Daniel Soha
Writer
BIOGRAPHY
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Born in Aix-en-Provence (France) of Hungarian-speaking parents, Daniel Soha lived and studied in France until his mid-20s. He is the holder of a Master’s degree in Anglo-American studies and a Masters of Education from the University of Aix-Marseille. As part of his studies, he spent a year in the North of England, where he developed a love of English culture and dialects.
After graduating with a double Master’s degree, what he likes to call “a series of fortunate events” caused him to embark on an international career as a diplomat, a director of cultural organizations and a translator, and he worked successively for the Alliance Française, the French government, the Toronto French School, the French Library and Cultural Center (Boston), the United Nations, and Morningstar – a leading financial research company. Over a 20-year span, he lived in New York, Paris, Singapore, Boston and Toronto. He recently moved to London, Ontario, for family reasons. He is both a citizen of France and of Canada.
Apart from numerous articles, editorials, book reviews, and even cooking recipes and a comic strip, his most notable writings include five novels, two books of short stories, one book of editorial pieces, and the French translations of two poetry books by Oakville poet Thomas Scott.
He is a two-time finalist of the Trillium Book Award, for his novels La Maison (2009) and Le Manuscrit (2012). He also won on two occasions the Christine-Dumitriu-Van-Saanen Prize, awarded by the French Book Fair in Toronto, for his novels L’Orchidiable (2009) and Chroniques Tziganes II (2018).
Vignettes, a collection of short stories, is his first book written in the English language, Sam’s Orchid his first English novel. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the London Writers’ Society.
In 2015, he was selected to be one of the participants of the landmark literary project Les 24 Heures du Roman, where 24 renowned francophone authors got together on a 24-hour train ride from Moncton to Toronto and wrote 24 chapters of a novel (published under the name “Sur les Traces de Champlain”) to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Samuel de Champlain’s discovery of Lower Canada.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
IN FRENCH:
Chroniques tziganes
(Novel – Éditions du GREF, Toronto, 2004)
Amour à mort
(Novel – GREF, Toronto, 2005)
Du Cœur au Ventre
(a collection of editorial pieces – GREF, Toronto, 2007)
La Maison
(Novel – GREF, Toronto, 2009)
Finalist: Trillium Book Award
L’Orchidiable
(Novel – GREF, Toronto, 2009) –
Winner: CDVS Prize (Prix Christine-Dumitriu-Van-Saanen)
Le Manuscrit
(Novel – GREF, Toronto 2012)
Finalist: Trillium Book Award
Chroniques tziganes II
(Novel – GREF, Toronto, 2018)
Winner: CDVS Prize
IN ENGLISH:
Vignettes
(Short stories – Mosaic Press, Oakville, 2023)
Sam’s Orchid
(Novel – Mosaic Press, Oakville, 2025)
TRANSLATIONS:
User’s Guide to a Blank Wall/Mode d’emploi pour un mur vide
(Poems by Thomas Scott – GREF, Toronto, 2006).
Winner : Discovery Night at the Toronto Art Bar
How Things Got Like This/Comment on en est arrivé là
(Poems by Thomas Scott – GREF, Toronto, 2010)
