His first honorary doctorate in 2009 (Doctor of Letters, honoris causa) was awarded from Nipissing University. To date, Joseph Boyden has received five honorary doctorates and degrees. He was also a lecturer with the University of British Columbia's Creative Writing Program during 2013–2015. He taught at the University of New Orleans during 1998–2010, where he served as writer-in-residence. He was a professor in the Aboriginal Student Program at Northern College during 1995–1997.

Joseph Boyden studied humanities at York University and received an MFA in Fiction from the University of New Orleans in 1995. The ninth of eleven children, he is the son of Blanche (Gosling) and Raymond Wilfrid Boyden, a medical officer renowned for his bravery, who was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and was the most highly decorated medical officer of World War II. Joseph Boyden grew up in Willowdale, North York, Ontario, and attended the Jesuit-run Brebeuf College School. The third novel in the Bird family trilogy was published in 2013 as The Orenda. Joseph Boyden's second novel, Through Black Spruce, follows the story of Will, son of one of the characters in Three Day Road. Three Day Road, a novel about two Cree soldiers serving in the Canadian military during World War I, was inspired by Ojibwa Francis Pegahmagabow, the legendary First World War sniper. Joseph Boyden is best known for writing about First Nations culture.

He also claims Indigenous descent, but this is widely disputed. Joseph Boyden CM (born October 31, 1966) is a Canadian novelist and short story writer of Irish and Scottish descent. Three Day Road, Through Black Spruce, The Orenda Historical fiction, First Nations heritage and culture Professor, writing mentor, novelist and short story writerīrebeuf College School York University, University of New Orleans

Boyden at the Eden Mills Writers' Festival in 2013

Three day road by joseph boyden