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David Demchuk

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

David Demchuk is a Canadian playwright and novelist,[1] who received a Scotiabank Giller Prize nomination in 2017 for his debut novel The Bone Mother.[2]

Life

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Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba,[2] of Ukrainian descent,[3] he moved to Toronto, Ontario, in 1984.[4]

Literary work

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His plays include Rosalie Sings Alone (1985),[5] If Betty Should Rise (1985),[6] Touch (1986),[7] The World We Live On Turns So That the Sun Appears to Rise (1987),[1] Stay (1990),[1] Mattachine (1991),[8] Thieves in the Night (1992)[9] and The Power of Invention.[10] He received a special Dora Mavor Moore Award in 1986 for Touch.[11] In 1992, Touch was included in Making Out, the first anthology of Canadian plays by gay writers, alongside works by Ken Garnhum, Sky Gilbert, Daniel MacIvor, Harry Rintoul and Colin Thomas.[12]

After the mid-1990s, Demchuk stopped writing new plays, concentrating on his work at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and on writing scripts for radio, film and television.[13] In 1999, he wrote the radio drama Alice in Cyberspace, a contemporary reworking of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, which aired for ten episodes on CBC Radio's This Morning.[14] His other radio dramas included Alaska, The Island of Dr. Moreau and The Winter Market.[15] In June 2012, he became a contributing writer for the online magazine Torontoist.[16]

The Bone Mother was published in 2017 by ChiZine Publications.[17] It was the first horror novel to receive a nomination for the Giller Prize.[18] The book was a finalist for the 2018 Amazon.ca First Novel Award.[19] His novel RED X, published by Strange Light (an imprint of Penguin Random House), was released on August 31, 2021.[20]

Bibliography

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Plays

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  • —— (1985). Rosalie Sings Alone.
  • —— (1985). If Betty Should Rise.
  • —— (1986). Touch.
  • —— (1987). The World We Live On Turns So That the Sun Appears to Rise.
  • —— (1990). Stay.
  • —— (1991). Mattachine.
  • —— (1992). Thieves in the Night.

Novels

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  • —— (2017). The Bone Mother. ChiZine Publications. ISBN 9781771484213.
  • —— (2021). RED X. Strange Light. ISBN 9780771025013.
  • ——; Clark, Corinne Leigh (2025). The Butcher's Daughter: The Hitherto Untold Story of Mrs. Lovett. Hell's Hundred. ISBN 9781641296427.

References

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  1. 1 2 3 "Demchuk, David". Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2026-09-29.
  2. 1 2 Benedictson, Megan (2017-09-18). "Winnipeg-born author on Giller Prize long list". CTVNews. Retrieved 2026-09-29.
  3. ↑ "Writing the Unsaid and Forgotten: An Interview with David Demchuk". Augur. November 28, 2018. Archived from the original on November 30, 2018. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
  4. ↑ King, Randall (2021-12-16). "Dec 2021: Red X exposes the dark side of Toronto the Good". Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved 2026-09-29.
  5. ↑ "Trio of one-act plays doesn't add up to much". The Globe and Mail. August 16, 1985.
  6. ↑ "Powerful, well-acted drama gains little from new first act". Toronto Star. August 8, 1986.
  7. ↑ "Two plays provide exception to stock fare at Rhubarb '86". The Globe and Mail. February 24, 1986.
  8. ↑ "Fringe helped his Betty to rise again". Toronto Star. June 28, 1991.
  9. ↑ "Fistful of gems at new play fest". Toronto Star. July 19, 1992.
  10. ↑ "The dark is needed to appreciate the light". Toronto Star. August 12, 1989.
  11. ↑ "Dora smiles on Tarragon with record 17 nominations". The Globe and Mail. May 15, 1986.
  12. ↑ "Book symbolizes gays' advances". The Globe and Mail. June 4, 1992.
  13. ↑ "Whatever happened to that hot young playwright? David Demchuk has gone to CBC but one of his plays returns". Toronto Star. May 13, 1999.
  14. ↑ "Modern Alice". Calgary Herald. December 15, 1999.
  15. ↑ "David Demchuk". Worlds Without End. Retrieved 2026-09-29.
  16. ↑ Demchuk, David (2012-06-20). "Home, a Toronto Indie Game That Will Mess With Your Head". Torontoist. Archived from the original on 2013-07-22. Retrieved 2017-09-23.
  17. ↑ Colbert, Jade (2017-08-25). "Review: Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi's Kintu, David Demchuk's The Bone Mother and Pierre-Luc Landry's Listening for Jupiter". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2026-09-29.
  18. ↑ Medley, Mark (2017-09-18). "Three first-time authors make Giller Prize longlist". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2026-09-29.
  19. ↑ Patrick, Ryan B. (April 26, 2017). "Sharon Bala, Omar El Akkad among finalists for $40K Amazon.ca First Novel Award". CBC Books.
  20. ↑ "Red X". CBC Books. January 25, 2021.
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