Gary Barwin

Gary Barwin is a writer, composer, and multidisciplinary artist and the author of 21 books of poetry, fiction and books for children. Born in Northern Ireland to South African parents of Lithuanian Ashkenazi descent, he moved to Canada as a child.

His bestselling novel Yiddish for Pirates won the Leacock Medal for Humour and was a Governor General’s Award and Scotiabank Giller Prize finalist.

His latest poetry collection is No TV for Woodpeckers. His work has appeared widely in journals, including Poetry (Chicago), The Walrus, the Paris Review blog and (forthcoming) Granta. A finalist for the National Magazine Awards (Poetry), he is a three-time recipient of Hamilton Poetry Book of the Year, and has also received the Hamilton Arts Award for Literature. He was Writer-in-Residence at Western University and the London Public Library and Art Forms Writer-in-residence for at-risk youth. Currently, he is Writer-in Residence at McMaster University and the Hamilton Public Library in 2017-2018.

Barwin lives in Hamilton, Ontario where for one strange summer he shared a shoe size with Margaret Atwood.