quire here.

I read the book while we were on holiday in Mexico. Even in the relaxed atmosphere of sunshine, sea and palm trees, it haunted me.

Loosely based on the experience of a real native sniper who served in World War I, the story portrays the experience of the young Cree veteran Xavier, who returns to the bush at Moose Factory without the buddy who helped him get through the war, and with a severe drug addiction.

In 2008, this young novelist (born 1966) won the Giller Prize for Through Black Spruce, a novel that travels surefootedly between Moosonee, New York and Toronto. This book was also reviewed in Quill and Quire, by Mark McCallanan. See the Washington Post review (2009) here.

Joseph Boyden has been the recipient of various awards for his remarkable work. For Three Day Road, he won the Rogers/Writers' Trust Award and the CAA Book of the Year Award, the Amazon.ca/Books in Canada First Novel Award and the French Prix Literaire. The book was also shortlisted for the Governor General's.

As well as the Giller Prize, Through Black Spruce earned its author the Libris Book of the Year and Author of the Year Awards. It was also nominated for the International Dublin IMPAC Literary Award and published in a dozen languages.

Boyden is a true Canadian, if there really is such a thing: his roots are Irish, Scottish and Metis (French and Cree). He has published short stories as well as novels as well as contributing to Walrus, Zoomer, Macleans, and The Globe and Mail.

He was educated at York University in Toronto and in New Orleans and now divides his time between Louisiana and Northern Ontario.