Mordecai Richler, like many of the characters he invented, was shaped by the tight, supportive Montreal neighborhood where he grew up. And he in turn created an imaginary neighborhood about one block over from the real one. Richler lived and breathed these streets even after he left them. He remembered them, savoured their sights and sounds and smells, and then described them in his writings over a period of some fifty years. Mordecai Richler Was Here features selections from Richler's most memorable writing — both fiction and nonfiction — along with family photographs, archival images, and witty illustrations by political cartoonist Aislin. It also offers readers an intimate look at the street that shaped — and was shaped by — one of Canada's greatest writers. As Richler himself said, "I do feel forever rooted in Montreal's St. Urbain Street. That was my time, my place, and I have elected myself to get it right." He certainly did, as this lively collection of writings attests.

MORDECAI RICHLER was one of the world’s great novelists, essayists and humorists. Richler died in Montreal in July 2001.

AISLIN (Terry Mosher), editorial cartoonist for the Montreal Gazette for more than thirty years, was a longtime friend of Richler’s.

ADAM GOPNIK is a staff writer with The New Yorker. As a young child in Montreal, he lived across the street from Mordecai Richler and remembers him with great affection.