Timothy Taylor is a Canadian novelist, journalist and creative writing professor.
Unlike many such profs, Taylor didn’t start out in the creative writing field. Look for the blog post “NYC vs. MFA vs. MBA vs. RCN”. Yes, that’s right, he studied economics and business while serving as an officer in the Canadian Naval Reserves first with HMCS Nonsuch and later with HMCS Cataraqui. He has an MBA from the Queens University’s Smith School of Business and a BA Economics from the University of Alberta. He spent time with the Toronto Dominion bank and later as a management consultant before becoming a freelance journalist and novelist in the late 1990s. In 2013 Taylor took a position with the UBC Creative Writing Program where is now an Associate Professor with tenure.
Taylor’s first novel Stanley Park was published in 2001. It was an immediate bestseller and a critical success. He’s since published a prize-winning collection of short fiction, Silent Cruise, and two further bestselling and critically acclaimed novels, Story House and The Blue Light Project, which was award the CBC Bookie Award in the literary fiction category. He is also the winner of the Journey Prize, and has been finalist or runner-up for six other major national fiction prizes in Canada, including the prestigious Giller Prize. His work has also been chosen as the ‘One Book One City’ selection for Vancouver and named a finalist for Canada Reads.
Taylor’s most recent nonfiction title is Foodville, a tongue-in-cheek account of his life as a food writer and self-identified non-foodie who is nevertheless a passionate eater. And his newest book, with Doubleday Canada, is the novel The Rule of Stephens.
Taylor has also been widely published and recognized for his non-fiction magazine and newspaper work. He wrote The Explainer column for BC Business Magazine and was previously the Big Ideas columnist for the Globe and Mail’s Report on Business Magazine. He has been winner or finalist in over twenty separate magazine awards, including numerous nominations and medals for National and Western Magazine Awards in Canada.
Taylor has been a contributing editor at Vancouver Magazine and a regular contributor at EnRoute Magazine, Walrus, and Eighteen Bridges. He has also written for Institutional Investor, The Wall Street Journal, Food & Wine, Cooking Light, Western Living, The Vancouver Review, Toro Magazine, Saturday Night, Adbusters, the National Post, the Vancouver Sun and many others.
Timothy Taylor’s UBC contact page can be found here.