Andrew Pyper

Though relatively young by literary standards – born in Stratford, Ontario in 1968 – Andrew Pyper has managed to release a long line of books in a short span of years, while maintaining both popular and critical appeal. With both a B.A. and M.A. in English Literature from McGill University, Pyper is well trained for the literary arts. Perhaps more surprisingly, Pyper also holds a law degree from the University of Toronto. Though ostensibly engaged in academic pursuits for most of his twenties, Pyper was busy writing even when a career as a lawyer was imminent. As he explains, he was able to covertly pursue that ambition even in the hubbub of a Bay Street law firm: “I was even caught by managing partners a couple times with short stories up on the screen. They didn’t care; I think they thought I was a freak, and they kind of left me alone.”

Pyper got as far as passing the bar examinations in 1996 before being a writer became a sudden and full-time occupation. The two fields share some overlap in his debut novel Lost Girls, which incorporates his legal background into the narrative. Pyper has spent time as writer-in-residence in both the urban setting of Champlain College at Trent University as well Berton House in Dawson City, Yukon Territory. The latter of these places reappears in Pyper’s The Wildfire Season, which was selected as a Globe and Mail Best Book in 2005. Pyper, too, has used contemporary Toronto for more than one of his novels, a city he continues to reside in as well as fictionalize.

Bibliography
Lost Girls
The Trade Mission
Dark Descent
The Wildfire Season
Kiss Me
The Killing Circle

Prizes and Awards
Arthur Ellis Award - for Best First Novel Lost Girls