The troubles of 1885 are a topic of enduring fascination. Gabriel Dumont in Paris is a fictional retelling of the events leading up to the Northwest Rebellion, focussing on the thoughts and actions of Metis leader Gabriel Dumont. Jordan Zinovich reconstructs the man from a multiplicity of voices, leaving us to draw our own understanding of Riel's charismatic lieutenant.

Jordan Zinovich was born and raised in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia. He left Canada in 1974, and since then has lived in Crete, England, France, Guinea Conakry, Holland, India, Spain, and New York City, where he now resides. He has published six books: Two historical biographies about personalities involved in the opening of the western Canadian north — The Prospector: North of Sixty and Battling the Bay; the critical anthology Semiotext(e) CANADAs (of which he was Project General Editor); the novel Gabriel Dumont in Paris; Cobweb Walking, a collection of poetry; and the poetic radio play John Chapman’s Harvest. His work has been translated into French and Dutch, with radio performances in New York and Amsterdam. At present he is a senior editor with the Autonomedia Collective, one of North America’s most notable underground publishing houses.

Jordan Zinovich's profile page

• Alberta Book Publishing Awards - Book Design of the Year
• Alberta Book Publishing Awards - Book Cover Design of the Year
• The Alcuin Society Citations for Excellence in Book Design in Canada - 2nd, Prose Fiction

"While Zinovich openly invites further debate in the on-going contentious issue of Louis Riel and his execution, he also succeeds in his exploration of Gabriel Dumont by augmenting the 'facts' and lifting out fascinating aspects of Dumont's interior life. He does this partly by setting Dumont beside Riel. There is disturbing violence in this story of Gabriel Dumont, but there is also humour, restraint, mystery, delicacy.... Apart from the substance of Gabriel Dumont in Paris, the book's cover and design, by Alan Brownoff of The University of Alberta Press, are outstanding.... I commend both Jordan Zinovich and his publisher and congratulate them. Gabriel Dumont in Paris: A Novel History is a fine achievement." Audrey Andrews, Author of Be Good, Sweet Maid, in Canadian Ethnic Studies, XXXII, No. 2, 2000

"Zinovich's outstanding story of one of Canada's most elusive figures, Gabriel Dumont, re-imagines our past in ways which reveal deeper dimensions of a familiar story." Ken Tingley, Legacy