Barry Webster is a classically trained pianist and writer of both fiction and non-fiction. His first book, The Sound of All Flesh (Porcupine’s Quill), won the Relit Award for the best collection of Canadian short fiction published in 2005 and is a finalist for the Hugh MacLennan Prize. His short stories have also been shortlisted for the National Magazine Award and the CBC-Quebec Prize. He has written for a wide variety of publications including The Washington Post, The Globe and Mail, Event, Fiddlehead and The Montreal Gazette. 

Fluent in English, French and some German, Webster has translated a number of his stories into French. A dynamic reader and actor, he has performed his stories in both English and French at numerous literary series including the Banff Festival, the Live Lit Series in Hamilton, Vancouver’s Raw Exchange, Wilde About Sappho in Ottawa, as well as on CBC-Radio.

As a musician, Barry Webster has two A.R.C.T.’s in piano performance from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto; he plays a classical repertoire focussing mostly on the Romantics and mid-twentieth century works. He earned a B.A. from the University of Toronto and an M.A. in English from Concordia University. He has lived for extended periods of time in Barcelona, London, Banff and Berlin, where he was staying the night the Wall fell. Originally from Toronto he now resides in Montreal. He is an active member of PEN Canada, the Writers’ Union of Canada and the Quebec Writers Federation. Webster is currently finishing his first novel.