Hal Niedzviecki (born January 9, 1971) is a Canadian novelist and

cultural critic A cultural critic is a critic of a given culture, usually as a whole. Cultural criticism has significant overlap with social and cultural theory. While such criticism is simply part of the self-consciousness of the culture, the social positions of ...

. Born in

Brockville Brockville, formerly Elizabethtown, is a city in Eastern Ontario, Canada, in the Thousand Islands region. Although it is the seat of the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville, it is politically independent of the county. It is included with Le ...

, he was raised by a Jewish family in Ottawa,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, and Potomac,

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, did his undergraduate studies at

University College, Toronto University College, popularly referred to as UC, is a constituent college of the University of Toronto, created in 1853 specifically as an institution of higher learning free of religious affiliation. It was the founding member of the university ...

, and his postgraduate studies at

Bard College Bard College is a private liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains, and is within the Hudson River Historic District—a National Historic Landmark. Founded in 1860, ...

. In 1995, he co-founded the magazine ''

Broken Pencil ''Broken Pencil'' is a Canadian magazine based in Toronto, which profiles zine culture, independent arts and music. It was founded in 1995 and publishes four times annually. History The magazine was founded in 1995 by Hal Niedzviecki. Its curr ...

'', a guide to underground arts and

zine A zine ( ; short for '' magazine'' or '' fanzine'') is a small-circulation self-published work of original or appropriated texts and images, usually reproduced via a copy machine. Zines are the product of either a single person or of a very s ...

culture, and was the magazine's editor until 2002. He has also written for ''

Adbusters The Adbusters Media Foundation is a Canadian-based not-for-profit, pro-environment organization founded in 1989 by Kalle Lasn and Bill Schmalz in Vancouver, British Columbia. Adbusters describes itself as "a global network of artists, activis ...

'', ''

Utne Utne is a village in Ullensvang municipality in the Hardanger region of Vestland county, Norway. The village is located on the northern end of the Folgefonn Peninsula, at the confluence In geography, a confluence (also: ''conflux'') occurs ...

'', ''

The Walrus ''The Walrus'' is an independent, non-profit Canadian media organization. It is multi-platform and produces an 8-issue-per-year magazine and online editorial content that includes current affairs, fiction, poetry, and podcasts, a national s ...

'', '' This Magazine'', '' Geist'', ''

Toronto Life ''Toronto Life'' is a monthly magazine about entertainment, politics and life in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. ''Toronto Life'' also publishes a number of annual special interest guides about the city, including ''Real Estate'', ''Stylebook'', ''Eatin ...

'', ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'', and the ''

National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central and western Canada. The paper is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with ...

''. In 2006, Niedzviecki hosted a summer replacement series, ''Subcultures'', on

CBC Radio One CBC Radio One is the English-language news and information radio network of the publicly owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It is commercial-free and offers local and national programming. It is available on AM and FM to 98 percent of C ...

. In 2017, Niedzviecki wrote a piece for ''Write'', the Writers' Union of Canada magazine, where he wrote: "In my opinion, anyone, anywhere, should be encouraged to imagine other peoples, other cultures, other identities" and told writers to try to "Win the Appropriation Prize". After controversy arose over the piece he resigned from the editorial board.

Work

* ''Concrete Forest: The New Fiction of Urban Canada'' (1998, anthology) * ''Smell It'' (1998, short fiction) * ''Lurvy, A Farmer's Almanac'' (1999, novel) * ''We Want Some Too: Underground Desire and the Reinvention of Mass Culture'' (2000) * ''Ditch'' (2001, novel) * ''The Original Canadian City Dweller's Almanac'' (2002, with Darren Wershler-Henry) * ''Hello, I'm Special: How Individuality Became the New Conformity'' (2004) * ''The Program'' (2005, novel) * ''The Big Book of Pop Culture: A How-to Guide for Young Artists'' (2006) * ''The Peep Diaries: How We're Learning to Love Watching Ourselves and Our Neighbors'' (City Lights, 2009) . * ''Look Down, This Is Where It Must Have Happened'' (City Lights, 2011) * ''Trees on Mars: Our Obsession with the Future'', (Seven Stories Press, 2015)

References

External links

*
Interview with Hal Niedzviecki, online from CBC Words at Large

article from the

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and pa ...

1971 births 21st-century Canadian non-fiction writers 21st-century Canadian novelists Bard College alumni Canadian male novelists Cultural critics Living people People from Brockville People from Potomac, Maryland University of Toronto alumni Writers from Maryland Writers from Ontario Canadian male non-fiction writers {{Canada-writer-stub