Yesterday, I finally met Elly, the illustrator of my upcoming picture book Maya! Here we both are, at the OLA Super Conference Expo, where we signed copies of our book.Up until now, Elly and I only communicated a few times via e-mail and through our shared Pinterest board, which we used as an inspiration board for the art.Elly makes beautiful miniature-paper-theatre art. Learn more at her website.
Both Joyland Magazine, who published my short story “The Origin of Jaanvi”, and The New Quarterly, who published my short story “The Museum of Wooden Hearts”, have nominated my stories for the 2016 Writers’ Trust / McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize! I am so honoured to be considered. Every qualifying magazine in Canada is able to nominate up to 3 stories for consideration, and an anonymous three-member jury whittles down these selections to a longlist of 9 to 13 stories, which are revealed officially in the fall. The Journey Prize is given out every year to an emerging writer for a short story published in a Canadian literary magazine, but even being considered is a great honour. Thank you to both magazines for supporting my stories!
Today, I defended my thesis, a collection of short stories titled A Secure Form of Living. I am now an MFA – a master of fine things! I mean, fine arts. The collection features two stories that I published this year: “The Origin of Jaanvi” (read online) and “A Museum of Wooden Hearts” (order).
Kathryn Mockler, the fantastic editor at Joyland Magazine, selected “The Origin of Jaanvi” as its feature story in November! Read it here.
The New Quarterly asked its contributors to write a short paragraph about what we are reading. I wrote about The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker, a book I read in February, but which I loved so much, I had to highlight it. It was cool to be a part of this, if only to learn what the other contributors were reading. The list is varied and eclectic, much like the contributors.
My short story, “The Museum of Wooden Hearts,” is going to be in the upcoming issue of The New Quarterly, and here is the cover, revealed! I love the rich forest-green they’ve chosen. Trees are important to “Museum”, so the colour choice is fitting. I can’t be sure, but I think the “honour the dead” bit is referring to “Museum,” too. I am excited to read the other stories in the issue, and I am super-duper excited to be included among what I am sure is going to be amazing company. The New Quarterly never fails to be an engaging, insightful read, cover to cover.