The Current - A new writing prize honouring Andrew Pyper

Episode Date: September 7, 2026

We speak with Heidi Pyper, the wife of the late bestselling author of The Demonologist and The Killing Circle, Andrew Pyper, about his latest book releasing posthumously this week and a new prize for thriller and horror writers is launching this week in his honour.

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This is a CBC podcast. Hello, I'm Matt Galloway, and this is the current podcast. For me, I'll speak for myself as a reader of horror, as well as a writer of horror, that I think it reveals character. What we fear, and more importantly, how we react to the things that scare us, is deeply self-revealing. From the novel's point of view, when you're dealing with a bunch of characters who are in these situations, the characters surprise you.

And I think it expands, really, you know, not to sound too grandiose about it, but it expands our understanding of the human condition. The author Andrew Piper is often referred to as Canada's Stephen King. His bestsellers include The Demonologist and the Killing Circle. Andrew died in January of 2025. He was just 56 years old. He never won a Giller Prize or a Governor General's Award. A prize for authors of thrillers and horror doesn't exist in this country.

But now, Andrew Piper's wife and a group of writers are launched a prize that recognizes novels in that genre, in his memory. Heidi Piper is with me in our Toronto studio. Good morning. Good morning, Matt. Thanks for having me. Nice to see you. When you listen to Andrew there, talk about horror and the human condition, what's going

through your mind? Oh, it just brings such a smile to my face hearing Andrew talk about horror and thriller and genre writing in a way that is deep and meaningful because he brought a lot of depth to his writing and particularly with the kids. characters that he put under great duress. I remember my dad reading the wildfire season and saying, why does he keep putting these people I care about in such jeopardy? And I was like, that's the trick. That's the trick. So it just brings a genuine joy to me to hear his voice. You will know that when he died, there was this huge outpouring of sadness from this city and this

country and beyond. There are all people who perhaps only just know him from his books. Tell us a little bit more about Andrew? Happily. It's hard to talk about Andrew without sort of sounding hyperbolic, but he really was a lovely, lovely man. He was smart and funny and talented. I would be remiss if I didn't mention how good looking he was. People really loved him.

And I thought you might ask this question. So I think one of the two things came out of the... that outpouring of grief and people love to tell stories when someone dies. And so many writers told stories of him and his generosity towards them and encouraging them to write, agreeing to come into classrooms to talk to their students. So that was one thing. And the other thing that people kept sort of saying was how he made them feel. He made them feel important. And I think that really stems from his curiosity of people. So when you were talking to Andrew, he didn't want to talk about himself.

He wanted to hear about you and what was going on in your life. And I'm sure he's mining for great character traits. But I think it just came from him being a genuinely curious person. This idea for this writing prize, I mean, in many ways it speaks to the generosity that he had around him. he would love, I'm sure, this idea. Oh, I think he'd be quite chuffed, yeah. They came from his poker buddies. Yes.

Tell me more about this prize and how the idea for this sparked. So Andrew played poker with the group of guys. They're all sort of writers, booky, professor-y types. And he was no gambler. So the fact that he played poker was amusing to me. But he was quite dedicated to this group. And about time is a funny thing, But I think about six months after Andrew died, Craig Davidson came to me and sort of floated the idea, asked me what I thought, and if it was okay, if they tried to pursue this.

And, of course, I thought it was a wonderful idea. And then he made the mistake of asking if I wanted to help. I'm sure he regretted that a couple times because I'd show up with my to-do list and a workback schedule. But, yeah, it came out of sort of love and friendship amongst these men. who played cards together. But also from the fact that, as I said, Andrew, despite the fact that he was a bestseller and wrote these great books,

didn't get the nod from some of those, he says in quotations, literary prizes in Canada. Yes, yes. So, I mean, I think that was a frustration for him that he was disqualified before even being considered. Disqualified because? Well, just sort of not even considered. It wasn't like he was nominated and didn't win.

And it was, and who's to say? Maybe he would never have won if there was a genre prize. But it feels like there's a gap here. Genre props up the publishing industry. People gobble it up. Movies and television are made from our writing. And it feels like a missing piece in the awards landscape. And so they recognize that. And yeah, so the Piper Prize began. in that spirit. And it'll be, what, $20,000? It's $20,000. It's a good chunk of change. It's good, yeah, no.

And I think that's the distinction. There are awards for thriller writers and horror writers that exist in the world. There's the Stoker Prize. There's the Shirley Jackson Prize. I think there's an American Thriller Award. But none of them come with a prize purse. So this really is a one-of-a-kind prize, not just in Canada, but we have yet to find one that is the equivalent.

The prize arrives at the same time as his new book comes out. Yes. So Andrew left us with a few final words. He actually published a book last year, Exiles. And now tomorrow, actually, Driven, is the third and final book under his pseudonym Mason Coil. So, yeah, it comes out tomorrow. So the confluence of these two things happening at the same time is really meaningful as well. How are you doing in all of this? It's a lot. I'm not going to lie. I think, you know, I say it's very weird to have someone who has left us be so top of mind

and so such a going concern. And I kind of live with him in my head and I have to do it. I don't have to. I've elected to keep his social media active, his publisher offered to do it. But I just sort of felt like I wanted to keep. control of that. You know, your heart skips when you see a post from Andrew Piper. Oh, and the terrible thing is I'll sometimes forward something to someone when I'm on

his account and I've done it to my daughter a couple of times and she's just like, stop doing that. But it means in some ways, like the book and the prize that people say, you know, the legacy lives on, but there's a voice that is still there. Oh, yeah, I know. His voice is truly there. And I just reread driven a couple of weeks ago, actually. I read it when he finished it, but he was so sick when he was writing it was right at the end of his life.

He had said to me, should I write another book? And I said, yeah, I mean, what else are you going to do? It's the thing that's going to keep you up and get you up in the morning. And I started to read it then, but, excuse me, it was too dark. And I was like, our life is too scary for me to. read this. Sorry. Anyway, so I just read it again.

And you can really just hear his voice and the sound of it is very clear in my mind. This prize is a wonderful way to pay tribute to a great guy and somebody who, as I said, deserved it in life. And it's nice to see this continuing now. Heidi, thank you very much. Thank you so much. Heidi Piper is the wife of the late bestselling author of Thrillers and Horrors, Andrew Piper. The Andrew Piper Prize for Genre Fiction launches tomorrow. as does his new novel. It's called Driven.

This has been the current podcast. You can hear our show Monday to Friday on CBC Radio 1 at 8.30 a.m. At all time zones, or you can also listen online at cbc.ca.ca. slash the current or on the CBC listen app or wherever you get your podcasts. My name is Matt Galloway. Thanks for listening. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca.ca slash podcasts.