McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
Person
Pyper, Andrew
1968-
Andrew Pyper is an author and writer of fiction. He was born in Stratford, Ontario in 1968. Pyper received a Bachelor of Arts (1991) and a Masters of Arts (1992) in English Literature from McGill University. He submitted his thesis Terms of Authority: the case of Paul de Man’s Name to the English Department on July 1992. During his time at McGill, Pyper also contributed his writings to the Pillar Magazine and Old McGill Yearbook (1989). Since graduating he has returned to McGill to participate in university events such as the Public Lecture Series (2011).
Pyper also received a law degree from the University of Toronto and was called to the bar in 1996, but he never practiced. When completing his law degree Pyper worked on his first book entitled Kiss Me (1996), which is a collection of short stories. Following the success of this work, he participated in the Writer-in-Residence programs at Berton House, Dawson City, Yukon, as well as at Champlain College, Trent University, Ontario. During the residency programs he worked on the novel Lost Girls, published in 1999. It became a best-selling book in Canada and won him the Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Novel in 2000.
Pyper released his second novel, The Trade Mission (2002) which he researched during a trip to Brazil. For his third novel, The Wildfire Season (2005), Pyper spent three summers living in Ross River, Yukon. Pyper's fourth novel, The Killing Circle (2008) and fifth novel, The Guardians (2011), are both mystery-thrillers that had notable success in Canada. His sixth novel, The Demonologist, is a horror story and was published in 2013. Pyper’s books would often make the top books lists for the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, Amazon and the New York Times. His books have been published in the Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Holland and Japan. His work has been translated into French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Dutch, Italian and Japanese.
In addition to his novels, Pyper is co-creator of The Creeps, a horror anthology television series in development with CTV, Canada. Pyper’s work has also attracted the attention of film producers and some of his novels have been considered for film adaptations, such as Lost Girls, The Wildfire Season, The Killing Circle and The Guardians. Film rights for The Demonologist have been sold to Universal Pictures.