kim barry brunhuber

journalist

novelist

born in montréal, live in atlanta, and always working on the next story.

Kim Brunhuber is an award-winning journalist with CNN. His novel Kameleon Man (2003) was a finalist for two literary awards and featured in an anthology of best Black Canadian writing.

His nonfiction has appeared in newspapers such as the Globe & Mail, Toronto Star, and National Post. He's a graduate of the Johns Hopkins Writing program and Carleton University's Journalism program.

"Kim Barry Brunhuber's Kameleon Man is an acid jazz update of classic 'black' novels like Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man and the rebellious, uppity sociology of thinkers like Frantz Fanon. Snappy with subversive comedy and glimmering with beautiful writing, Brunhuber's novel is a cinematic tour-de-force of urban grit and urbane wit. Like other African-Canadian writers, namely André Alexis, Suzette Mayr, and David Odhiambo, Brunhuber describes unflinchingly, in flamboyant tints, the realities of living in Canada and between 'colours.'"

— George Elliott Clarke, author of the Governor General's Award-winning Execution Poems

Kameleon Man

Finalist for the national ReLit Award | Finalist for the Ottawa Book Award

Featured in Best Black Canadian Writing Anthology

High fashion, higher stakes, sex, glamour, and great clothes, Stacey Schmidt gets a taste of all these when he's suddenly propelled from suburban model hell into the garment jungle of today's Toronto. Stacey's part black, part white, and apparently on a fast track to fame, fortune, and all the women he could ever want, though at times it seems as if he's standing still. But does he really want the glitz?

Deep down he hungers to make it as a serious photographer, but the gaudy lures and traps of male modeling never cease to tempt him. Kameleon is the hot new jeans maker, and the guy models in town are clawing at one another to become the company's new face and body. But only one will snatch the crown...if he can survive the sharks that lurk behind the flashing cameras and megawatt smiles.

At times hilarious and tart, at times savage and satirical, Kameleon Man launches a startling new voice in fiction, one that struts down the runway with electric panache.