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Mordecai Richler (January 27, 1931 – July 3, 2001) was a Canadian novelist, journalist, screenwriter and essayist. He is widely cited as one of the greatest Canadian authors of the 20th-century. His best known works are The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1959), Joshua Then and Now (1980), and Barney's Version (1997), semi-autobiographical novels documenting the Jewish community in Montreal. His 1970 novel St. Urbain's Horseman and 1989 novel Solomon Gursky Was Here were nominated for the Booker Prize. He is also well known for the Jacob Two-Two fantasy series for children.
Richler adapted The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz and Joshua Then and Now to films of the same name, in 1974 and in 1985, respectively. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the former.
In addition to his fiction, Richler wrote numerous essays about the Jewish community in Canada, and about Canadian and Quebec nationalism. Richler's Oh Canada! Oh Quebec! (1992), a collection of essays about nationalism and anti-Semitism, generated considerable controversy.