Mitchell Gauvin penned 150,000-word novel as university student

When Mitchell Gauvin was a high school and university student, he had a bit of an unusual hobby — writing books.

The 26-year-old Toronto resident, who grew up in Sudbury, wrote a 100-page manuscript when he was a Lockerby Composite School student, although it was never published.

“That caused me to fail math class,” Gauvin said.

As a 19-year-old English and philosophy student at the University of Toronto, Gauvin began writing another book, and it ballooned to 150,000 words. He pared the manuscript down to a third of its original length with help from a freelance editor, and began sending it to publishers.

In May 2014, while attending master's program in philosophy and literature at University College Dublin in Ireland, Vancouver publisher Now or Never Publishing said they wanted to print his novel, “Vandal Confession.”

Gauvin said when he learned the news, he initially couldn't believe what he was reading.

The book will be released Oct. 15. It's about Xavier Bernard, a late 20-something with a menial job in the big city who attempts to tackle the triviality of his life head-on by writing about it — with some fabrication.

Gauvin said the roots of the book's plot go back to his time at Lockerby, when he was a target of bullying.

“I became really preoccupied with this idea of how do you take control of your own life or how do you take control of how people are going to think of you,” he said. “I was bullied in school. I really had no control over how people viewed me or how people treated me.”

The author said writing is one of his favourite things to do.

“I'm writing a new novel at the moment,” Gauvin said. “I will be at work, and I will think about being at home, and writing, because that's the headspace I like being in.”

Gauvin's mother is Heather Campbell, a local freelance writer who recently joined forces with fellow freelance writer Laura Gregorini to start Latitude 46, a brand-new publishing company.

“I honestly do not think it would be possible for me to be where I am if my mom was not who she was, in terms of a writer and a reader and a positive force,” he said.

A book launch for “Vandal Confession” takes place from 3-5 p.m. Oct. 17 at Fromagerie Elgin. Copies of the book, which costs $19.95, will be available for sale at the event. The book will also be available online at Amazon and Indigo.