He has written three books, starting with 2015’s A Kim Jong-Il Production. Named as one of National Public Radio’s Best Books of the Year and one of Library Journal’s Top Ten Books of the Year, it has since been translated into 16 languages. He followed the novel’s success with The Man Who Invented Motion Pictures in 2022 and The Last Kings of Hollywood in 2026, which was a New York Times bestseller.

Fischer has also written for The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Independent and The Narwhal. 

After living in many places around the world, he currently calls Edmonton home. We caught up with him to find out more about his inspirations, his successes and how it all started with a prophetic note from his elementary school teacher.

When did you first think about becoming a writer?

I grew up in France, and I had a French-Canadian teacher. She gave everybody little books and she wrote in mine, “Whenever you write your first book, send me an autographed copy.” It was a really cute little thing. She saw how interested I was in writing and was convinced that I could make something out of it. After my first book came out, I signed a copy and sent it to her. We all have those stories about how much teachers matter and how much they can see in a kid. I still have the book that she gave me with the note in it.

What inspires your writing?

I fell in love with reading things like Sherlock Holmes mysteries. I just love them for the entertainment. I must have been a teenager when I discovered James Baldwin. His writing felt true and beautiful and very powerful with an urgency and purpose, and it conveys this idea that you write to honestly witness what you’re living through and what you’re experiencing. I also remember Bruce Springsteen and kind of going, “Oh, this guy is the best writer.” Anytime I’m revising a sentence or trying to make something shorter, I think about one of his lyrics from The River. “For my 19th birthday I got a union card and a wedding coat.” That’s the best sentence you can write. It’s charged with so much and would have taken me five pages to get to something half as good. And author Rebecca Makkai completely changed how I thought about approaching writing, ditching self-consciousness here and applying tools there and remaining open. So it’s more than one person, and it kind of evolves over time.

How did you get the idea for your first book, A Kim Jong-Il Production?

I was with my then-girlfriend, now wife. It was New Year’s Eve. We were sitting in a pub in England, where I lived at the time, and I brought up this story to her that I’d read somewhere. It was about how Kim Jong-Il had once kidnapped this filmmaker to North Korea and forced him to make movies while he was a prisoner. And I said that I thought I could write a play or maybe make a low-budget movie out of the story. I looked it up while we were still in the pub and I saw there was actually a lot to this story that I hadn’t considered. It was too big for a film or a play because I didn’t want to have to cut too much material. So I thought maybe I would follow what everybody’s intuition had been when I was a kid and write a book.

How do you feel about the success you had with that book?

It didn’t sell all that great, but the people who did read it loved it. I was happy that it got some good reviews, which led to me talking about it on This American Life, the NPR podcast. More people heard me talk about it there. I also got an email from Matt Selman who was the head writer on The Simpsons. He said all the writers on his team were reading the book and were loving it. I was in Los Angeles to make a film and he invited me to a Simpsons table read. I have the script from the show and all the members of the cast signed it. 

Any advice for other writers?

For a lot of people, the first roadblock can be, “I’m on page one. How do I get to page 400?” I look at it as if we are boxers – a boxer doesn’t expect to get in the ring and never get hit. Half of the job is getting punched in the face and still being there. When it comes to writing, half of it is turning up and applying for stuff and getting rejected. You know, the suffering and the struggle is part of the whole. I think that is the most useful thing to hear when you’re starting out. That doesn’t mean you’re failing. It doesn’t mean you’re not good enough. That means you’re a writer, and you’re writing and you’re doing it the way it’s meant to happen. 

What do you hope to accomplish as MacEwan’s writer in residence?

Part of the job is hearing what other people need from you and figuring out what I can bring to them. I’m excited to see what people feel is helpful. But it also feels like a really interesting moment, given that we’re surrounded by this AI, shortcut way of thinking where outcome is more important than the process. But to me I think the very valuable and useful thing about writing is that the process is of vital importance. Being able to be helpful to younger people or anybody in the community. Writing is something you do as part of a community and not by yourself, even though so much of it is solitary.

Fischer will be available Wednesdays and Thursdays during the Fall term. Visit MacEwan.ca/WIR to learn more about the writer-in-residence position or to make an appointment.