New books, a new agent, and a 50-word story. Plus, you're invited to a book launch

Hi, Brian.

I hope all is well. So far, it’s been a bit of a banner year for me.

I discovered the fun of bite-sized fiction and was happy to have my small piece, “Good Daughter,” published in 50-Word Stories here.

I got to see the first draft with rough illustrations of my upcoming children’s picture book with Groundwood Books (It was very exciting!)

Finally, I signed with Olga Filina and her new literary agency, The READ Agency. You did a write up of her and her new firm, which I saw, and I thought, why not? I sent in one of my manuscripts that led to the partnership. She’s great! We’ll be working on my next children’s picture together and hopefully future projects. 

I’ve thanked you in the past for your classes and your consultations, but thanks are in order for your helpful posts too :-) 

Cheers,

Natalie Chan 

@njchan_author 

For information on submitting to 50-Word Stories (and to a few other places), see here.

For information about submitting to Groundwood Books, see here.

For information on submitting to Olga Filina at The READ Agency, see here.

 

Hi, Brian.

It’s hard to believe that the book launch for Courage and Grit: The Legacy of Canada’s Bomb Girls (Dundurn Press) is just two weeks away.

Everyone’s invited: 

Sunday, November 1, 2026
2–5 p.m.
Royal Canadian Legion – Branch 614
100 Salome Drive, Scarbrough, Ontario (Map here)

There’s lots of parking onsite. When you enter the Legion, take an immediate left and ride the elevator to the 2^nd floor

If you would like to bring your loved ones, please do. They’re welcome! There will be cake. 

If you have any artifacts or treasures from the Second World War, please bring them along too.

I look forward to celebrating with you!

With my warmest regards,

Barbara Dickson

If you can’t make it to Barbara’s book launch, you can read more about Courage and Grit: The Legacy of Canada’s Bomb Girls and buy a copy if you like here.

For information on submitting to Dundurn Press, see here.

 

Hi, Brian. 

I'm excited to share the release of a collaborative novel titled Whiskers Through Time: The Calgary Cat Chronicles, published by Lintusen Press. Lintusen Press has several call-outs throughout the year for submissions for various anthologies and projects. They are a great way to challenge yourself and gain some experience without being overwhelmed by an entire book.

A group of 15 writers, under the guidance of publisher Shawn Bird, participated in this project. We met at a brainstorming and planning session at When Words Collide 2025 in Calgary. We voted on and decided the plot, setting, arc, and many other particulars. We had four months to write, rewrite, and provide feedback to each other. This was followed by a few rounds of 1:1 editorial feedback, then final proofing and edits. 

The book launched at When Words Collide 2026 this August. 

Thanks for always cheering me on.

Dianne Koebel-Pede

https://www.pdplace.com/

For more information about Whiskers Through Time: The Calgary Cat Chronicles, and to order your copy, see here.

 

Hi, Brian.

Thank you for taking the time to share good writing news! In August, I published my picture book Our Spectacular Sukkah (illustrated by Sophia Vincent Guy, Candlewick Press). It’s the story of a family building a sukkah in their backyard as they prepare for the Jewish holiday Sukkot. When a windstorm blows their hard work away, everything seems lost… until their neighbours come together to help them rebuild. 

Thanks again!

With all best wishes,

Sidura

Sidura Ludwig

Check out Sidura’s website and her four other children’s books here.

Our Spectacular Sukkah is available in Canada through Indigo here. For availability in the US, visit Candlewick Press here.

*** 

See where else your fellow writers are winning accolades or getting short pieces published here (and scroll down). And see more new books by your fellow authors here (and scroll down).

If you’ve had a story (or a book!) published, if you’ve won or placed in a writing contest, if you’ve gotten yourself an agent, or if you have any other news, send me an email so I can share your success. As writers, we’re all in this together, and your good news gives us all a boost. Email me at: brianhenry@sympatico.ca 

See all of my upcoming weekly writing classes, one-day workshops, and four-day retreats here.

