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David Chariandy
David Chariandy in 2019
Chariandy in 2019
Born David John Chariandy
1969 (age 54–55)
Scarborough, Ontario, Canada
Occupation Novelist and academic
Alma mater
Period 2000s–present
Notable works Soucouyant (2007); Brother (2017)

David John Chariandy (born in 1969 in Scarborough, Ontario) is a Canadian writer and academic, presently working as a professor of English literature at Simon Fraser University. His 2017 novel Brother won the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, and Toronto Book Award.

Biography

Chariandy's parents immigrated to Canada from Trinidad in the 1960s. He was born in 1969 in Scarborough, Ontario. His father is from South Asian descent, whereas his mother is African. They were both working-class immigrants. His surname represents his Tamil and South Indian origins from his father's side.

Chariandy has a Master of Arts from Carleton University and a PhD from York University. He lives in Vancouver and teaches in the department of English at Simon Fraser University.

In his work, he explores the truest meaning of origins and birthplace for immigrants and their children growing up in another part of the world but still belonging to another.

Chariandy's family includes his wife and two children: a son and a daughter.

Recurring themes and cultural contexts

Chariandy's novels are set in Scarborough, an eastern region of Toronto, Ontario. This area is known for its immigrant heavy population and has been sometime stigmatized by a reputation for crime, although statistics do not support this perception.

Chariandy told the Toronto Star:

If I’m honest, I always wanted to write a story that evoked the complexities of growing up young and Black in Scarborough...Throughout my entire life growing up in Scarborough and returning to it even as a young adult, I always felt so discomforted by the negative stories of Scarborough that would circulate in the newspapers and tabloids and sometimes by word of mouth, among people who really didn’t know Scarborough that well.

His novels offer up a story of Scarborough that admit "challenges, but tell that bigger story of life and vitality that you don’t always see in headlines."

His non-fiction book I’ve Been Meaning to Tell You: A Letter to My Daughter was inspired by both a racist incident he experienced while at a Vancouver restaurant with his three-year-old daughter and then, years later, by the Quebec City mosque shooting in 2017.

Chariandy's novel Brother, the 2017 winner of the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize was optioned for film, and went into production in fall 2021 under the direction of Clement Virgo. The film, Brother, premiered at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival, and won 12 Canadian Screen Awards at the 11th Canadian Screen Awards in 2023.

Awards and honors

In 2019, alongside Danielle McLaughlin, Chariandy won the Windham-Campbell Prize for Fiction, a "global English-language awards that call attention to literary achievement and provide writers with the opportunity to focus on their work independent of financial concerns." The award provided him $165,000 to support his writing.

Awards for Chariandy's writing
Year Title Award Result Ref.
2007 Soucouyant Books in Canada First Novel Award Shortlist
Governor General's Award for English-language fiction Shortlist
Scotiabank Giller Prize Longlist
2008 Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize Shortlist
Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book of Canada and the Caribbean Shortlist
International Dublin Literary Award Longlist
ReLit Award for Fiction Shortlist
Toronto Book Award Shortlist
2017 Brother Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize Winner
Scotiabank Giller Prize Longlist
2018 Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize Winner
Not The Booker Award Longlist
Toronto Book Award Winner
2019 Aspen Words Literary Prize Shortlist
CBC Canada Reads Longlist
Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for Fiction Nominee
Orwell Prize for Political Fiction Longlist
PEN/Open Book Longlist

Brother adaptation

The film and television rights for Brother were purchased by Conquering Lion Pictures and Hawkeye Pictures. Clement Virgo adapted the script and directed the film, which stars Lamar Johnson, Aaron Pierre, Kiana Madeira, and Marsha Stephanie Blake. It premiered in 2022 at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Brother went on to win a record-breaking twelve awards at the Canadian Screen Awards.

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