Pasha Malla was born in St. John's, Newfoundland and raised in London, Ontario. He attended Concordia University in Montreal as a graduate student.
His debut book, The Withdrawal Method, a collection of short stories, won the Trillium Book Award and the Danuta Gleed Literary Award, as well as being shortlisted for the Commonwealth Prize and longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. One of his short stories, "Filmsong", won an Arthur Ellis Award while another was published on Joyland, a hub for short fiction.
Snare Books released All Our Grandfathers Are Ghosts, a collection of poetry. His first novel, People Park, was published in 2012.
Malla is a frequent contributor to The Walrus.