Join us for "Writing Kid Lit – The Next Level!"

Writing Kid Lit – The Next Level!

For people wanting to write board books, picture books, and middle grade

Online: Monday evenings, 7 – 9 p.m.
January 25 – March 15, (or to March 22 if the course fills up).

This course is for adults (or teens) interested in writing picture books, chapter books, middle grade books, or graphic books (fiction or nonfiction, for very young kids or older kids). It’s meant for people who have previously taken a kid lit course or who otherwise know the basics of the contemporary market for children’s literature.

For graphic books, we’ll be looking at writing scripts not creating the art, though if you’re a writer-artist, we’ll want to see your work!

The focus of the class will be on your work – picture book manuscripts, proposals for nonfiction books, chapters of longer books for young people – whatever you’re working on, you’ll present to the class for feedback as to how to make your work even better.

We’ll also have discussions, talks from the instructor, and a published children’s author or two as guest speakers.

Instructor Brian Henry has been a book editor and creative writing instructor for more than 25 years. He publishes Quick Brown Fox, Canada's most popular blog for writers, taught creative writing at Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitan University) and has led workshops everywhere from Boston to Buffalo and from Saskatoon to Toronto to Saint John. Brian is the author of a children's version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Tribute Publishing). But his proudest boast is that he has helped many of his students get published.  

Read reflections on inspired by Brian’s writing courses, workshops, and retreats, and works inspired by them here (and scroll down).

Fee: $257.52 plus 13% hst = $291

To reserve your spot, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

See all upcoming weekly writing classes, afternoon workshops, and wonderful  retreats here.  

Note: To get new posting delivered to your Inbox as they go up, go to the Quick Brown Fox Substack and subscribe: https://brian999.substack.com/

The deadline for the Crime Writers of Canada’s Award for Best Unpublished Novel is coming up fast!

Submit your mystery or crime novel by October 31

Each year the Crime Writers of Canada hands out Awards of Excellence for various categories of crime novel. They also have an award for Best Unpublished Crime Novel Manuscript written by an unpublished author. the award comes with a $500 prize and a bucketful of prestige.

Last year, Anne Burlakoff and Barbara Stokes, two Quick Brown Fox regulars, were finalists for the Best Unpublished Crime Novel, and Anne won!

The Best Unpublished Novel Award is sponsored by ECW Press. One of the most diversified independent publishers in North America, ECW has published close to 1,000 books that are distributed throughout the English-speaking world and translated into dozens of languages.

For more about ECW and about submitting to them, see here.

Deadline for submissions is October 31, 2026. Full submission guidelines here.

The Shortlists will be announced on April 30, 2027.

Winners will be announced on May 28, 2027

About Crime Writers of Canada

Founded in 1982, Crime Writers of Canada is a professional organization dedicated to raising the profile of Canadian crime writers. Their members include authors, publishers, editors, booksellers, librarians, reviewers, and literary agents, as well as many developing authors. Past winners of the Awards have included such major names in Canadian crime writing as Mario Bolduc, Gail Bowen, Stevie Cameron, Howard Engel, Barbara Fradkin, Louise Penny, Peter Robinson, and Eric Wright.

For more about Crime Writers of Canada, see here.

See more writing contests and markets for your short pieces here (and scroll down).

See all of Brian Henry’s upcoming weekly writing classes, afternoon workshops, and wonderful retreats here.

Note: To get new posting delivered to your Inbox as they go up, go to the Quick Brown Fox Substack and subscribe: https://brian999.substack.com/

“The Coffey Family Winery” by Mary Anne Coffey

In the early 1960s, Mom decided to make her own wine. She had discovered that one could make a few gallons legally for home consumption. So she persuaded Dad to build an arbour by the back door and ordered Concord grape vines. Unfortunately, both we kids and the neighbourhood raccoons loved the deep purple grapes, especially after a touch of frost in the Fall made them sweeter. The two or three vines just didn’t produce enough for both snacking and wine-making.

