Stuck in the gulag of Richmond, the young, penis-centric central character of Federico Morales' self-published first novel The Sun Never Sets, (Freedrow, 2004, $17.95) has crass encounters of the close kind as an antidote to his estrangement. Sexually explicit and credible, the novel evokes the ennui of the new over-educated underclass who shun ideology and can't find rewarding work, settling for casual sex and sardonic humour until they can infiltrate the commercial world they detest. Born in Los Angeles to Salvadorean parents in December of 1980, Federico Morales came to Canada as a child. A History graduate from SFU, he has replicated, contemporary Lower Mainland life through the eyes of a thin, middle-class, 21-year-old, self-perceived Socialist who views himself as the son of a bourgeois factory owner--until his Dad, hitherto 'the enemy', fortuitously dies and opportunity knocks.

ARRIVAL IN CANADA: 1985

ARRIVAL IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: 1988

ANCESTRAL BACKGROUND: Salvadorean

EMPLOYMENT OTHER THAN WRITING: English Teacher

AWARDS: Betty Lambert Memorial Prize, 2003

BOOKS:

The Sun Never Sets (FreedRow Publishing, 2004)

[BCBW 2004] "Fiction"