Biography

David Macfarlane's first book, The Danger Tree (Vintage Canada), won the Canadian Authors' Association Award for non-fiction.

His novel, Summer Gone (Knopf Canada), was nominated for the Giller Prize and won the Chapters/Books in Canada first novel prize.

His books have been published in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Italy.

He has won numerous National Magazine Awards and a National Newspaper Award for his journalism. His column, Cheapseats, a weekly commentary on the arts, ran for six years in the Toronto Globe and Mail.

His play, Fishwrap, was produced at Toronto's Tarragon Theatre, starring John Jarvis and directed by Andy McKim.

In collaboration with the composer, Peter Skoggard, he recently completed a libretto for the opera, Stratas, based on the life of the celebrated soprano, Teresa Stratas.

Mr. Macfarlane commissioned and edited, Toronto: A City Becoming, a collection of essays on Toronto, published by Key-Porter in 2008.

He recently completed the text for What will Be Has Always Been: An Illustrated History of Toronto. In collaboration with producer, Nancy Lang, graphic designer, Barbara Woolley (Hambly and Woolley Inc.), John Macfarlane (editor, The Walrus), Toronto's former mayor, David Crombie, Robin Crombie (David Crombie and Associates), and Jonathan Blumberg (President, The Wire, Inc.), he is at work on a multi-media website, book, and virtual museum for the Toronto History Project.

Mr. Macfarlane is producing The Toronto Suite - a cross-genre musical creation to be first performed on October 15th and 16th 2009, in association with the Via Salzburg Chamber Ensemble at the Glenn Gould Theatre in Toronto.

David Macfarlane is a member of PEN Canada and the Writer's Union of Canada. He lives in Toronto with his wife, the designer and author Janice Lindsay, (All About Colour: McClelland & Stewart). They have two children, Caroline and Blake.

David Macfarlane plays in the not-yet-too-famous R&B band, Three Chord Johnny.