Christopher Evans, the Prose Editor at PRISM international, interviewed me for the magazine’s website. His questions were incisive, so I sound like I know what I am talking about. Really grateful to him for giving me some room to think about sound, grief, and circumstances beyond our control, not just in reference to “Rohan, Rohan, Rohini!” (now available in Issue 55.2) but my other stories as well. Check out the interview here.
Last year was a flurry of activity, with the publication of Maya and the Journey Prize long list. It has been a while, though, since I have published a short story. My last was “In Transit,” in Humber Literary Review, back in Spring 2016. So I am delighted to see my short story “Rohan, Rohan, Rohini!” in PRISM international‘s latest issue. PRISM is a magazine I greatly admire. It’s affiliated with UBC’s MFA in Creative Writing program; the editors are students in the program. And they have a history of consistent and excellent taste. The Journey Prize winning story of 2016 was published in PRISM. I’m especially grateful to Christopher Evans, the current Fiction Editor at PRISM, who shepherded this story through to publication.
This year, I published my first book. It didn’t really hit me at the time of publication what a milestone that was or how significant, but it’s finally starting to sink in. The book has been fortunate to receive some lovely end-of-year attention: CBC Books included Maya in its Best Books of 2016 list. The Canadian Children’s Book Centre (CCBC) included it in its list of Best Books for Kids & Teens of 2016, as a Starred Selection no less. 49th Shelf selected it as a Picture Book of the Year. And, as already mentioned, Kirkus included it in its Best Picture Books of 2016 and Best Picture Books of 2016 About Family lists. I am grateful to end the year on a positive note. The world is quaking a bit, but stories continue to offer solace.
Earlier this year, I was privileged to have my short story “The Origin of Jaanvi” included in the 2016 Journey Prize Anthology. As a bonus, I was invited to attend the annual Writers’ Trust Gala, a fundraising event that brings together “business and arts communities.” It was a dazzling evening. All the writers were given a medal to wear as a form of identification and to keep as a pretty cool memorabilia. It was the first (and probably the last) medal I’ve ever received! Plus, I got a photo with Margaret Atwood. At the ceremony, Miriam Toews was awarded the $50,000 Writers’ Trust Fellowship. You can read more about all the things the Writers’ Trust does; many writing careers have been launched as a result of its funding and support. Yasuko Thanh, who was recently awarded the Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, started her career with the Journey Prize and continued it with the support of the Woodcock Fund, both sponsored by the Writers’ Trust.
On Monday, I received the fantastic news that Kirkus, which gave Maya a starred review back in February, selected the book for its end-of-year best-of list! You can find Maya in the Best Picture Books of 2016 list, and it was included in the Best Picture Books of 2016 About Family list as well!
On Saturday, I attended CANSCAIP’s Packaging Your Imagination conference, in the company of people who love children’s books as much as I do! I participated in a panel called “Breaking In,” where my fellow panelists and I talked about how we published our first books. It was an impressively attended conference! The panel was attended by 90 people. And the day was full of fantastic talks and master classes — I especially enjoyed Helaine Becker‘s talk on writing non-fiction for children. A special thank you to the moderator of the Breaking In panel, Joyce Grant, and to my fellow panelists, Caroline Fernandez and Kate Blair.