Philip Monk, former Director of the Art Gallery of York University in Toronto, has written fourteen books over his career, as well as scores of articles, reviews, and essays, plus dozens of catalogues on international and Canadian artists. Dedicated to setting in place the theoretical conditions for writing the history of contemporary Canadian Art, and of Toronto in particular, Monk’s writing set the terms of debate on art in Canada for decades. His most recent book, Is Toronto Burning? is a history of the conflicted creation of Toronto’s downtown art scene in the late 1970s.