Author David Gilmour Stirs Controversy Among Female and Chinese Writers

According to Shelf Esteem, a blog by Random House Canada, Toronto literature professor and Giller prize-longlisted author David Gilmour said he's only interested in "serious heterosexual guys" and doesn't teach books written by women or Chinese authors.

Gilmour said: "I'm not interested in teaching books by women. Virginia Woolf is the only writer that interests me as a woman writer, so I do teach one of her short stories. But once again, when I was given this job I said I would only teach the people that I truly, truly love. Unfortunately, none of those happen to be Chinese, or women."

"What I teach is guys. Serious heterosexual guys. F Scott Fitzgerald, Chekhov, Tolstoy. Real guy-guys. Henry Miller. Philip Roth."

The comments set Twitter atwitter.

Read the full article here.

Gilmour was born in London, Ontario. He became managing editor of the Toronto International Film Festival in 1980, and held the post for four years. In 1986, he joined CBC Television as a film critic for The Journal, eventually becoming host of the program's Friday night arts and entertainment magazine. In 1990, he began hosting Gilmour on the Arts, an arts magazine series on CBC Newsworld.

He left the CBC in 1997 to concentrate on his writing. His 2005 novel A Perfect Night to Go to China won the 2005 Governor General's Award for English fiction, and was longlisted for the 2007 IMPAC Award. He is a graduate of Upper Canada College and the University of Toronto.

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