Ibolya "Ibi" Kaslik (born August 20, 1973) is a Canadian

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

freelance journalist ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

, and professor of

creative writing Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary ...

at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

Early life

Born in

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, Kaslik attended high school at

Etobicoke School of the Arts The Etobicoke School of the Arts (ESA) is a specialized public arts-academic high school in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located in Etobicoke, it has been housed in the former Royal York Collegiate Institute facility since 1983. Founded on September ...

. She went on to major in

Concordia University Concordia University ( French: ''Université Concordia'') is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College and Sir George Williams University, Concordia is one of the t ...

and graduated with a Masters of Arts in Creative Writing and English Literature.

Career

Kaslik's short stories and articles have appeared in literary magazines such as ''Matrix'' and '' Geist''. Her debut novel, '' Skinny'', was published by

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...

in May 2004. It was shortlisted for the

Books in Canada First Novel Award The Amazon.ca First Novel Award, formerly the Books in Canada First Novel Award, is a Canadian literary award, co-presented by Amazon.ca and ''The Walrus'' to the best first novel in English published the previous year by a citizen or resident of ...

in 2004, the CLA Best Young Adult Book in 2005 and the Borders Original Voice Award in 2006. ''Skinny'' also appeared on the ''New York Times'' best sellers list for two consecutive weeks in 2008. In 2007/08, Kaslik served as the 22nd writer-in-residence at the Regina Public Library in Regina, Saskatchewan. Her second novel, '' The Angel Riots'', about a rising indie rock band from

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, was published by Penguin Canada in February 2008. It has been suggested that the band in the novel is based partially on

Broken Social Scene Broken Social Scene is a Canadians, Canadian indie rock band, a musical collective including as few as six and as many as nineteen members, formed by Kevin Drew (vocals, guitar) and Brendan Canning (vocals, bass) in 1999. Alongside Drew and Cannin ...

. She attended the

with members of the band and helped them on their first tour of Canada and the United States. Although Kaslik says "It's definitely based on a world that I know", she has brushed off claims that the connection goes very deep, saying "it would be mistaken and scurrilous to try to identify individual people" Kaslik states that she is currently working on three new pieces of prose, one which she claims is titled ''Mini and the Courage Poncho'', a book illustrated by Stef Lenk and aimed toward children.

Published works

* '' Skinny'' (2004) * '' The Angel Riots'' (2008) * ''Tales from the Tundra: A Collection of Inuit Stories'' (2010)

References

External links

Interview with the Danforth Review
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaslik, Ibi 1973 births 21st-century Canadian novelists Canadian women novelists Canadian people of Hungarian descent Writers from Toronto Living people Concordia University alumni Canadian women short story writers 21st-century Canadian women writers 21st-century Canadian short story writers