Cary Fagan

Cary Fagan (born 1957) is a Canadian writer of novels, short stories, and children's books. His widely praised adult novel, A Bird's Eye, was shortlisted for the 2013 Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. Previously, his novel Valentine's Fall was nominated for the 2010 Toronto Book Award.^[1] Since publishing his first original children's book in 2001, he has published 21 children's titles.^[2]

Personal life

Fagan was born in 1957 in Toronto, Ontario. He grew up in the Toronto suburbs and attended the University of Toronto, graduating with a degree in English and winning eight student awards.^[3] He has lived for short periods in London and New York City, and now lives in Toronto. He is married to Rebecca Comay, a member of the philosophy department at the University of Toronto. He has two daughters and two step-sons. Along with Bernard Kelly, he co-publishes and edits a small press, paperplates books.

Fagan has received a Toronto Book Award, two Jewish Book Awards, and a Mr Christie silver medal.^[4]

Prizes and honours

• 1994 Jewish Book Award for Fiction (The Animals' Waltz)
• 2004 World Storytelling Award (U.S.) (The Market Wedding)
• 2009 Quill & Quire Book of the Year (Jacob Two-Two on the High Seas)
• 2013 Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award (Mr. Zinger's Hat)
• 2014 Vicki Metalf Award for Children's Literature (body of work)

Runners-up, etc

• 1990 Finalist, Toronto Book Awards (City Hall and Mrs. God)
• 2000 Sydney Taylor Honor Book (U.S.) (The Market Wedding)
• 2004 Silver Birch Award Honour Book (The Fortress of Kaspar Snit)
• 2008 Finalist, TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award (Thing-Thing)
• 2008 Silver Birch Express Award Honour Book (Ten Lessons for Kaspar Snit)
• 2008 Finalist, Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award (Thing-Thing)
• 2010 Finalist, Toronto Book Awards (Valentine's Fall)
• 2012 Longlist, Scotiabank Giller Prize (My Life Among the Apes)
• 2013 Finalist, Rogers Writers Trust Fiction Prize ("A Bird's Eye")
• 2015 Finalist, John Spray Mystery Award ("The Show to End all Shows")

Published books

Novels for adults

• The Animals' Waltz: a novel (Lester & Orpen Dennys, 1994)
• Sleeping Weather (Porcupine's Quill, 1997)
• Felix Roth (Stoddart Books, 1999)
• The Mermaid of Paris (Key Porter Books, 2003)
• Valentine's Fall (Cormorant Books, 2010)
• A Bird's Eye (House of Anansi, 2013)

Children's fiction

• Gogol's Coat (Tundra Books, 1999), illustrated by Regolo Ricci, adapted from "The Overcoat" by Gogol
• The Market Wedding (Tundra, 2000), illus. Regolo Ricci, from Abraham Cahan
• Daughter of the Great Zandini (Tundra, 2001), illus. Cybèle Young
• Beyond the Dance: A Ballerina's Life (Tundra, 2002), by Fagan and Chan Hon Goh, autobiographical
• The Fortress of Kaspar Snit (Tundra, 2004), novel
• Ten Old Men and a Mouse (Tundra, 2007), illus. Gary Clement
• My New Shirt (Tundra, 2007), illus. Dušan Petričić
• Directed by Kaspar Snit (Tundra, 2007), sequel novel
• Mr. Karp's Last Glass (Tundra, 2007), illus. Selçuk Demirel
• Ten Lessons for Kaspar Snit (Tundra, 2008), sequel novel
• Thing-Thing (Tundra, 2008), illus. Nicolas Debon
• Jacob Two-Two on the High Seas (Tundra, 2009), illus. Dušan Petričić
• Book of Big Brothers (Groundwood Books, 2010), illus. Luc Melanson
• The Big Swim (Groundwood, 2010), novel
• Banjo of Destiny (Groundwood, 2011), illus. Selçuk Demirel
• Ella May and the Wishing Stone (Tundra, 2011), illus. Geneviève Côté
• Mr. Zinger's Hat (Tundra, 2012), illus. Dušan Petričić
• The Boy in the Box (Penguin Canada, 2012), novel; Master Melville's Medicine Show, book 1
• Danny, Who Fell in a Hole (Groundwood, 2013), illus. Milan Pavlovic
• Oy, Feh, So (Groundwood, 2013), illus. Gary Clement
• I Wish I Could Draw (Groundwood, 2014), "words and (bad) pictures by Cary Fagan", OCLC 881253673

Short stories

• History Lessons (Hounslow, 1990)
• The Little Black Dress: tales from France (Mercury Press, 1993)
• The Doctor’s House and other Fiction (Stoddart, 2000)
• My Life Among the Apes (Cormorant, 2012)

Non-fiction

• City Hall and Mrs. God: A Passionate Journey Through a Changing Toronto (Mercury Press, 1990)

As editor

• Streets of Attitude: Toronto stories (Toronto: Yonge & Bloor, 1990), OCLC 247188080
• A Walk by the Seine: Canadian poets on Paris (Windsor, ON: Black Moss Press, 1995), OCLC 635872651

References

External links

• Official website
• paperplates books
• Cary Fagan at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Cary Fagan at Library of Congress Authorities, with 25 catalogue records
• My Father's Picasso Published on Geist Magazine