Joseph Boyden is a novelist and short story writer. His first novel, Three Day Road won the Amazon/Books in Canada First Novel Award and the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. His second novel, Through Black Spruce, won the 2008 Scotiabank Giller Prize. Of Irish, Scottish and Anishinaabe heritage, Boyden writes about First Nations heritage and culture. He studied creative writing at York University and the University of New Orleans, and taught in the Aboriginal Student Program at Northern College. He is currently a Lecturer with the UBC Creative Writing Program.