{{short description|Canadian author, journalist, travel writer, essayist}} {{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see :Template:Infobox writer/doc --> | name = Bert Archer | caption = The Turkish translation of The End of Gay | birth_place = Montreal, Quebec, Canada | occupation = Writer, journalist | nationality = Canadian | period = 1994–present | notableworks = ''The End of Gay (and the Death of Heterosexuality)'' }} '''Bert Archer''' is a Canadian author, journalist, travel writer, essayist, critic, and former editor in chief of the Montreal Gazette.
Archer was born in Montreal and lived in Calgary and Vancouver. He attended St. Michael's University School in Victoria, British Columbia, and then went to the University of St. Michael's College at the University of Toronto, and Trinity College, Dublin. He wrote for the University of Toronto student newspaper The Varsity, and was editor-in-chief of ''The Mike'', the college newspaper.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.cup.ca/reminder-taking-the-free-out-of-freelancing-and-how-to-find-work-too/ |title=Reminder: Taking the 'free' out of freelancing, …and how to find work too! – Canadian University Press |access-date=2018-04-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180620153236/http://www.cup.ca/reminder-taking-the-free-out-of-freelancing-and-how-to-find-work-too/ |archive-date=2018-06-20 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
== Journalism == In 1994, he was hired as an editorial assistant by ''Quill & Quire'', Canada's national book trade magazine. Two years later, as review editor, Archer was pressured to resign after writing an essay in the ''Financial Post'' which some considered derogatory to certain elements in the Canadian publishing industry, specifically, the small presses.<ref>"Book editor resigns over controversy", ''The Globe and Mail'', Nov. 15, 1996.</ref> He was subsequently hired as a columnist for the ''Toronto Star'', Canada's largest circulation newspaper, to review books published by small Canadian publishers.
As a literary journalist, Archer courted controversy, calling into question the reputations of Canadian literary figures such as Margaret Atwood<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://quillandquire.com/review/alias-grace/|title=Alias Grace|date=12 March 2004}}</ref> and Michael Ondaatje. Greg Gatenby, founder of Toronto's International Festival of Authors, said of Archer being given space in prominent papers to write about books, "It's like having an eight-year-old at the helm of a 747." A profile in ''The Globe and Mail'' on the release of his first book was titled ''Bad Boy Bert''.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/bad-boy-bert/article765234/|title = Bad Boy Bert}}</ref>
Since then, Archer has been an editor at the alternative arts magazine ''Now'', where he wrote about books, and the now defunct Eye Weekly, where he was production editor and for which he wrote regular op-ed pieces. From 2007–2015, he was a real estate columnist for Toronto Life magazine.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://torontolife.com/author/barcher/|title=Bert Archer, Author at Toronto Life|access-date=2018-04-21|archive-date=2023-02-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230208142637/https://torontolife.com/author/barcher/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Since 2006,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/garlands-and-gluhwein-on-the-danube/article973550/|title=Garlands and gluhwein on the Danube}}</ref> Archer has been writing about travel as a freelancer for several papers, magazines, and sites in Canada and the US, including the Globe and Mail, Hazlitt,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://hazlitt.net/blog/breaking-bridge-destructive-power-lazy-tourism|title = Breaking Bridge: The Destructive Power of Lazy Tourism|date = 20 June 2014}}</ref> the Washington Post,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/in-east-africa-bag-the-safaris-and-head-for-the-cities/2012/11/08/60cdbeca-2445-11e2-9313-3c7f59038d93_email.html |title=In East Africa, bag the safaris and head for the cities |date=2012-11-09 |author1=Bert Archer |newspaper=The Washington Post |place=Washington, D.C. |issn=0190-8286 |oclc=1330888409}}</ref> and Zoomer magazine.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.everythingzoomer.com/travel/best-of-canada/2017/07/27/unearthing-victoria-bc/|title = Unearthing the Precolonial History of Victoria B.C.}}</ref>
In 2022, he was named editor in chief of the Montreal Gazette,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bruemmer |first=René |date=2022-04-19 |title=Bert Archer named editor in chief of the Montreal Gazette |url=https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/bert-archer-named-editor-in-chief-of-the-montreal-gazette |website=The Montreal Gazette}}</ref> Canada's oldest daily newspaper, a position he held until mid-2023.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.ctvnews.ca/montreal/article/montreal-gazette-editor-in-chief-deputy-editor-leaving-the-paper/ | title=Montreal Gazette editor-in-chief, deputy editor leaving the paper | date=20 June 2023 }}</ref>
== Books == Archer is the author of ''The End of Gay (and the Death of Heterosexuality)'', published in Canada in 1999, in the US<ref name=amazon>{{cite book |title=Books: Bert Archer |isbn=1904132073 |last1=Archer |first1=Bert |year=2002 |publisher=Fusion }}</ref> in 2002, and the UK<ref name=visionp>{{cite web |title=Bert Archer |work=Vision Paperbacks |url=http://www.visionpaperbacks.co.uk/authorDetails.php?bookID=95 |accessdate=2007-07-19 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070913023504/http://www.visionpaperbacks.co.uk/authorDetails.php?bookID=95 |archivedate=2007-09-13 }}</ref> in 2004. The book argues that there is no such thing as inherent sexual identity, and that sexual behaviour is a product of many factors, personal will not least among them.
Archer has also contributed chapters to several books: "Why Boys Are Better Than Girls" for ''What I Meant to Say'' (2006),<ref name=tallen>{{cite web|title=What I Meant to Say |accessdate=2007-07-19 |url=http://www.thomas-allen.com/ThomasAllenPublishers/catalogue/0-88762-190-2.htm |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070821070239/http://www.thomas-allen.com/ThomasAllenPublishers/catalogue/0-88762-190-2.htm |archivedate=2007-08-21 |url-status=dead }}</ref> ''Creating a Toronto of the Imagination'' for ''uTOpia'' (2006), as well as chapters for its follow-up, ''GreenTOpia'' (2007),<ref name=greentopia>{{cite web |url=http://www.chbooks.com/catalogue/greentopia |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130119031445/http://www.chbooks.com/catalogue/greentopia |url-status=dead |archive-date=2013-01-19 |title=GreenTOpia |accessdate=2008-11-12 }}</ref> and a book about water called ''HtO'' (2008),<ref name=hto>{{cite web |url=http://www.chbooks.com/catalogue/hto |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081218123533/http://www.chbooks.com/catalogue/hto |url-status=dead |archive-date=2008-12-18 |title=HtO |accessdate=2008-11-12 }}</ref> excerpted in the ''National Post''.<ref>[https://nationalpost.com/story.html?id=942567 nationalpost.com]{{dead link|date=October 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Archer, Bert}} Category:1968 births Category:Living people Category:Anglophone Quebec people Category:Canadian newspaper journalists Category:Canadian male journalists Category:Canadian gay writers Category:University of Toronto alumni Category:Canadian LGBTQ journalists Category:Journalists from Montreal Category:Writers from Montreal Category:University of St. Michael's College alumni Category:21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people Category:St. Michaels University School alumni