Feature Friday - Andreas Kessaris
Name
Andreas Kessaris
Pronouns
He/Him
Bio
Andreas Kessaris grew up in Montreal's Park Extension district, the son of Greek immigrants. He graduated from Dawson College and Concordia University, earning a BA in Communications & English. His column, Read On! with Andreas Kessaris, was a popular feature in the West-End community paper The Local Herald. His writing has also appeared on Suite101.com, in the literary journal The Write Place, and on the Montreal entertainment website Curtainsup.tv, The Miramichi Reader, and The Montreal Review of Books. His books include The Butcher of Park Ex (2020) and The Grand Tour of Park Ex (2025). He currently resides in Montreal with his partner. Follow him on Bluesky (@akessaris.bsky.social) or Instagram (@andreas_kessaris).
Where in Montreal are you located?
Park Extension.
What do you love about that neighborhood?
Its authenticity and the diverse, cosmopolitan, multilingual, multicultural makeup of its population.
What’s your favourite art space in Montreal and why?
The bookstores, and the record stores. I work and have worked at both kinds of places and there is no better place to meet people with similar interests who are always willing to discuss art, culture, and ideas.
Describe your art in your own words.
My writing reflects my personality; it is like a literary stand-up routine or sketch comedy show.
What drew you to writing?
Writing for me is like therapy. When I get a piece to work and get my point across the feeling is almost euphoric.
What have you been working on recently?
My last book, The Grand Tour of Park Ex. (I rarely talk about uncompleted works in progress.)
How would you describe your voice?
I see myself as a humorist & social commentator, essential a stand-up comic whose stage is the written word.
Where do you find your inspiration?
From everywhere and everyone, but mostly from my family and friends.
Describe your writing process.
I get into a long, heated, passionate discussion with someone, and if they seem captivated and interested I make a note of it and write the story later.
Who are some of your favorite writers?
Bill Bryson, Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner, J.D. Salinger, Mick Wall, Nora Loreto, George Orwell, Christopher Hitchens, Raymond Chandler.
What do you love about Montreal's literary scene?
The diversity, and how it survives in a majority French Quebec that often fails to recognize its very existence, and in a way, the "separation" from rest of Canada, creates a sort of cold war, West Berlin kind of counterculture feeling.