Undeterred, Mom bought two 10-gallon brown crocks with lids and all the other gear she needed and collected a regiment of used wine and liquor containers of all sizes. At a local produce store (There were a couple of large ones on Yonge Street) she obtained bushels and bushels of Concords, and thus began the Coffey Family Winery.

In that era, Toronto was a conservative monoculture when it came to alcoholic refreshment. Liquor could be purchased only at the LCBO store from a limited selection. For wine, you could get Mogen David, an unpleasant brew that Mom gave us as a tonic when we were ill. To make a purchase, an adult filled out a slip of paper with the requested bottle, and a bored male clerk went on a search-and-retrieve mission. After presenting the liquor to the customer as if to say, “You really want to buy this stuff? Last chance to change your mind!” he placed it in a plain brown paper bag, much like hiding a “girlie” magazine or contraband.  The message was clear: drink and be damned.

Fortunately, the hard-working, post-war Italian immigrants who built the subway in the 1950s brought their practice of making wine and tomato sauce with them and enlivened Toronto’s culinary scene in the process. Spaghetti and pizza began to appear on restaurant menus, although at home we only ate Spaghetti-O’s out of a can, and rarely, and I didn’t have pizza until much later.

Still, with the arrival of the Italians, the making of wine at home became an existential possibility, which Mom embraced. Although the Irish are known as a hard-drinking people, we had no family history of liquor-making or alcohol abuse. 

On the contrary, Mom urged us, in good Irish Roman Catholic tradition, to take the Pledge. I promised at the altar rail not to drink alcohol until I was 21(the legal drinking age at the time). So the creation of a Coffey home winery was both culturally and religiously ironic.

I don’t know where Mom found the recipe, but people have been making booze for thousands of years from all sorts of things: potatoes, wheat, grapes, honey, dandelions, corn, berries of all kinds, and from the smell and taste of Mogen David, out of well worn, dusty old boots that had slipped in donkey dung. So how hard could it be?

Mom washed, stemmed, and crushed the grapes into juice, and strained the resulting must through several layers of cheesecloth before pouring it into the crocks with yeast to ferment into wine. Then the sediment was removed again and again (more cheesecloth) and the wine eventually bottled. The filled bottles were placed under the kitchen table to rest for a few days so any remaining sediment could settle. It wasn’t a difficult process, but involved a number of time-consuming steps and a great deal of effort.

Then one lovely Fall morning, we all went off to Mass as usual. On our return, the smell was the first indication that all was not well in the winery. The house smelled…fruity.

Mom never quite knew what it was about that recipe. Somehow, a tiny bit of yeastiness slipped through her multiple cheesecloth defences and reinforced fermentation. Fermentation produces the desired alcohol, but also releases gasses—in this case, under pressure—like the bubbles in champagne that long to escape. It wasn’t that the corks blew. They didn’t. No, the entire sides of the heavy glass whiskey bottles exploded outwards, blasting a delicious-smelling purple lake across the kitchen floor.

Although she took it in good spirit and laughed as we mopped up the mess, that explosion signalled the abrupt demise of the Coffey Family Winery. If we wanted wine after the explosion, it was back to the LCBO and Mogen David for us.

***

Mary Anne Coffey teaches academic writing at York University in Toronto, and is beginning to write short memoirs.

For more short stories, poetry, and essays by you fellow writers see here (and scroll down).

See Brian Henry's upcoming weekly writing classes, afternoon workshops, and writing retreats here.

---

 

Procrastination – a poem for writers by Brynna Leanne Leslie

 

Coffee, slippers – check.

Leave your phone upstairs,

You can write this thing,

You’ve just got to sit in front of the screen and stare.

Wait, did I feed the cat?

Did I check my email? Shake out the mat?

Have I paid my bills? Did I cancel my appointment?

Surely, I’ll need to reschedule after that.

 

Coffee, slippers, keyboard – check.

Did I forget to call my mom?

Did the mess on the counter get cleared up?

I’d better just see if they dropped the bomb.

Wait, did I get dinner out of the freezer?

