Photo: Gillian Foster
Carolyne Topdjian is an award-winning suspense writer, essayist, and novelist whose work fuses mystery, psychological suspense, and gothic horror. Her novels, The Hitman’s Daughter and The Black Moth, have garnered critical acclaim, while her short fiction has appeared in literary journals such as PRISM International, Dreamers Magazine, Firewords Quarterly, and elsewhere. As an Armenian of the diaspora and Lebanese-Canadian displaced by war, Topdjian explores themes of belonging, transition, and human existence in her writing, often delving into moments of contradiction and flux.
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Her scholarly essays on posthumanism and surrealism, as well as craft-focused articles for outlets like CrimeReads, reflect her interdisciplinary approach to storytelling. Topdjian holds a PhD from York University and is a professor in the Faculty of Media, Creative Arts and Design at Humber Polytechnic in Toronto. She is a recipient of grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Mississauga Arts Council, and has been shortlisted for the Ghost Prize by Fractured Literary. Notably, she’s lived in a century-old haunted house for over a decade, a fitting backdrop for her gothic sensibilities.
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​Connect with the author online at carolynetopdjian.com or on social media @TopdjianC.
Carolyne Topdjian acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Mississauga Arts Council.