Canadian writer and artist Douglas Coupland was BOTD in 1961. Born in West Germany where his father was a medical officer for the Royal Canadian Air Force, he was raised in Vancouver. He studied physics at McGill University before dropping out to attend art school. After working as a designer in Japan, he developed a skin condition brought on by the summer climate, and returned to Canada, where he began writing for magazines. His 1991 debut novel “Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture” interlinked tales of three Los Angeleans coming of age in the 1980s. The book became an international sensation, coining the terms “Generation X” and “McJob”, and Coupland was hailed (somewhat unwillingly) as the voice of the disaffected post-Baby Boomer generation. His follow-up novel “Shampoo Planet” focused on a younger generation now popularly known as Millennials. His other works include the story collection “Life After God”; “Microserfs”, a novel about the drudgery of life working for Microsoft; the essay collection “Polaroids from the Death”, covering Gen X cultural touchstones including Kurt Cobain’s death and the OJ Simpson trial; “Hey Nostradamus!”, describing a school shooting inspired by the Columbine High School massacre; and “Generation A”, a dystopian novel in which bees have become extinct. A prolific visual artist, his work has been exhibited internationally, and he has created a number of public sculptures in Toronto and Vancouver. He wrote the screenplay for the 2006 comedy film “Everything’s Gone Green”, and co-created and co-wrote the 2008 TV series “jPod”, based on his 2006 novel. After years of guarding his personal life from the press, Coupland came out as gay in 2005 in an interview in The Advocate. In recent years, he has alienated his liberal readership by writing defences of right-wing musician Morrissey and billionaire Elon Musk.