I’ll make a grocery list while I wait,

Shoot – I have to do my physio and brush my teeth,

And plan my future – I can’t leave THAT to fate.

 

Coffee, slippers, keyboard, neck pillow – check.

Maybe I need a walk around the block.

Did I write to the council about the garbage?

Has the city remembered to fix the clock?

Speaking of time, have I made a schedule?

I meant to call the dentist about that wobbly tooth.

Have I done my training and submitted my resume?

Did anyone book my crafts into the county fair booth?

 

Coffee, slippers, keyboard, neck pillow, notebook – check.

Oh, darn I meant to eat some food.

I yawn as I open the fridge once again,

Realizing I’m in a sleepy mood.

I forgot to make the bed this morning;

Perhaps I should take a very small nap.

All the good ideas come when I meditate anyway,

And the cat will likely snooze in my lap.

 

Coffee, slippers, keyboard, neck pillow, notebook, massage chair – check.

I’m sure I have all I need now.

But first I’ll need to answer the phone,

Then do my makeup and go milk the cow.

Did I forget to get gas and buy a suitcase?

Wait, did I lock the cow gate?

First, I’ll try on my bathing suit, shampoo my hair,

Have I done all I can to procrastinate?

*** 

Brynna Leanne Leslie has been a freelance writer and producer for 25 years. She is working on a middle-grade trilogy. Brynna divides her time between Ottawa and the Laurentians. She does not own a cow.

Read more short pieces about reading and writing here (and scroll down). Read other short stories, essays, and reviews by your fellow writers here (and scroll down).

See Brian Henry’s upcoming weekly writing classes, afternoon workshops, and wonderful writing retreats here.

“With this mayor, the media should be asking about only one issue” by Yaakov ben Avraham

 

I’m all too familiar with the two slogans that frame the pro-Hamas, antizionist propaganda campaign. They’re chanted everywhere from Canada to Australia. But I can hear them every Sunday just a few blocks from my house at the intersection of Bathurst and Sheppard.

There’s no consulate at the corner or any MP’s office. It’s just a Jewish neighbourhood, which is what brings the antizionists here, because this isn’t normal politics; it’s a hate movement.

Slogan number one: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” or in short form, “Free Palestine.”

Between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea lies the State of Israel. The meaning of the “Free Palestine” chants heard at every pro-Palestinian demonstration is perfectly clear: free “Palestine” of Israel, wipe it off the map. On October 7, 2023, Hamas demonstrated the preferred means: massacre the Jews, every one of them, man, woman, and child.

Few anti-Israel demonstrators explicitly call for mass murder, not even the ones who openly celebrated the October 7 massacre or who literally danced in the street. As for those who may pick up the butcher knife themselves, they don’t advertise. But the antizionists all glibly excuse the murder of Jews. This is the clear meaning of the second slogan heard at their demonstrations: “By any means necessary.”

Rape, kidnapping, and murder, sexual mutilations, torture, and executions of whole families one after the other – this is what Hamas deems “necessary” – this is what antizionists excuse.

Sure, many university kids don’t know what river or sea they’re chanting about. Likewise, many writers and artists who sign open letters calling for Israelis to be cast out of humanity don’t understand the words they mouth; they’re just chasing the hatred du jour.

But Olivia Chow, the mayor of Canada’s largest city?

She can’t claim naiveté, especially as she’s been around leftist politics for decades. The “Free Palestine” crowd are her people.

So, when Olivia Chow called out “Free Palestine” at this June’s Pride Parade, she knew she was calling for death to Israel. At best, she might claim to be pandering to the haters in her base.

But imagine there were a movement to murder gay people that had massacred 1,200, perhaps in New York’s West Village and taken another 251 hostage. Imagine Toronto held many supporters of this movement and that restaurants, shops, and schools in Toronto’s gay village at been shot at dozens of times.

Suppose also that Constable Marc Pinizzotto was shot and killed while executing a search warrant connected to these imaginary anti-gay attacks – rather than in connection to the many shooting attacks on synagogues, Jewish schools, and the US Consulate, as actually happened. 

