Crad Kilodney facts for kids

Crad Kilodney (born Lou Trifon, 1948 – April 14, 2014) was a Canadian writer. He was born in America but lived in Toronto, Ontario. Kilodney was famous for selling his own books on the streets of Toronto. He did this from about 1978 to 1995. His books often had very funny and unusual titles.

About Crad Kilodney

His Early Life

Louis Trifon was born in Jamaica, New York, in 1948. His family was Greek. He said his birthday was February 13. After high school, he studied astronomy at the University of Michigan.

Instead of becoming an astronomer, he worked at a company called Exposition Press. This company was a "vanity press." This means authors paid them to publish their books. Many of his experiences there gave him ideas for his own stories.

Later, he started using the name "Crad Kilodney." He wrote some funny articles for a newspaper. He also had a science fiction story published in The National Lampoon magazine. This was a big deal because it was the first story they accepted without asking for it.

Moving to Canada and Selling His Own Books

In 1973, Trifon moved to Toronto, Canada. He was not happy with what was happening in the U.S. at the time. He worked at different book publishers, mostly in their storage rooms.

He decided to publish his own stories. This is called "self-publishing." He created his own publishing name, Charnel House. From 1978 to 1995, he published 32 books this way. He sold them himself, face-to-face, on the street.

You could often find Kilodney on Yonge Street or near the University of Toronto. He would wear a cardboard sign around his neck. The sign might show a book title like Simple Stories For Idiots. Or it might have a funny description of his books, like "Slimy Degenerate Literature."

His books were usually small collections of short stories. They were about 32 to 80 pages long. Sometimes, they were longer stories, like Terminal Ward or Cathy. His only full novel was Putrid Scum.

Kilodney also put together collections of other people's writing. These included Worst Canadian Stories and The Charnel House Anthology of Bad Poetry. He later said that most of the "worst stories" were actually written by him and his friends. They wrote them in funny, bad styles. But he said the bad poetry was real and from many sources.

Kilodney was in a relationship with a poet named Gwendolyn MacEwen. She passed away in 1987.

His Unique Writing Style

Most writers get ideas from great books. But Kilodney found inspiration in unusual places. He looked at "slush piles" (unwanted stories sent to publishers) and strange letters. He also got ideas from his work at the vanity press.

He wanted to be seen as a serious writer. But he also enjoyed playing pranks. In 1988, he sent stories by famous writers to a writing contest. He used silly names for the authors. None of the stories were chosen by the judges.

Later, some of his best stories were put into collections. These books were called Malignant Humours (1988) and Girl On The Subway (1990). These were the only Kilodney books you could usually find in regular bookstores.

Many critics liked Kilodney's writing. They called his stories "offbeat," "puzzling," and "outrageous." One critic said his book Pork College was "one of the funniest books of the year." Another said his stories were "ironic, mocking and laced with sadness." They praised his humor and understanding of people.

In 1991, Kilodney faced a legal issue. He was charged for selling his books without a license. This made him the only Canadian writer ever charged for selling his own writing. A band even wrote a song about it called "Crad Kilodney Was Innocent."

Audio Recordings

Kilodney sometimes carried a tape recorder with him. He recorded funny talks he had with people who wanted to buy his books. He made these recordings into cassette tapes. He called them "On The Street With Crad Kilodney." There were four volumes.

These tapes are very rare today. They are collector's items, just like his original books. The tapes included recordings of his street conversations. They also had answering machine messages.

Later Life and Legacy

In 1995, Kilodney stopped selling his books on the street. He had received some money from an inheritance. He started trading mining stocks to earn a living.

But he kept writing. He looked for new ways to share his work. In 1996, one of his funny pieces was included in a famous book called the Pushcart Prize anthology. In 1998, his story "Girl On The Subway" was in a mainstream book called Concrete Forest.

From 2008 until shortly before he died, Kilodney posted new articles and stories on his blog. Some of his articles were translated into French. This book, Villes Bigrement Exotiques, was the last one published while he was alive.

Kilodney posted his last blog entry in December 2013. He thanked his readers and said it would be his final piece.

Crad Kilodney passed away from cancer on April 14, 2014. He was 66 years old. After he died, a website was created to keep his works available. A collection of his online writings was published in 2015.