Joseph Boyden (born 31 Oct 1966) is a Canadian novelist and short story writer.
He grew up in Willowdale, Ontario and attended the Jesuit-run Brebeuf College School. Boyden's father Raymond Wilfrid Boyden was a medical officer renowned for his bravery, who was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and was the highest-decorated medical officer of World War II.
Boyden, of Irish, Scottish and Métis heritage, writes about the First Nations voice, First Nations heritage and culture. Three Day Road, a novel about two Cree soldiers serving in the Canadian military during World War I, is inspired by Ojibwa Francis Pegahmagabow, the legendary First World War sniper. Boyden's second novel, Through Black Spruce follows the story of Will, son of one of the characters in Three Day Road. He has indicated in interviews that the titles are part of a planned trilogy, the third of which is forthcoming.
He studied creative writing at York University and the University of New Orleans, and subsequently taught in the Aboriginal Student Program at Northern College. He divides his time between Louisiana, where he and his wife, Amanda Boyden, are writers in residence, and Northern Ontario.
His debut novel, Three Day Road, won the Amazon/Books in Canada First Novel Award and the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize in 2006, and was a nominee for the 2005 Governor General's Awards. It previously won the inaugural McNally Robinson Aboriginal Book of the Year Award. Three Day Road was chosen for inclusion in Canada Reads 2006, where it was championed by filmmaker Nelofer Pazira.
His second novel, Through Black Spruce, won the 2008 Scotiabank Giller Prize.