Susan Swan

Journalist, feminist, novelist, activist, teacher, Swan’s impact on the Canadian literary and political scene has been far-reaching. She has retired from her position of Associate Professor of Humanities at York University and currently mentors creative writing students at the University of Toronto and the University of Guelph. In 1999-2000, she was York’s Millennial Robarts Chair in Canadian Studies. As chair, she hosted the successful Millennial Wisdom Symposium in Toronto featuring artists and social scientists debating the ways the lessons of the past. As chair of The Writers’ Union of Canada (2007-2008) Swan brought in a new benefits deal for Canadian writers and self-employed Canadians in the arts.

Her latest novel, The Dead Celebrities Club, was released in 2019 with Cormorant Books and is a fascinating account of a Toronto-born tycoon jailed for fraud in the US. Dale Paul is the hedge fund whale. He enjoys a life of self-delusion that allows him to gamble other people’s money for his personal enrichment. When his biggest gamble — involving the pensions of the American military — fails, many of those who trusted him find themselves living on the street or in their cars. Sentenced to prison, Dale Paul is confronted with nothing less than the challenge of understanding himself and his place in the age of the new robber-barons.