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David Demchuk

David Demchuk

Photo: Andrew Wilmot

"A master of bowel-loosening terror" (Globe & Mail), David Demchuk has been writing for stage, print and other media for more than forty years. His debut horror novel The Bone Mother, published in 2017, was nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, the Amazon First Novel Award, the Toronto Book Award, the Kobzar Book Award and a Shirley Jackson Award in the Best Novel category. It won the 2018 Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic in the Adult Fiction category. It was listed in the Globe and Mail's 100 best books of 2017, came in at #22 in the National Post's top 99 books of the year and became a #1 bestseller on Amazon.ca. His troubling new novel RED X, published by Strange Light/PRH, was listed as a Rakuten Kobo Top 20 of 2021 selection, a CBC Books pick for Best Canadian fiction of 2021, and a New York Public Library Best Book of 2021—one of just three Canadian novels on the list. David Demchuk is represented by Barbara Berson of the Helen Heller Literary Agency. He currently lives in Toronto.

Email:
c/o Writers' Union of Canada
City:
Toronto
Province:
Ontario
Genre:
Horror/Literary
I write professionally in the following language(s):
English

Publications

RED X . 2021, Strange Light / Penguin Random House
The Bone Mother. 2020, Proving Ground Press

Awards

Sunburst Award for The Bone Mother, 2018
Links:
Official website
http://daviddemchuk.com
,
Eligible for National Public Readings Program:
Yes

WITS

Are you available for public presentations and/or workshops:
Yes
Presentation Description

On Writing Horror: award-winning horror writer and Giller nominee David Demchuk shares his insights on horror as a genre and the complexities and challenges of writing horror fiction at a time when current events threaten to outpace even the most vivid imagination. His session will touch on the ancient history of horror, its many and various subgenres, the key components of horror and how to deploy them, combining horror with other genres including the literary genre, and how to find inspiration from your own life experiences to create work that is both truthful and terrifying.

Presentation Length:
Up to 75 minutes
Genre:
Horror/Literary
Grades:
Grade 10 +
Audience Size:
Less than 500
Presenation:
$300
Are you available for school visits?:
Yes
School Presentation Description:

On Writing Horror: award-winning horror writer and Giller nominee David Demchuk shares his insights on horror as a genre and the complexities and challenges of writing horror fiction at a time when current events threaten to outpace even the most vivid imagination. His session will touch on the ancient history of horror, its many and various subgenres, the key components of horror and how to deploy them, combining horror with other genres including the literary genre, and how to find inspiration from your own life experiences to create work that is both truthful and terrifying.

School Presentation Length:
Up to 75 minutes
School Intended Audience:
Grade 10 +
School Audience Size:
Up to 50
School Presentation Fee:
$300
Interested in participating in the Union’s Ontario Writers-in-the-Schools program:
Yes
Interested in participating in the Northern Ontario WITS program:
Yes

Equity Initiative

As part of the Union’s Equity Implementation Plan, we are committed to increasing awareness of authors who are Black, Indigenous, racialized, LGBTQI2S, or living with a disability. This author identifies as:

  • LGBTQI2S
  • Living with a disability