Gary Barwin is a writer, composer, musician, and multidisciplinary artist and has published 25 books of fiction, poetry and numerous chapbooks. His latest books include For It is a Pleasure and a Surprise to Breathe: New and Selected Poems, ed. Alessandro Porco, Ampers&thropocene (visuals) and a new novel, Nothing the Same, Everything Haunted: The Ballad of Motl the Cowboy. His national bestselling novel Yiddish for Pirates won the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour and the Canadian Jewish Literary Award and was also a finalist for both the Governor General's Award for Fiction and the Scotiabank Giller Prize. His albums include Blind Willie Johnson's Consonants and The Tree Frogs of Jamaica. A PhD in music composition, his writing, music, media works and visuals have been presented and broadcast internationally. He lives in Hamilton, Ontario and at garybarwin.com.
