Hal Niedzviecki
Hal Niedzviecki is a Canadian novelist and cultural critic. Born in Brockville, he was raised by a Jewish family in Ottawa, Ontario, and Potomac, Maryland, did his undergraduate studies at University College, Toronto, and his postgraduate studies at Bard College. In 1995, he co-founded the magazine Broken Pencil, a guide to underground arts and zine culture, and was the magazine's editor until 2002. He has also written for Adbusters, Utne, The Walrus, This Magazine, Geist, Toronto Life, The Globe and Mail, and the National Post. In 2006, Niedzviecki hosted a summer replacement series, Subcultures, on CBC Radio One.
In 2017, Niedzviecki wrote a piece for Write, the Writers' Union of Canada magazine, where he wrote: "In my opinion, anyone, anywhere, should be encouraged to imagine other peoples, other cultures, other identities" and told writers to try to "Win the Appropriation Prize". After controversy arose over the piece he resigned from the editorial board.