Andrew Pyper (March 29, 1968 – January 3, 2025) was a Canadian author whose novels blended the genres of thriller and science fiction. He published over ten works of fiction.
Background
Early life
Pyper's parents emigrated from Northern Ireland to Stratford, Ontario. His father was an ophthalmologist and his mother trained as a nurse. Pyper was the youngest of five children by eight years. As a child, he read a lot of books and aspired to be a writer.
Education
Pyper studied at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, and obtained an honours B.A. and M.A. in English Literature. Rather than pursue a doctorate, Pyper followed a girlfriend to Toronto and studied law at the University of Toronto. Whilst attending Toronto University, he had several short stories published in Canadian literary magazines, including Quarry and The New Quarterly.
Although the relationship ended, Pyper continued three years of legal studies and graduated with a law degree and earned a Legal Theory Award. He was called to the bar in 1996. He never practised law and publicly expressed his dislike for it, later stating the idea of "hopefully mak[ing] enough money to feed the writing". Before he had finished his articling year, Pyper decided to pursue a career as a fiction writer.
Career
Pyper had set himself the goal of having a book published before he turned thirty. Unbeknownst to Pyper, his editor at Quarry, Steven Heighton, sent a number of his short stories to John Metcalf, an editor at the Canadian publisher The Porcupine's Quill. To Pyper's delight, Metcalf published them in a volume entitled Kiss Me, released in October 1996. It was also translated and published in Italian, German, Dutch and Japanese. The novel is being developed for a TV series, with Pyper attached as creator and Executive Producer. The book received widespread critical acclaim. The New York Times called it "brilliant" and The Boston Globe called it "compulsively readable."
Pyper's seventh novel, The Damned, was released by Simon and Schuster in North America in February 2015, and by Orion in the U.K. Translation rights have been sold to publishers in Russia and Italy. Kirkus Reviews called the novel: " A treat for fans of intelligent treatments of the supernatural and rock-solid writing." and The Residence in 2024.
Two further titles were published under the pseudonym Mason Collie: William (2024) and Exiles (2025).
Awards and accolades
- Kiss Me: Chosen as Notable Book of the Year by The Globe and Mail and The New York Times.
- Pyper has been awarded The Grant Allen Award for his contributions to Canadian crime and mystery literature.