John Ibbitson

John Ibbitson is one of Canada’s best known and most respected writers.

His latest work, The Duel: Diefenbaker, Pearson and the Making of Modern Canada, published in October 2023 by Signal/McClelland & Stewart, is a highly praised national bestseller. As well, he proposed and served as general editor of A Nation’s Paper: The Globe and Mail in the Life of Canada, published by Signal/McClelland & Stewart in October 2024. He is also the author of Stephen Harper, the bestselling and award-winning biography of Canada’s 22nd prime minister.

During his twenty-five-years at The Globe and Mail, John served as Queen’s Park bureau chief, Washington bureau chief, Ottawa bureau chief, chief political writer and writer at large. He continues to write for the paper, as well as for other publications, on a freelance basis.

He co-authored Empty Planet: The Shock of Global Population Decline, which has been translated into nine languages and is sold around the world, as well as the national number-one bestseller The Big Shift, both with Darrell Bricker. John and Darrell are at work on a sequel to The Big Shift, to be published by Signal/McClelland & Stewart in autumn 2025. And he is at work on a new book on Canada during the First World War, due for publication in 2027.

His writing for fiction includes The Landing, which won the 2008 Governor General’s Award for Children’s Literature. In March 2018, on its tenth anniversary, the book was republished by Kids Can Press. 

John Ibbitson lives and writes in Ottawa. 

Updated February, 2025