Mordecai Richler

Mordecai Richler, CC was a Canadian author, screenwriter and essayist. A leading critic called him "the great shining star of his Canadian literary generation" and a pivotal figure in the country's history. His best known works are The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Barney's Version, and the Jacob Two-Two children's stories. His 1989 novel Solomon Gursky Was Here was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1990. The son of a Jewish scrap yard dealer, Richler was born and raised on St. Urbain Street in the Mile End area of Montreal, a neighbourhood he would later immortalize in his novels. He... graduated from Baron Byng High School. Richler then enrolled in Sir George Williams College to study English but dropped out before completing his degree. He moved to Paris at age nineteen, intent on following in the footsteps of a previous generation of literary exiles, the so-called Lost Generation of the 1920s. Richler returned to Montreal in 1952, working briefly at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, then moved to London in 1954.
more