Andrew Piper

I am a professor at McGill University where I direct .txtlab, a laboratory for the study of AI and storytelling. My work is focused on how technology, reading and writing have intersected across human history. My first book, Dreaming in Books, was a study of the origins of our obsession with books that emerged around the turn of the nineteenth century. My next book, Book Was There, took a tour through the 2,000-year history of the relationship between our bodies and our reading experiences. Why You Should Read More Fiction, my latest, is about making sense of the human capacity to "make stuff up" and why it is so important for our minds and well-being.

In addition to my professional concerns I am also an avid reader. I love to read fiction. All of it. Any kind. LitFic, EcoLit, SciFi, YA, mysteries, you name it. I have never read more than when I began to use data to study fiction. Data modeling has been a way for me to make sense of this personal passion, to help people see that this "pastime" is anything but. Through my research and personal experience I have come to see how reading fiction is an essential way to train our minds to feel the world and people around us more deeply.

I live in Montreal, Canada with my family and the best dog in the world, Syd.