Background

Michelle Berry was born on 19 May 1968 in San Francisco, California to Edward (a professor of English) and Margaret (an artist) Berry (Eisenhardt) and raised in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

Education

Michelle Berry is a graduate of the University of Toronto, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1986. She graduated from the University of Guelph with a Master of Arts.

Career

Michelle Berry is the author of three books of short stories, How to Get There from Here (1997), Margaret Lives in the Basement (1998), and I Still Don’t Even Know You (2010), as well as several novels, What We All Want (2001), Blur (2002), Blind Crescent (2005) and This Book Will Not Save Your Life (2010) and Interference (2014). She is also co-editor with Natalee Caple of The Notebooks: Interviews and New Fiction from Contemporary Writers (2002), and has collaborated on an art book with Winnipeg artist Andrew Valko called Postcard Fictions (2001).

Michelle Berry had a retail experience at McDonald's which was a stint, a part-time job working in the admissions booth at a pool in Victoria, where she grew up.

Michelle taught creative writing at Ryerson University, the University of Toronto, Humber College. Berry was a contributing reviewer for the Globe and Mail and Quill and Quire.

In 2003 Michelle moved with her family from Toronto to Peterborough and taught online classes at the University of Toronto at the School of Continuing Studies and in class at Trent University.

In October 2016 Michelle Berry opened her own bookshop "Hunter Street Books" in Peterborough. She was one of the first, at least in Canada, to do it. She signed a three-year lease on August 29 and got the keys on October 1. The business was booming. Besides locals, the bookstore had welcomed a number of out-of-town authors who'd made the pilgrimage, photos of whom had graced the store's Instagram feed.

Achievements

• Michelle Berry was one of the first writers in Canada who opened her own bookshop.
  
  Berry's writings "I Still Don’t Even Know You" and "This Book Will Not Save Your Life" were shortlisted for a 2011 ReLit Award.
  
  Her writing has been optioned for film and published in the United Kingdom.
  
  Michelle Berry is a receiver of several Grants from the Ontario Arts Council in 1995, 1999, 2000, and Canada Council in 1998.
  
  

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Prisoner and the Chaplain

    (What if prison was the only world that existed for you no...)

    2017
  • How to Get There from Here

    (Malls and Velcro, television and art galleries, restauran...)

    1997
  • Interference

    (The inhabitants of Edgewood Drive in the small Canadian t...)

    2014
  • The Notebooks: Interviews and New Fiction from Contempory Writers

    (In the tradition of the Paris Review, The Notebooks is an...)

    2002
  • Margaret Lives in the Basement

    (Michelle Berry has one of the most darkly playful and uni...)

    1998
  • This Book Will Not Save Your Life

    (Too big for regular medical equipment, Sylvia Swamp is on...)

    2010
  • Blur

    (With echoes of Sunset Boulevard, Michelle Berrys Blur bri...)

    2002
  • What We All Want

    (Michelle Berry’s brilliant first novel, What We All Want,...)

    2001
  • Blind Crescent

    (Welcome to Blind Crescent, where everyone is watching, bu...)

    2005
  • I Still Don't Even Know You

    (You could be married for over 10 years and still not know...)

    2010
  • Postcard Fictions 2001

Views

Quotations: "I see the world, I guess, in terms of relationships to others. I don’t see it in terms of the setting or the big picture (I should, I know). I see it in terms of how we interact with others, who we are to others, who we want to be and will become. The world, for me, is people (hence no real description of lovely trees in my writing!) and how they react and behave and communicate and strive and falter. Families are microcosms of society, so if you write about family you are taking the tiny and focusing on the big (if that makes any sense). All families are dysfunctional. I guess I’m just forgiving of dysfunction and intrigued by it. I like to know what makes someone tick. I’m pretty aware that deep inside I’m one of the most dysfunctional people I know and I like myself, so I guess that’s an answer. Or not."

"I’d love to be able to drink wine and then write, but whenever I try that, my grammar is atrocious (ha-ha). I do drink coffee (espresso with cream or a cappuccino). I have one in the morning when I start writing and then I have one after lunch to give me energy for the afternoon haul. In the winter I may drink herbal tea occasionally. There is definitely water on my desk at all times. I sip continuously."

"I think writers are observers of human behaviour and if we lock ourselves in rooms to write, we don’t observe. So we need to get out, feel supported, be supportive. For me, that has been with TWUC and PEN and the Writers’ Trust. For me, that is now teaching. Facebook and Twitter, on the other hand, don’t give writers that one-on-one, human interaction (so we might eventually forget how to write about facial expression or appearance), but this form gives us a way to communicate with other writers and readers in the best way we know how - by writing. I have a tendency to be Emily Dickinson-ish, locked away in my room, but I know that’s not good for me and doesn’t make me a better writer. It worked for Emily, but it won’t work for me."

"I love the people I deal with every day - customers, booksellers, distributors. I love hearing about what others are reading and what they love and don't love. I've been able to take my writing into the store and edit and write here."

"The three things I cannot write without are: time, quiet, and order.”

Membership

• 

  Michelle Berry served as Second Vice-Chair of The Writers' Union of Canada.

  The Writers' Union of Canada , Canada

• 

  Writers' Trust of Canada , Canada

• 

  Michelle Berry is a member-at-large of board of directors.

  PEN Canada , Canada

Personality

Michelle Berry describes herself as impulsive, hardworking, and a bit stubborn.

Quotes from others about the person

• "Michelle was a patient, knowledgeable, and enthusiastic teacher–a real champion and someone you’d want to have in your corner. Her support and encouragement had a huge impact on my work, for which I will always be grateful." - Trevor Corkum.
  
  “In Berry’s hands, ordinary circumstances are rendered as extraordinary, unsettling events and the reader must beware.” - Toronto Star.

Interests

• Hockey

• Writers

  John Boyne, Emilie Pine, Sally Rooney, Anthony Doerr, Alicia Elliott, Ottessa Moshfegh, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Oyinkan Braithwaite, Catherine Burns, Elizabeth Strout, Bill Hayes.

• Music & Bands

  The Pogues - “Tuesday Morning”, Mumford and Sons' - “Breezeblocks” by Alt-J., classical music and jazz.

Connections

Michelle Berry is married and has two daughters. They live in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada.

Father:

Edward Berry

Mother:

Margaret Berry (Eisenhardt)

Friend:

Jonathan Bennett

husband:

Stuart Baird

Stuart Baird married Michelle Berry in 1990.

Daughter:

Abigail Berry

Daughter:

Zoe Baird

References

• Michelle Berry (@M_mberry) | Twitter
• Michelle Berry's official website