Tuesday, November 30, 2010

"Grace," flash fiction by Sherrie Charter

You knew you were in trouble the instant you stepped off the platform. You should probably have wiped the sweat off your hands and ditched the back pack before attempting the monkey bars. But it was too late for that now as you hung slipping from the second bar.

All you could think of was the way Allison would laugh at you when you fell. The entire scenario played out in your mind before your fingers lost purchase on that stupid yellow cylinder and you fell into a heap on the ground.

Sure enough, you could hear Allison’s high pitched giggle even before the dust settled.“Look at Freaky Fannie! She can’t even make it halfway across!”

You stood up and ran, wiping tears from your eyes and gravel from your hair. Off to the corner of the playground, to your usual perch on an exposed root of the maple tree. Thoroughly miserable, you pulled a book from your bag and pretended to read.

Your bum hurt where it had hit the ground and you could use a Kleenex. Wiping your nose on your sleeve, you wondered why you weren’t built like all the other girls. Your short legs couldn’t run very fast and your skinny arms were no good at the monkey bars. That would be fine if you were cute like the others, but your fuzzy hair and big front teeth just added to the number of ways the others could exclude you.

Sure, you could read better than any of them and painted pictures that actually looked like something. But what did that matter? That didn’t win you any friends now. Your mother kept telling you that one day all your special talents would take you farther than fast feet and shiny hair ever could.

Big deal. A long road is just lonely without friends.

The bell rang. You stood up and started the long walk back to the door. You hoped Teacher wouldn’t call on you to answer any questions; that would just make things worse. Maybe there would be art today and you could create your own world on the easel. That would be better. Scrunching up your courage, you joined the end of the line and went inside to start another day in grade five.

Sherrie Charter is a self-professed dreamer and hopeful poet. She pays the bills as a Project Administrator, but has dabbled in many of the arts and performed in choirs and stage productions from a very young age. Sherrie grew up all over the Golden Horseshoe and currently calls Mississauga home. She blogs here: http://sherriecharter.wordpress.com/

For information about Brian Henry's writing workshops and creative writing courses, see here.

Monday, November 29, 2010

The 2011 Canadian Writers' Contest Calendar ~ available now!

Whether you’re a beginner or advanced writer, if you’re looking for places to send your work, you should put contests on your list. The Canadian Writers’ Contest Calendar gives a full listing of contests in Canada arranged by deadline date. It lists contests for short stories, poetry, children’s writing, novels, and non-fiction – contests for just about everyone.

The 2011 edition is now available and costs just $20 at one of my workshops or classes or $23 by mail (all taxes and shipping included). 
To order, email brianhenry@sympatico.ca

For information about my writing workshops and creative writing courses, see here.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Descant literary journal seeks submissions for "renovations" issue

Begun in 1970, Descant is a quarterly journal headquartered in Toronto and publishing new and established contemporary writers and visual artists from Canada and around the world. Descant considers submissions of poetry (submit about six poems), short stories, novel excerpts, plays, essays, interviews, musical scores and visual presentations.

Standards for acceptance are high. We receive a large number of submissions every month – please send only your best, carefully edited work. No submission may be under consideration by another publisher, nor can it have been previously published.

Please note that it can take up to 12 months to hear back from us regarding your submission. If accepted, it may take Descant another 12 months to publish accepted works (occasionally longer, often shorter). Descant pays a $100 honourarium upon publication.

Descant’s upcoming Renovations issue seeks to explore the built environment. The physical and metaphysical spaces we exist within and also create. Think Peter Mayle stripping a Provençal farmhouse to its joists and struts, a DJ layering Led Zeppelin overtop Frank Sinatra’s crooning, or rewriting Pride and Prejudice as a zombie novel — all are renovations.

Descant wants to create a space where Holmes on Homes can meet Oulipo lipograms. We want to read about new kitchens and bathrooms. We want stories and poems that renovate what literature can do. Reuse. Recycle. Renovate.  Deadline: March 15, 2011

Complete submission guidelines: http://www.descant.ca/submit.html  
Home: http://www.descant.ca/

For information about Brian Henry's writing workshops and creative writing courses, see here.

Saturday, November 27, 2010

We’re reading out loud at CJ’s Café in Bronte Dec 2, 9 and 15

We have 3 reading nights coming up:
Thursday, Dec 2
Thursday, Dec 9
& Wednesday, Dec 15

at CJ's Café in Bronte, 2416 Lakeshore Rd W, Oakville. (On the south side of Lakeshore, just east of Bronte Rd, next to Lick’s ice cream – map here.)

