Louise Penny

Canadian Journalist & Author of Mystery Novels

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Montreal, Canada
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Louise Penny Biography

Louise Penny is a Canadian author of mystery novels set in the Canadian province of Quebec centered on the work of Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec. Penny's first career was as a radio broadcaster for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. After she turned to writing, she won numerous awards for her work, including the Agatha Award for best mystery novel of the year for four consecutive years (2007–2010) and the Anthony Award for two novels. Her novels have been published in 23 languages.

Penny was born in Toronto in 1958. Her mother was an avid reader of both fiction and non-fiction, with a particular liking for crime fiction, and Louise grew up reading mystery writers such as Agatha Christie, Georges Simenon, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Michael Innes.

Penny earned a Bachelor of Applied Arts (Radio and Television) from Ryerson Polytechnical Institute (now Ryerson University) in 1979. After graduation, at age 21, she embarked on an 18-year career as a radio host and journalist with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. At the start of her broadcasting career, Penny took postings at locations far from friends and family, and to help deal with feelings of loneliness and isolation, she increasingly turned to alcohol. At age 35, she admitted to an alcohol problem and has been sober since. Shortly afterward, she met her future husband, Michael Whitehead, head of hematology at Montreal Children's Hospital, on a blind date.

After her marriage, Penny left the CBC to take up writing. Although she started a historical novel, she had difficulty finishing it, and eventually switched to mystery writing. She entered her first novel, "Still Life," in the "Debut Dagger" competition in the United Kingdom, placing second out of 800 entries. The novel won other awards, including the "New Blood" Dagger award in the United Kingdom, the Arthur Ellis Award in Canada for best first crime novel, the Dilys Award, the Anthony Award and the Barry Award for Best First Novel in the United States.

Penny has published a further fifteen novels, garnering major crime novel award nominations for almost every one of her novels and subsequently winning several of those awards.

Her oeuvre features Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, head of the homicide department of the Sûreté du Québec. Although set in the province of Quebec, the novels feature many hallmarks of the British whodunit genre, including murders by unconventional means, bucolic villages, large casts of suspects, red herrings and a dramatic disclosure of the murderer in the last few pages of the book.

In 2009, Penny helped to launch a new award for aspiring Canadian mystery writers, the Unhanged Arthur for Best Unpublished First Novel.

In 2013, she was made a Member of the Order of Canada "for her contributions to Canadian culture as an author shining a spotlight on the Eastern Townships of Quebec."

In 2013, "Still Life" was made into a movie for CBC TV with British actor Nathaniel Parker cast as Chief Inspector Gamache.

Louise Penny Videos

  • Louise Penny, "A Better Man" - YouTube
    And in the tumult, mistakes are made.
  • Louise Penny: 2018 National Book Festival
  • Ann Cleeves and Louise Penny on writing, mystery, and friendship ...
    Mystery writers Ann Cleeves and Louise Penny discuss their writing, their careers , and their friendship at a Politics and Prose event in ...

Louise Penny Books

  • Kingdom of the Blind: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel
    Kingdom of the Blind: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel
  • Glass Houses: A Novel (Chief Inspector Gamache Novel)
    Glass Houses: A Novel (Chief Inspector Gamache Novel)
  • The Brutal Telling: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel
    The Brutal Telling: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel
  • The Nature of the Beast: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel
    The Nature of the Beast: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel
  • The Brutal Telling
    The Brutal Telling

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  • What topics does Louise Penny speak about?

    Louise Penny is a keynote speaker and industry expert whose speaking topics include Authors, Literary, Women.
  • Where does Louise Penny travel from?

    Louise Penny generally travels from Montreal, Canada, but can be booked for private corporate events, personal appearances, keynote speeches, or other performances. For more details, please contact an AAE Booking agent.
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Louise Penny is a keynote speaker and industry expert who speaks on a wide range of topics . The estimated speaking fee range to book Louise Penny for your event is $10,000 - $20,000. Louise Penny generally travels from MontrealCanada and can be booked for (private) corporate events, personal appearances, keynote speeches, or other performances. Similar motivational celebrity speakers are Lois Lowry, Pam Muñoz Ryan, Michael Koryta, R.L. Stine and Janet Evanovich. Contact All American Speakers for ratings, reviews, videos and information on scheduling Louise Penny for an upcoming live or virtual event.

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