Joseph Boyden

Joseph Boyden's first novel Three Mile Road about two Cree snipers fighting in the First World War won him critical acclaim from around the globe. His second novel Through Black Spruce garnered him even more accolades including the $50,000 Giller prize. Born in the Toronto suburb of Willowdale, Boyden grew up in a large family, there were 11 children whose parents were equal parts Irish, Scottish, Métis and Micmac. Boyden took creative writing at York and was accepted into the master's program at the University of New Orleans, a city he first came to know and love when he worked as a roadie for the punk rock group Bazooka Joe. Boyden later taught at Northern College in Moosonee where he travelled up and down the west coast of James Bay teaching native students who were trying to get a degree. Boyden's passion for Northern Ontario is clearly evident in his novels and he makes a point of spending as much time as he can in the north. The rest of his time Boyden spends in New Orleans where he writes and is writer-in-residence at UNO and where on a teacher evaluation form, one of his students wrote, 'Totally hot, even though he's Canadian'.
Ken Rockburn spoke to Joseph Boyden in New Orleans.