All 3 evenings start at 6:30 p.m. and will go to about 9:00.  Don't be late! we can't start until everyone has their coffee.

Participants in the Intermediate and Intensive creative writing courses will be reading aloud from their work. Come and be blown away! We’ll have a line-up of the most amazing emerging writers west of Toronto, and they’ll be reading some of the best work you’ll hear this year. Don’t miss it!

Besides coming to hear the readings, you're also invited to come as a participant, to give a public reading of your own writing. If you’ve done this before, you know what a charge it is. If you want to give it a try, just email me: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

Note: we can have only a limited number of readers in an evening. December 2 and December 15 are already full. But you can get on the waiting list for those nights (people's plans do change) and we have a few spots open for Dec 9. But don’t delay, these spots will fill up, too.

Meanwhile, be sure to check out all the other great stuff going on at CJ’s, home of the best lattes in North America : http://www.cjscafeinbronte.com/

For information about Brian Henry's upcoming creative writing classes and writing workshops, see here.

Friday, November 26, 2010

You're invited to a book launch & reception for "Island Girl" by Lynda Simmons

What would you do If you found out you had Alzheimer’s?

Island Girl
A love story about family, friends and impossible choices

"Simmons exhibits an exquisitely deft understanding of the extraordinary difficulties that unite a family." -Publishers Weekly

“…emotionally moving. . . elegantly written and insightful.”  -RT Reviews

“You have got to read this book!”-Patricia Grace, Blogtalk Radio

Island Girl has two launches:

Wednesday, December 8, 2010 6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m
Different Drummer Books
513 Locust Street, Burlington
905-639-0925
(Free parking after 6:00)

and

Monday December 13, 2010
5:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Elephant & Castle Pub
Corner of King & Simcoe, Toronto
416-598-4455
(Across from Roy Thompson Hall. TTC is best!)

Hope to see you at one or the other!

- Lynda

Island Girl is Lynda's eighth novel.  She'll be our guest speaker at the "How to Build Your Story" workshop on January 22, 2011, in Oakville.  Details here.
For information about all of Brian Henry's writing workshops and creative writing courses, see here.

The Puritan on-line literary quarterly seeks submissions

The Puritan is an online, quarterly publication based in Toronto and committed to publishing the best in new fiction, non-fiction, poetry, interviews, and reviews.

The Puritan seeks, above all, a pioneering literature. Submissions may push toward the symbolic frontier, challenging limitations and forging into previously unexplored aesthetic territory. But they may also revisit and revitalize traditional forms. We seek work wherever it lands on the conceptual spectrum, so long as it is original, intelligent, and engaging.

Submissions:

Fiction: Feel free to push boundaries. We have diverse tastes; try us out. Length is up to you, but a story over 10,000 words will only be considered if it is of exceptional quality. Stories of high quality and high word counts may be considered for serialization. Please read our last two (2) or three (3) issues in our archive in order to familiarize yourself with work we have published in the past. Only send one (1) story at a time, unless you are writing flash fiction (or stories under 500 words), in which case you can send up to three (3).

Nonfiction: See above. Send only one (1) piece at a time. Non-fiction submissions can be anything from memoirs and creative non-fiction to academic essays on a literary subject. We're open to just about anything, but the more literary your topic, the better.

Poetry: Baffle us, tangle us up, or break our hearts. We're looking for poems of any length (including sequences and long poems). Send up to four (4) poems at a time.

Interviews: Interviews must be thoughtful, compelling, and original. Strive for depth. They must also be conducted with writers, publishers, editors, and other sorts involved in the world of books and publishing. Length is up to you. Please understand that your subject will be contacted in order to verify that your submission was indeed a legitimate conversation. Please supply your interview with a title that includes the name of your interviewee, such as "The Steadfast Heart": An Interview with William Bradford. Send only one interview at a time.

Book reviews: We are looking for insightful and challenging reviews of recently released fiction, poetry, and non-fiction. Reviews can be up to 2,000 words in length. We prefer to publish reviews of books released by smaller Canadian publishers, but are open to other works, as well. Please supply your review with a title, and the necessary information about the book you are reviewing. Send only one review at a time. Abide by the following model - Title, Publisher, Year, Price, Number of Pages, and then your name, like so:
"Ahead of His Time": A Review of Thomas Morton's The New English Canaan.
The Prince Society, 1883.
$19.95, 300 pages.
Review by Mortimer Sneed.
If you would like to review on a regular basis for The Puritan, please send us a sample review, and we may enlist you in our ever-growing team of elect reviewers.

