{{Short description|Canadian novelist}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2018}} {{Infobox writer | name = Nancy Richler | image = Nancy Richler.jpg | image_size = 150px | birth_date = {{birth date|mf=y|1957|5|16}} | birth_place = Montreal, Quebec, Canada | death_date = {{death date and age|mf=y|2018|1|18|1957|5|16}} | death_place = Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada | alma_mater = Brandeis University<br />University of Denver | occupation = Novelist | years_active = 1988–2018 | spouse = }} '''Nancy Richler''' (May 16, 1957 – January 18, 2018) was a Canadian novelist.<ref>[http://www.jewishtribune.ca/arts-and-culture/2012/04/10/author-inspired-by-events-related-to-her-life-family "Author inspired by events related to her life, family"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130308102405/http://www.jewishtribune.ca/arts-and-culture/2012/04/10/author-inspired-by-events-related-to-her-life-family |date=March 8, 2013 }}. ''Jewish Tribune'', April 10, 2012.</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/nancy-richler/|title=Nancy Richler|last=JESSOP|first=PAULA|encyclopedia=The Canadian Encyclopedia|access-date=January 19, 2018}}</ref> Her novels won two international awards and were shortlisted for three others; Richler was also shortlisted for the Canadian Booksellers Association Author of the Year award in 2013.<ref name="independent"/><ref name=":5"/>
==Early life== Richler was born in Montreal, Quebec in 1957 to Dianne and Myer Richler, and grew up there with two siblings.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/montrealgazette/obituary.aspx?n=nancy-richler&pid=187897729&fhid=14718|title=Nancy RICHLER obituary|website=The Gazette|access-date=January 19, 2018}}</ref> Her paternal grandfather, Jacob, died a few hours before she was born.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nancyrichler.com/bio.html|title=Bio|publisher=Nancy Richler|access-date=January 20, 2018|archive-date=January 21, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180121124333/http://www.nancyrichler.com/bio.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.macleans.ca/culture/books/in-conversation-with-nancy-richler/|title=In conversation with Nancy Richler|publisher=MACLEAN'S|date=18 October 2012|author=Bethune, Brian}}</ref> She moved to the United States in 1975, when she was 18 years old, and attended Brandeis University near Boston, Massachusetts, graduating with a degree in history.<ref name=":1"/><ref name=":3"/><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=http://www.jewishindependent.ca/oldsite/archives/april12/archives12april20-01.html|title=Nancy Richler returns|website=www.jewishindependent.ca|access-date=January 19, 2018}}</ref> She then studied social work and worked with young people, and in 1986 she completed a Master of Arts degree in international studies, specialising in the Soviet Union, at the University of Denver Graduate School.<ref name=":1"/> She was Jewish.<ref name="pressreader.com">{{Cite news |last=Lejtenyi |first=Patrick |date=April 26, 2013 |title=Writer Nancy Richler |work=Montreal Gazette |url=https://www.pressreader.com/canada/montreal-gazette/20130426/281526518550243 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230906004157/https://www.pressreader.com/canada/montreal-gazette/20130426/281526518550243 |archive-date=September 6, 2023}}</ref>
==Writing career== In 1988 Richler moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, and began writing fiction.<ref name=":0"/>
Richler's first novel was ''Throwaway Angels'', published by Press Gang Publishers in 1996.<ref name=":2"/> The book is based on the real-life unsolved crimes of women sex workers who disappeared in Vancouver's downtown east side.<ref name=":4"/> The novel was shortlisted for an Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Crime Novel.<ref name="independent">[http://www.jewishindependent.ca/archives/April12/archives12April20-01.html "Nancy Richler returns"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130308112159/http://jewishindependent.ca/Archives/April12/archives12April20-01.html |date=March 8, 2013 }}. ''Jewish Independent'', April 20, 2012.</ref> Her 2003 novel, ''Your Mouth Is Lovely'' (published by HarperCollins and Ecco Press), is a historical novel set in Russia between 1890 and 1912. It has been translated into seven languages, and won the 2003 Canadian Jewish Book Award for Fiction and the 2004 Adei Wizo Award in Italy.<ref name=":4"/><ref name="independent"/>
Richler's 2012 novel ''The Imposter Bride'' (published by HarperCollins) is set in post-World War II Montreal and tells the story of a Russian woman who travels to Canada for an arranged marriage, only to be rejected by her would-be husband and instead married to his brother. The book was a shortlisted nominee for the 2012 Scotiabank Giller Prize and was also shortlisted for the Canadian Booksellers Association's 2013 Libris Award, in the Fiction category.<ref>[https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/1264774--giller-fiction-prize-shortlist-announced "Scotiabank Giller Prize short list announced"]. ''Toronto Star'', October 1, 2012.</ref><ref name=":5" /> In the same year, Richler was shortlisted for the Libris Award in the Author of the Year category.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web|url=http://69.27.112.202/news/canadian_booksellers_association_announces_libris_awards_shortlist|title=The Canadian Booksellers Association Announces the Libris Awards Shortlist|website=Open Book: Ontario|language=en|access-date=January 19, 2018}}</ref>
Richler also wrote short stories, which were published in magazines and anthologies including ''New Quarterly'', ''Prairie Fire'', ''A Room of One's Own'' and the ''Journey Prize Anthology''.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/books/nancy-richler-author-of-the-imposter-bride-dead-at-60-1.4493933|title=Nancy Richler, author of The Imposter Bride, dead at 60 {{!}} CBC Books|work=CBC|access-date=January 19, 2018|language=en-US}}</ref>
==Personal life== Richler was a second cousin of novelist Mordecai Richler.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news|url=http://www.macleans.ca/culture/a-rearranged-marriage/|title=Giller Prize nominee Nancy Richler on the inspiration for her novel – Macleans.ca|date=October 18, 2012|work=Macleans.ca|access-date=January 19, 2018|language=en-US}}</ref> Her partner, Vicki Trerise, is a lawyer and mediator.<ref>Vicki Trerise, ''Where the Axe Falls: The Real Cost of Government Cutbacks to Legal Aid''. Law Society of British Columbia, July 2000.</ref>
In the early 2010s Richler returned to Montreal to take care of her elderly parents.<ref name=":2"/><ref name="independent"/> In 2013–2014 she was writer-in-residence at the University of Ottawa.<ref name=":4">{{Cite news|url=https://arts.uottawa.ca/english/about/nancy-richler|title=Nancy RICHLER|work=Department of English|access-date=January 19, 2018}}</ref>
Richler died of cancer in Vancouver on January 18, 2018, at the age of 60.<ref>[https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/award-winning-novelist-nancy-richler-dies-at-60-after-cancer-battle/article37662467/ "Award-winning novelist Nancy Richler dies at 60 after cancer battle"], ''The Globe and Mail'', January 18, 2018.</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.nancyrichler.com/ Nancy Richler]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Richler, Nancy}} Category:1957 births Category:2018 deaths Category:Lesbian Jews Category:Canadian lesbian writers Category:Jewish Canadian novelists Category:20th-century Canadian novelists Category:21st-century Canadian novelists Category:Canadian LGBTQ novelists Category:20th-century Canadian women novelists Category:21st-century Canadian women novelists Nancy Category:Deaths from cancer in British Columbia Category:Brandeis University alumni Category:University of Denver alumni Category:Lesbian novelists Category:21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people Category:20th-century Canadian LGBTQ people Category:Novelists from Montreal