Timothy Findley was a novelist and playwright. Born in Toronto, Ontario, he had significant success as an actor before turning to writing. His first two novels, The Last of the Crazy People and The Butterfly Plague, were rejected by Canadian publishers and were eventually published in Britain. In 1977, his third novel, The Wars, won the Governor General’s Literary Award and established Findley as one of the country’s most compelling and best-loved writers. He was a founding member and chair of the Writers’ Union of Canada, and a director of the Writers’ Trust of Canada. He resided in Stratford, Ontario and the south of France with his partner, William Whitehead. He died June 20, 2002.