Holy shit! I got myself a book deal! My book of short stories, The Best Place on Earth, will be coming out with HarperCollins in 2013. I have a contract signed, an editor assigned, and a cheque with my name on it. It’s for real. People ask me how it felt, getting that email inviting me to the HarperCollins offices for a ‘chat.’ Did I scream? they ask. I totally screamed. I also cried a little bit. I played Matisyahu in my office really loudly and did a silly dance. I called my mom, my mentor in Toronto (Camilla Gibb), my mentor…
Reading at Speakeasy
I’ll be reading this coming Thursday, November 24th, 7:30 PM, at Speakeasy Reading Series. That’s right, I’m no longer a host. I passed it on to the new cohort, more specifically to the lovely Naoko Kumagai who now hosts alongside the illustrious Eufemia Fantetti. It was sad to let it go; it was my baby after all, but the good news is that now I get to be a reader! The event will take place at Magpie Tavern, 831 Dundas Street West. I’ll be reading with Adam Honsinger, Judith Thompson, and Paul Vermeersch. Hope to see you there!
Nominated for the CNFC Readers’ Choice Award
So earlier this fall I found out that I had been nominated for the CNFC (Creative Non-Fiction Collective) Readers’ choice Award for my story Warplanes (which appeared in Grain last summer). I was thrilled, of course; it’s a great honour. My dear friend Eufemia Fantetti was nominated last year and the past winners—Susan Olding for Pathologies (2010) and Theresa Kishkan for Phantom Limb (2009)—are both wonderful writers. The award was announced at the CNFC conference in Banff, where an excerpt from my story was read in front of the collective members by the lovely and generous Betsy Warland. I didn’t…
the Wolsak and Wynn Launch
The Wolsak and Wynn launch at Ben McNally Books was great. I got to read to a bunch of people who came to hear Barry Dempster read from Dying a Little and were forced to listen to some of my army tales first. Susan Glickman also read from Slice Me Some Truth. Wine and brie were consumed. Good time was had by all.
Slice Me Some Truth
I got my copy of Slice Me Some Truth from Wolsak and Wynn in the mail today and it’s a big, fat, gorgeous book. I’m so honoured to be in it. I’m even more honoured to be included in their fall launch! It’s going to take place this Thursday, September 22nd, 2011 at Ben McNally Books, 366 Bay Street, Toronto. Barry Dempster and David Groulx read from their new books of poetry, Dying a Little and a Difficult Beauty, respectively, and Susan Glickman and I will read from Slice Me Some Truth. I’ll be reading from You and What Army,…
Thanksgiving Published in iLit Remix: A Revolution of Text Forms
I am so excited, honoured and proud to be a part of this awesome English textbook. And I know, the words ‘awesome English textbook’ don’t sound quite right… There were definitely no awesome textbooks in my time. This one has graphic narratives and comics and lyric prose and postcard stories and Twitter fiction. I can see high school students actually enjoying their English classes with this one. It’s also an honour to be published along such accomplished authors as Heather O’neill, Kevin Chong and many others that I don’t know but probably should. Click here to read my teeny little…
Reading at The Not So Nice Italian Girls Series
I was an honourary Italian last night! I was invited to read at the ‘Not So Nice Italian Girls Reading Series’ run by the lovely Michelle Alfano and Giovanna Riccio. The theme of the night was hot and seamy (it is August, after all, and we’re talking Mediterranean blood here), so I pretty much just stood in front of a bunch of strangers and read smut. Other readers were the equally smutty (in the most dignified and wonderful way) Elisabeth de Mariaffi, poet Catherine Graham, writer Koom Kankesan, and K.D. Miller. For more photos go here.
Not So Nice Italian Girls…
I’m reading at this, on August 17th, at the Annex Live.
Missing In Action Published in PRISM International
I received my copy of PRISM in the mail today and I was thrilled to see my story, “Missing In Action” (1st runner up in their literary nonfiction contest!) in print. This is what the judge Brian Brett had to say about my story: “’Missing in Action,’ is a dazy druggy classic tale of getting lost in Goa, reverberating, replaying, echoing, chronicling a cleansing of old memories in the exoticism of India. It’s brave not only in subject matter but also in its loose style.” It’s a great issue, and featuring the winning entries as well as poetry by two…
Celebrating YoSS
YoSS. Not a short for Yossi, but the Year of the Short Story, which lucky for us, is this year, 2011. YoSS is the brainchild of three accomplished short-story writers, Jessica Westhead, Sarah Selecky, and Matthew J. Trafford, who felt it was time for the short story to get some good press. From their website: “Yoss aims to unite fellow writers and readers everywhere in one cause—to bring short fiction the larger audience it deserves.” If there’s ever been a revolution I wanted to take part in is this one. (Okay, there are a couple other revolutions I’d really like…