Stephen Marche (/mɑːrʃ/ MARSH; born 1976)[1] is a Canadian novelist, essayist, and cultural commentator. He is an alumnus of the University of King's College[2] and City College of New York (CUNY).[3] In 2005, he received a doctorate in early modern English drama from the University of Toronto.[4] He taught Renaissance drama at CUNY until 2007, when he resigned in order to write full-time.[5]

Stephen Marche
Born1976 (age 47–48)
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
OccupationJournalist
Websitestephenmarche.com

Career as writer

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Marche is a contributing editor at Esquire, for which he writes a monthly column entitled "A Thousand Words about Our Culture". In 2011, this column was a finalist for the American Society of Magazine Editors award for columns and commentary.[6] Marche's articles also appear in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic,[7] The Walrus, The Guardian,[8] and other publications. Marche is also a weekly contributor to CBC Radio.

Marche's novel Raymond and Hannah was published in 2005. An anthology of short stories linked by a common plot element, Shining at the Bottom of the Sea, followed in 2007.[9] How Shakespeare Changed Everything was published in 2011.[10][11] Another novel, The Hunger Of The Wolf, was published in February 2015.[12] Marche's take on the state of male–female relations in the 21st century, The Unmade Bed: The Messy Truth About Men and Women in the Twenty-First Century, was published in March 2017 with contributions from his wife.[13]

Marche wrote an opinion piece published by The New York Times on August 14, 2015, titled "The Closing of the Canadian Mind."[14] In this article he was critical of Stephen Harper, the Prime Minister of Canada, linking him with Rob Ford, former Mayor of Toronto who was involved in a crack cocaine scandal. Marche also published an opinion piece in The New York Times on November 25, 2017, titled "The Unexamined Brutality of the Male Libido,"[15] about the challenges and necessity of male engagement with feminism.

Marche wrote an essay published by The New York Times Book Review on February 26, 2023, titled "A Writer's Lament: The Better You Write, the More You Will Fail".[16] The essay discussed writing and failure and noted that "failure" is normal for writers much of the time, and that near-obsessive persevering in the face of failure to be published is the mark of a true writer. In particular, he noted that a writer may have commercial success at times, but still, their best work may be the biggest failure (perhaps only recognized after a writer has died--using Melville's Billy Budd as an example). In the last paragraph of the essay, Marche wrote: "Good writers offer advice. Great writers offer condolences."

Personal life

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Marche is married to Sarah Fulford,[1] the former editor-in-chief of Toronto Life magazine.[17] Fulford is a daughter of Canadian journalist Robert Fulford. Marche and Fulford have a son and daughter,[18] and live in Toronto.

Bibliography

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Novels

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  • (2005). Raymond and Hannah
  • (2015). The Hunger of the Wolf
  • (2023). The Last Election (co-authored with Andrew Yang)
  • (2023). Death of an Author

Short fiction

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  • (2007). Shining at the Bottom of the Sea

Non-fiction

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  • (2011). How Shakespeare Changed Everything
  • (2017). The Unmade Bed: The Messy Truth About Men and Women in the Twenty-First Century
  • (2022). The Next Civil War: Dispatches from the American Future
  • (2023). On Writing and Failure: Or, On the Peculiar Perseverance Required to Endure the Life of a Writer (Field Notes)

Essays and reporting

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References

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  1. ^ a b Brown, Ken. "Fulford in Charge: A glimpse inside the life of Toronto Life's new editor-in-chief, Sarah Fulford". magazines.humber.ca. Mag World. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
  2. ^ "King's Grads Honoured at the National Magazine Awards". University of King's College. Halifax, Nova Scotia. June 14, 2011. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
  3. ^ "Academic and Non-Academic Placement by Year". utoronto.ca. University of Toronto. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
  4. ^ "Stephen Marche". SpeakersBoutique.com. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
  5. ^ "Stephen Marche". Esquire. Retrieved October 7, 2018.
  6. ^ "Home | ASME". Magazine.org. Retrieved August 18, 2013.
  7. ^ Marche, Stephen (May 2012). "Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on May 31, 2012. Retrieved December 3, 2022.
  8. ^ "Stephen Marche". the Guardian. Retrieved October 7, 2018.
  9. ^ Beha, Christopher R. (September 9, 2007). "The Lost World". The New York Times.
  10. ^ Marche, Stephen. "How Shakespeare Changed Everything". HarperCollins.ca. HarperCollins Canada. Archived from the original on December 20, 2016. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
  11. ^ Marche, Stephen (2011). How Shakespeare Changed Everything. Harper Perennial. ISBN 9781443406536.
  12. ^ Marche, Stephen. "The Hunger Of The Wolf". HarperCollins.ca. HarperCollins Canada. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
  13. ^ "The Unmade Bed". HarperCollins.ca. HarperCollins Canada. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
  14. ^ Marche, Stephen (August 14, 2015). "The Closing of the Canadian Mind". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 14, 2015.
  15. ^ Marche, Stephen (November 25, 2017). "Opinion | The Unexamined Brutality of the Male Libido". The New York Times. Retrieved October 7, 2018.
  16. ^ A Writer's Lament: The Better You Write, the More You Will Fail by Stephen Marche, New York Times Book Review, 2/26/2023
  17. ^ "About Us". Toronto Life. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
  18. ^ Marche, Stephen (November 30, 2016). "The Obama Years". Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
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