Originally born in Beirut, Hage emigrated first to America in 1984 and then to Canada in 1991. After earning degrees in Photography at Dawson College and Fine Arts at Concordia, Hage worked as a visual artist. In a 2008 author profile of Hage published by Quill & Quire, Hage credits this experience as a visual artist with making him a better writer.
Hage’s first novel, DeNiro’s Game (2006), won the 2008 IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, the Hugh MacLellan Prize for Fiction, and the McAuslan First Book Prize. DeNiro’s Game was also shortlisted for both the Giller Prize and the Governor General’s Award in 2006. His second novel, Cockroach (2008), was similarly successful, and he was once more awarded the Hugh MacLellan Prize for Fiction, as well as being shortlisted for the Giller Prize, the Governor General’s Award, and the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize. His most recent novel, Carnival (2012), was also awarded the Hugh MacLellan Prize for Fiction. In August 2013, Hage was awarded a four-month tenure as writer-in-residence at the Vancouver Public Library. He lives and works in Montreal.