So, this imaginary anti-gay hate movement is responsible not only for uncountable murders abroad but also, allegedly, of a police officer here in Toronto.

Imagine also this anti-gay hate movement had the slogan: “Free the village” and Mayor Chow had shouted this slogan to oblige a hate group supporter.

She would be pilloried across the media, denounced by politicians and forced to resign. If she ran for re-election, the media wouldn’t let up. She’d want to talk about anything else, but reporters would ask, “Ms. Chow, do you support the murder of gays?”

Canadians don’t excuse people who support hate movements. With one all too obvious exception: a significant number of Canadians are fine with Jew-hatred dressed up as antizionism.

The National Post and the Toronto Sun (same media group) reported Chow’s words, and their columnists had much to say about them, none of it complimentary.

A Globe and Mail editorial, “Thoughts and prayers, Canadian Style,” pointed out that most politicians will say a few empty words when a synagogue or Jewish bakery is shot at, but fail to even name antizionsim as the hatred fuelling these attacks.

As for Mayor Olivia Chow, she’s "failed even more spectacularly," says the Globe. Yes, she says she’s dismayed when a Jewish school gets shot at, yadda, yadda, but she skips Jewish events and yells “Free Palestine” at the Pride Festival. "Through her actions,” the Globe says, “[she’s] shown where her sympathies lie."

And Chow continues to skip Jewish events. Recently, she took a pass on a debate about the orgy of antisemitism engulfing Toronto organized by Jewish Lawyers of Canada. The two other leading candidates in Toronto’s mayoral election were there – Brad Bradford and Chris Alexander. But not Chow.

Chow happily stands in front of a mic to declare that targeting the Jewish community is “despicable.” But she won’t stand in front of actual Jews. Jew-hatred is the one issue Chow dreads being confronted on.

By and large, the media seems willing to give her a pass. The Toronto Star and the CBC have never even noted Chow shouting the “Free Palestine” slogan.

Possibly, they’re instinctively shielding a politician much of their staff support. But I fear the real problem is that, like Chow, they’re sympathetic to antizionism. They’re okay with people hating Israel, Israelis and “Zionists.” They, too, are chasing the hatred du jour.

And it’s despicable. Because when the Mayor of Toronto shouts, “Free Palestine,” she’s encouraging others to go ahead and use “whatever means necessary.”

In Belleville, we saw this almost play out when a terrorist attempted to murder the Jews attending services there on the eve of Yom Kippur. Only the heroics of Constable Jeff Smith saved us from a mass casualty event, and now Jeff Smith still lies in the hospital suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.

I’m not suggesting Olivia Chow desired this outcome. Our homegrown antizionists prefer the terrorists to murder and rape far away; doubtless it feels less real that way. But Ms. Chow’s the mayor of Toronto. She can’t play at extremist politics. Real lives are at stake.

Constable Jeff Smith 

See the GoFundMe page for Jeff Smith here.

***

Yaakov ben Avraham is a writer, editor, and creative writing instructor who lives close to Bathurst and Sheppard in Toronto. He's writing under his Hebrew name for security reasons. This piece previously appeared on The Canadian Zionist Forum.

 

“Novellas are having a moment” – half a dozen publishers looking for novellas, novels, nonfiction, short stories and poetry

On September 27, we had the pleasure of hosting Gaby Sheiner, a new literary agent with Creative Artists Agency, one of the world’s largest entertainment agencies. (The book world is just a little corner of what they do. More on Gaby and CAA here.) During the workshop, Gaby mentioned that “Novellas are having a moment.” 

After decades of neglect, suddenly the big five publishers are acquiring novellas. Hachette has even launched a new imprint in its Union Square division devoted exclusively to novellas called Singularity.

They describe Singularity as “A bold new novella program dedicated to high-impact, one-sitting fiction.” It launched this month (Sept 2026) with novellas from Harlan Ellison (I have no mouth and I Must Scream) and Adam Cesare (Zero Lives Remaining). Read more about Singularity here.

