André Alexis (born 15 January 1957 in

Port of Spain Port of Spain ( Spanish: ''Puerto España''), officially the City of Port of Spain (also stylized Port-of-Spain), is the capital of Trinidad and Tobago and the third largest municipality, after Chaguanas and San Fernando. The city has a muni ...

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

) is a Canadian writer who grew up in

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and lives in

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.André Alexis
in ''

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''. He has received numerous prizes including the Windham-Campbell Literature Prize. Alexis is most well known for his

Quincunx Cycle ''The Quincunx Cycle'' is a series of novels written by Trinidadian-Canadian author André Alexis. While loosely interconnected with various characters and places recurring in various novels each novel is written as a stand alone piece and is based ...

, a series of five novels, each examining a particular theme, set in and around

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. His second novel from the cycle, '' Fifteen Dogs'', won the 2015

Giller Prize The Giller Prize (sponsored as the Scotiabank Giller Prize), is a literary award given to a Canadian author of a novel or short story collection published in English (including translation) the previous year, after an annual juried competition b ...

and brought both Alexis and the cycle into greater prominence.

Biography

Alexis began his artistic career in the theatre, and has held the position of playwright-in-residence at the

Canadian Stage Company Canadian Stage is a non-profit contemporary performance arts company based in Toronto, Ontario, ''Canada''. About Canadian Stage Canadian Stage is one of Canada's largest not-for-profit contemporary theatre companies, based in Toronto, Ontari ...

. His short play ''Lambton, Kent'', first produced and performed in 1995, was released as a book in 1999. His first novel ''Childhood'' was published in 1998. Alexis published ''Ingrid and the Wolf'', his first work of juvenile fiction, in 2005. Alexis wrote the

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major li ...

for

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's opera ''Aeneas and Dido'', which premiered at Toronto Masque Theatre in 2007. He had previously worked with Rolfe twice before, on ''Orpheus and Eurydice'' (2004) and ''Fire'' (1999), and with Veronica Krausas. His novel ''Asylum'' was published in 2008, and is set in Ottawa during the government of

Brian Mulroney Martin Brian Mulroney ( ; born March 20, 1939) is a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician who served as the 18th prime minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993. Born in the eastern Quebec city of Baie-Comeau, Mulroney studied political s ...

. In 2014 Alexis published ''Pastoral'', the first in a planned series of five novels on

philosophical Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

themes."Alexis's Fifteen Dogs wins Scotiabank Giller Prize". ''

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'', November 11, 2015. ''Fifteen Dogs'', the second novel in the series, was published in 2015. The third novel, ''The Hidden Keys'', was published in 2016. Alexis was a juror for the 2017 Scotiabank Giller Prize. Alexis lives and works in Toronto, where he has hosted programming for

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, reviews books for ''

'', and is a contributing editor for ''

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''. He is an Adjunct Professor in the MA in English and Creative Writing program at the University of Toronto, and was formerly Writer in Residence at the University of Ottawa, and a Barker Fairley Distinguished Visitor in Canadian Studies at University College in the University of Toronto. His novel '' Days by Moonlight'' was published in 2019, and was longlisted for the 2019 Giller Prize. In August ''Metamorphosis: a Viral Trilogy'', a three-part audio drama inspired by the

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, was released in conjunction with TO Live, SummerWorks and

Canadian Stage Canadian Stage is a non-profit contemporary performance arts company based in Toronto, Ontario, ''Canada''. About Canadian Stage Canadian Stage is one of Canada's largest not-for-profit contemporary theatre companies, based in Toronto, Ontari ...

. In October, 2020, his career-spanning collection of short stories, ''The Night Piece'', was published by

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Canada.

Awards and honors

''Despair and Other Stories of Ottawa'' (1994), was short-listed for the

Commonwealth Prize Commonwealth Writers (established in 2011) is the cultural initiative of the Commonwealth Foundation. It aims to inspire, develop and connect writers across the Commonwealth. Its flagship is a literary award for short stories, the Commonwealth Sh ...

(Canada and Caribbean region). ''Ingrid and the Wolf'' was a shortlisted nominee for the

Governor General's Award for English-language children's literature The Governor General's Award for English-language children's writing is a Canadian literary award that annually recognizes one Canadian writer for a children's book written in English. It is one of four children's book awards among the Governor Ge ...

at the

2006 Governor General's Awards The 2006 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit: Finalists in 14 categories (68 books) were announced October 16, winners announced November 21 and awards presented December 13. The prize for writers and illustrators was $15,000 and "a speci ...

. His

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to p ...

, ''Childhood'' (1998), won the

Books in Canada First Novel Award The Amazon.ca First Novel Award, formerly the Books in Canada First Novel Award, is a Canadian literary award, co-presented by Amazon.ca and ''The Walrus'' to the best first novel in English published the previous year by a citizen or resident o ...

, and was a co-winner of the

Trillium Award The Trillium Book Award (french: Prix littéraire Trillium or ''Prix Trillium'') is an annual literary award presented to writers in Ontario, Canada. It is administered by Ontario Creates, a Crown agency of the Government of Ontario, which i ...

. '' Fifteen Dogs'' won the 2015 Scotiabank Giller Prize and

Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize The Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, formerly known as the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, is a Canadian literary award presented by the Writers' Trust of Canada after an annual juried competition of works submitted by publishers. A ...

, and was shortlisted for a

Toronto Book Award The Toronto Book Awards are Canadian literary awards, presented annually by the City of Toronto government The municipal government of Toronto ( incorporated as the City of Toronto) is the local government responsible for administering the city ...

. In 2017, he was named a winner of the Windham-Campbell Prize for his body of work."Toronto author André Alexis awarded one of world's richest literary prizes"
''

'', March 1, 2017. In 2017, he also won the prize

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for his novel '' Fifteen Dogs''. In 2019, he won the

again, this time for '' Days by Moonlight''.

Works

* ''Despair, and Other Stories of Ottawa'' (1994) :: Published in the UK as ''The Night Piece'' (1999) * ''

Childhood A child (plural, : children) is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers ...

'' (1998) * ''Lambton Kent'' (1999, drama) * ''Ingrid and the Wolf'' (2005, children's novel) * ''Asylum'' (2008) * ''Beauty and Sadness'' (2010) * ''A'' (2013) * ''

Pastoral A pastoral lifestyle is that of shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. It lends its name to a genre of literature, art, and music (pastorale) that depict ...

'' (2014) * '' Fifteen Dogs'' (2015) * ''

The Hidden Keys ''The Hidden Keys'' is a novel by Canadian writer André Alexis. Published by Coach House Books in 2016 it is the third novel in a planned cycle of a five-novel quincunx that Alexis will use to examine faith, place, love, power and hatred, the f ...

'' (2016) * '' Days by Moonlight'' (2019) * ''The Night Piece: Collected Stories'' (2020) * ''Ring'' (2021) * ''Winter, or A Town Near Palgrave'' (2022, Coach House Books)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alexis, Andre 1957 births Living people Canadian people of French descent Trinidad and Tobago people of French descent Black Canadian writers 20th-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights Canadian male novelists Canadian male short story writers Writers from Ottawa Writers from Toronto Trinidad and Tobago novelists Trinidad and Tobago emigrants to Canada 20th-century Canadian novelists 21st-century Canadian novelists Canadian male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Canadian short story writers 21st-century Canadian short story writers Canadian librettists Canadian children's writers 20th-century Canadian male writers 21st-century Canadian male writers Amazon.ca First Novel Award winners