Nancy Richler (May 16, 1957 – January 18, 2018) was a Canadian novelist. Her novels won two international awards and were shortlisted for three others; Richler was also shortlisted for the

Canadian Booksellers Association The Canadian Booksellers Association (CBA) is an organization that promotes and advocates for Canadian booksellers, publishers and authors. Its membership is open to bookstore owners and "affiliated stakeholders" like authors and publishers. The org ...

Author of the Year award in 2013.

Early life

Richler was born in Montreal, Quebec in 1957 to Dianne and Myer Richler, and grew up there with two siblings. Her paternal grandfather, Jacob, died a few hours before she was born. She moved to the United States in 1975, when she was 18 years old, and attended Brandeis University near Boston, Massachusetts, graduating with a degree in history. She then studied social work and worked with young people, and in 1986 she completed a Master of Arts degree in international studies, specialising in the Soviet Union, at the University of Denver Graduate School. She was Jewish.https://www.pressreader.com/canada/montreal-gazette/20130426/281526518550243

Writing career

In 1988 Richler moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, and began writing fiction. Richler's first novel was ''Throwaway Angels'', published by

Press Gang Publishers Press Gang Publishing was a feminist printing and publishing collective active in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, between the early 1970s and 2002.Pike, Lois. "A Survey of Feminist Publishers and Periodicals in Canada" in ''Women and Words/ ...

in 1996. The book is based on the real-life unsolved crimes of women sex workers who disappeared in Vancouver's downtown east side. The novel was shortlisted for an Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Crime Novel."Nancy Richler returns"
''Jewish Independent'', April 20, 2012. Her 2003 novel, ''Your Mouth Is Lovely'' (published by HarperCollins and Ecco Press), is a historical novel set in Russia between 1890 and 1912. It has been translated into seven languages, and won the 2003 Canadian Jewish Book Award for Fiction and the 2004 Adei Wizo Award in Italy. Richler's 2012 novel ''The Imposter Bride'' (published by HarperCollins) is set in post-World War II Montreal and tells the story of a Russian woman who travels to Canada for an arranged marriage, only to be rejected by her would-be husband and instead married to his brother. The book was a shortlisted nominee for the 2012 Scotiabank Giller Prize and was also shortlisted for the Canadian Booksellers Association's 2013

Libris Award A Libris Award is a prize for Canadian literature. It is awarded by the Canadian Booksellers Association (CBA) on an annual basis. Nominations are solicited from CBA members, and the three candidates with the most nominations are put to a vote. T ...

, in the Fiction category. In the same year, Richler was shortlisted for the Libris Award in the Author of the Year category. Richler also wrote short stories, which were published in magazines and anthologies including ''New Quarterly'', ''Prairie Fire'', ''A Room of One's Own'' and the ''Journey Prize Anthology''.

Personal life

Richler was a second cousin of novelist Mordecai Richler. Her partner, Vicki Trerise, is a lawyer and mediator. In the early 2010s Richler returned to Montreal to take care of her elderly parents. In 2013–2014 she was writer-in-residence at the University of Ottawa. Richler died of cancer in Vancouver on January 18, 2018, at the age of 60."Award-winning novelist Nancy Richler dies at 60 after cancer battle"
''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'', January 18, 2018.

References

External links

Nancy Richler
{{DEFAULTSORT:Richler, Nancy 1957 births 2018 deaths Canadian women novelists LGBT Jews Canadian lesbian writers Jewish Canadian writers Writers from Montreal 20th-century Canadian novelists 21st-century Canadian novelists Canadian LGBT novelists 20th-century Canadian women writers 21st-century Canadian women writers Nancy Deaths from cancer in British Columbia Brandeis University alumni University of Denver alumni