Hachette imprints accept agented submissions only. But if you have a novella, this might be a good time to start querying agents. (And if you’re interested in getting or just meeting a literary agent, yes, I will be having another “How to Get Published” workshop soon.

But if you’re looking to submit to an independent Canadian publisher you don’t need an agent for, and you might try:

Stelliform Press “is a small independent literary press which publishes novellas, novels, short story collections, and works of creative nonfiction which address our world’s most pressing problems: climate change, ecological destruction, and the effect of these issues on how we relate to each other and to the other beings that live with us in the world. … Our stories challenge us to confront the roots of injustice which prevent us from achieving a better world for all.”

Currently, they are open to submissions only for novellas (17,500–39,999 words) by anyone and for novels (40,000–60,000 words) by BIPOC writers.

They are seeking science fiction, fantasy, quiet horror and literary works with speculative elements. Narratives should be interrelational, demonstrating some ways in which the environment changes us (and others) just as we change it.

Full submission guidelines here.

ECW Press has published at least one novella recently: Countess by Suzan Palumbo, in 2024 – which blends queer liberation themes with a sci-fi setting. For more on ECW Press and all the many kinds of books they publish, see here. 

Goose Lane Editions published How to Be Alone by Heather Nolan in 2023 – a pair of novellas that “depict the euphoric highs of a Queer awakening and the crushing lows of feeling Othered.” For more on Goose Lane, see here.

Book*hug Press published the novella, The Animals by Cary Fagan in 2022 – a realist novella with the air of a fairytale; a surprising, funny, and thought-provoking book that explores the nature of relationships. (Also, Book*Hug is particularly welcoming to older debut authors). More about Book*Hug here.

Caitlin Press published This Unlikely Soil by Andrea Routley in 2023 – a collection of five linked novellas exploring the failures of kindness and connection among a rural west-coast community of queer women.

Caitlin Press mainly publishes works of regional (BC) nonfiction, but also some fiction and poetry. Canadian authors only, with a majority being BC-based. They are interested in topics concerning BC or by writers from the BC Interior, stories about and by Canadian women, and LGBTQ+ voices. 

Dagger Editions is their imprint for the voices of queer womxn (anyone who includes this in their personal history) – visit Dagger Editions’ submission page for details about how to submit. 

Like everyone else, they encourage writers from marginalized backgrounds, including BIPOC-identifying folks, to submit their work.

In a normal year, Caitlin Press will publish twelve to fourteen books, most of which are regional nonfiction (e.g. BC history or exploration, industry, politics, contemporary creative nonfiction). The remaining titles are literary selections such as works of fiction, short fiction, poetry, or prose.

For the time being they are not publishing children’s fiction, but if you have an interesting children’s story that reflects life in Central BC, please feel free to send it.

Full submission guidelines here.

The Malahat Review awards a Novella Prize every other year (next deadline, Feb 2028), with a $2,000 prize and publication in the magazine. 

Malahat also has several other prestigious awards:

Open Season Awards – submit either poetry, short fiction, or creative nonfiction. Each is awarded a $2,000 prize. Submission fee: $20 until Sept 30, then $30. 

Deadline Nov 1, 2026. Full submission guideline here.

Long Poem Prize (deadline Feb 1, 2027),

Far Horizons Award for Poetry (deadline May 1, 2027)

Constance Rook Creative Nonfiction Prize (deadline Aug 1, 2027)

Far Horizons Award for Short Fiction (deadline May 1, 2028)

Details of all Malahat contests here.

Malahat also welcomes regular submissions of poetry short fiction, and creative nonfiction from January 11 to June 30 each year (and Feb 14 to Feb 28 for international writers. Full submission guidelines here.

For information about other publishers looking for manuscripts, see here (and scroll down).

See more writing contests and markets for your short pieces here (and scroll down).

See all of Brian Henry’s upcoming weekly writing classes, afternoon workshops, and wonderful retreats here.