Brian Thomas Isaac

Syilx writer from Canada

Brian Thomas Isaac (born 1950) is a Syilx writer from Canada, whose debut novel All the Quiet Places was published in 2021.^[1]

A member of the Okanagan Indian Band, Isaac grew up on the Okanagan reserve near Vernon. He worked in logging, bricklaying and the oil industry as an adult, pursuing writing strictly as a personal hobby until his retirement in the early 2000s, following which his wife Marlene submitted a piece of his writing to a writers' festival in Penticton, at which he won an award.^[2]

All the Quiet Places was published by Touchwood Editions in fall 2021.^[1] It was shortlisted for the 2022 Amazon.ca First Novel Award^[3] and the Governor General's Award for English-language fiction at the 2022 Governor General's Awards,^[4] and longlisted for the 2022 Giller Prize.^[5] It was also the winner of the Indigenous Voices Award for published prose in English.^[6]

References

^ ^a ^b Zeahaa Rehman, "All the Quiet Places, by Brian Thomas Isaac". Quill & Quire, November 2021.
^ "This 71-year-old writer's coming-of-age novel is a debut like no other". As It Happens, October 15, 2021.
^ "Retired bricklayer among six debut novelists vying for $60,000 prize". The Globe and Mail, May 10, 2022.
^ "The finalists for the 2022 Governor General's Literary Award for fiction". CBC Books, October 12, 2022.
^ "14 Canadian authors longlisted for $100K Scotiabank Giller Prize". CBC Books, September 6, 2022.
^ "Brian Thomas Isaac, Selina Boan and Aimée Craft among winners for 2022 Indigenous Voices Awards". CBC Books, June 22, 2022.