Alex Issacson's life has never been normal His mother got into bed the day his father left, and never got back out again Hugely over-weight, she is known to the viewing public as Starbright the phone-in-psychic Although she spends her time consulting the stars and offering advice to others, she won't answer the questions that consume Alex Why did his father leave, and where is he now? So Alex has turned his search to the internet When he starts receiving strange emails riddled with bad puns, Alex thinks he might be on the right track -- but what on earth do they mean? More clues come when a "saxophone incident" leads Alex on a dangerous cross-country adventure After dodging the barrel of a hermit's shotgun, hooking up with a band on tour, and hitching a ride with a weak-bladdered truck driver, Alex may have found out more than he ever wanted to know And the truth may just leave him seeing stars

Shortlisted for CLA Book of the Year for Children Award 2002

Shortlisted for The Arthur Ellis Award (Juvenile) 2002

Canadian Children's Book Centre, 2002 Our Choice Starred Selection

The author of more than twenty books of poetry, fiction and books for children, Gary Barwin is a writer, musician and multimedia artist from Hamilton, Ontario and the author of the nationally bestselling novel, Yiddish for Pirates (Penguin Random House Canada) which won the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour, the Canadian Jewish Literary Award was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Governor General’s Award; and For It is a Pleasure and a Surprise to Breathe: New and Selected Poems, ed. Alessandro Porco (Wolsak and Wynn, 2019.)
A finalist for the National Magazine Awards (Poetry), he is a three-time recipient of Hamilton Poetry Book of the Year, has also received the Hamilton Arts Award for Literature and has co-won the bpNichol Chapbook Award and the K.M. Hunter Arts Award. He was one of the judges for the 2017 CBC Poetry Prize. Barwin has been Writer-in-Residence at Western University, Hillfield Strathallan College and McMaster University and the Hamilton Public Library. His writing and recordings have been published/released in hundreds of magazines and journals internationally—from Readers Digest to Granta. He is on the organizing committee for Hamilton’s LitLive Series and regularly presents, performs and exhibits in the city.

Gary Barwin's profile page