Nancy Richler

Nancy Richler (May 16, 1957 – January 18, 2018) was a Canadian novelist. 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. Her paternal grandfather, Jacob, died a few hours before she was born. 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. 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.

Writing career In 1988 Richler moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, and began writing fiction. 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.

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.

Personal life Richler was a second cousin of novelist Mordecai Richler. Her partner, Vicki Trerise, is a lawyer and mediator.

In the early 2010s Richler returned to Montreal to take care of her elderly parents.

Richler died of cancer in Vancouver on January 18, 2018, at the age of 60.