About Guy Vanderhaeghe

Guy Vanderhaeghe is the author of five novels, four collections of short stories, two plays, one teleplay, and one collection of nonfiction. He is a three-time winner of the Governor’s-General Award for English language fiction for his collections of short stories, Man Descending and Daddy Lenin, and for his novel The Englishman’s Boy, which was also shortlisted for the Giller Prize and The International Dublin Literary Award. His novel, The Last Crossing, was a winner of the CBC’s Canada Reads Competition. August Into Winter won the Saskatchewan Book Award for Fiction and was given the Glengarry Book Award. He has also received the Timothy Findley Prize, the Harbourfront Literary Prize, and the Cheryl and Henry Kloppenburg Prize, all given for a body of work. His most recent work is a collection of nonfiction, Because Somebody Asked Me To, which has all the hallmarks of the Guy Vanderhaeghe’s fiction: it is intelligent, wise, often humourous, and a pleasure to read. Because Somebody Asked Me To addresses a variety of subjects, including the craft of fiction, growing up on the prairies, and Vanderhaeghe’s struggle to find his own voice as a writer.

Because Somebody Asked Me To (2024)

Because Somebody Asked Me To has all the hallmarks of the Guy Vanderhaeghe’s fiction: it is intelligent, wise, often humourous, and a pleasure to read. This collection of nonfiction addresses a variety of subjects, including the craft of fiction, growing up on the prairies, and Vanderhaeghe’s struggle to find his own voice as a writer. Because Somebody Asked Me To allows readers a glimpse into how the Canadian literary scene has shifted during his four-decades long career—the economic, societal, and cultural changes that have made the old world of writing and publishing scarcely recognizable. The collection invites readers to ponder the transformations Canadian writing has undergone, where it is now, and where it might go from here.