Mark Kingwell is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Toronto and a contributing editor of Harper’s Magazine.  He is the author of eleven books of political and cultural theory, including the bestsellers Better Living (1998), The World We Want (2000), and Concrete Reveries: Consciousness and the City (2008).  His articles on art, architecture and design have appeared in, among others, Harper’s, the Harvard Design Magazine, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Canadian Art, Azure, FORM, the Globe and Mail, and Queen’s Quarterly. 

Kingwell has lectured extensively in Canada, the United States, Europe, and Australia on philosophical subjects. He is the recipient of the Spitz Prize in political theory, National Magazine Awards for both essays and columns, and in 2000 was awarded an honorary DFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design for contributions to theory and criticism.  His twelfth book, a collection of his essays on art and philosophy called Opening Gambits, appeared in fall 2008.  He is currently at work on a biography of Glenn Gould.