Born in Montreal, Neil Besner grew up in Brazil, where he has taught and lectured widely, mainly on Canadian literature. He taught Canadian literature at the University of Winnipeg from 1987 until his retirement in 2017. He served in several senior administrative roles, as Dean of Humanities, Dean of Arts, Associate Vice President, International, Vice President, Students, and Vice President, Research and International; his last post was as Provost and Vice-President, Academic.

He writes mainly on Canadian literature, the short story, and the poet Elizabeth Bishop, with books on Mavis Gallant, Alice Munro, an edited collection on Carol Shields, and numerous articles, as well as co-edited books on the short story in English and on poetry in English. He is fluent in Portuguese; his prize-winning translation into English of a Brazilian biography of Elizabeth Bishop was a major source for the 2013 feature film “Reaching for the Moon.”

Since 2017 he has lived in Toronto and continues to travel frequently to Brazil. He spends 4 months each summer on the shores of Lake of the Woods in Northwestern Ontario near the border with Manitoba.