Complete submission guidelines here: http://www.puritan-magazine.com/submissions.php
Home: http://www.puritan-magazine.com/

Current issue: http://www.puritan-magazine.com/currentIssue.php

For information about Brian Henry's writing workshops and creative writing courses, see here.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Emily van Beek joins Folio Literary Management, seeks children's lit

Folio Literary Management
505 8th Avenue, Suite 603
New York, NY 10018
http://foliolit.com/ 

Folio is a New York literary agency, with a dozen agents – most of whom are open to new authors. Folio handles both fiction and nonfiction.  Like many agencies that couldn't hep but notice the success of the Twilight series following on the heels of the massively successful Harry Potter series, Folio has recently been expanding the number of children's authors they represent.
 
Most recently, the highly respected children's lit agent Emily van Beek left Pippin Properties to join Folio and to help them build their children’s book division.

Emily moved from Toronto to New York in 1999 armed, as she says, "with a dream to work in children’s book publishing and inspiration from my favorite (if clichéd) Zen magnet: 'Leap and the net will appear.'"

Hyperion Books for Children hired her as an editorial assistant and she soon advanced to an editor's position.  At Hyperion, Emily worked on projects by celebrated authors and artists such as Julie Andrews Edwards, Rosemary Wells, Susan Jeffers, and L.M. Elliott.  After 3 years she moved to the agenting side of the business and spent six years as an agent and the rights director at Pippin Properties, Inc., a boutique children’s literary agency.  (For more on Pippin Properties and authors they're looking for, see here.)

"I am exclusively interested in acquiring projects for young and teen readers," says Emily.  "From picture books by authors and author/artists, to authentic and fresh middle-grade fiction, to lyrical and daring YA.

"I’m looking for voices that won’t be ignored. I am open to considering all sorts of YA from mysteries to well-written chick lit, coming-of-age, the lyrical, the literary, and the laughable. I am looking for fiction that has an impact—whether it packs a punch or effects change with a more subtle hand, but something that can’t be put down, a manuscript that begs me to turn the page, work that changes me with the reading. I’m really, really looking for something that feels new, that I haven’t read before. I am not the best agent for fangs, claws, and wings. These topics have been very successfully published already. I’m looking for what comes after vampires and werewolves. I would love to be surprised!

"I believe it was Ursula Nordstrom who once wrote (of the process of considering a manuscript) something along the lines of: “If you can resist it, do.” A tough love sort of approach to the process, but it’s a litmus test I often use to help me decide if I am the right agent to represent a particular project and to help an author achieve his or her publishing goals."

Query Emily at: Emily@foliolit.com
If you are an author / illustrator, please let me know if you have a website / online portfolio that I should visit! If you’re a novelist, please include a synopsis, the first ten pages of your manuscript, and any relevant information (such as previous publishing experience) in the body of your email. I do my best to respond to all queries within four to six weeks.

For a list of all the agents at Folio and what they represent see here.

Brian Henry has a couple "How to Get Published" workshops coming up: in Mississauga on December 4 with literary agent Martha Magor Webb of Ann McDermid and Associates (see here) and in Burlington on February 19 with agent Alisha Sevigny of the Rights Factory (see here).  Brian also has a few Writing for Children and Young Adults workshops coming up: on January 29 in Kitchener (see here), on February 26 in Barrie (see here), and on March 5 in Toronto (see here).

For information about all of Brian's writing workshops and creative writing courses, see here.

"How to Get Published," Saturday, February 19, Burlington

An editor & an agent tell all
Saturday, February 19
10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Christophers Anglican Church, 662 Guelph Line, Burlington (Map here.)

If you've ever dreamed of becoming a published author, this workshop is for you. We’ll cover everything from getting started to getting an agent, from getting your short pieces published to finding a book publisher, from writing a query letter to writing what the publishers want. Bring your questions. Come and get ready to be published!

Workshop leader Brian Henry has been a book editor and creative writing teacher for more than 25 years. He has helped many of his students get their first book published and launch their careers as authors.

Guest speaker Alisha Sevigny has been a literary agent at The Rights Factory for two years and currently represents both adult fiction and non-fiction titles. For fiction she prefers well-written, quirky stories that have great characters and a compelling plot. For non-fiction she loves a good book that contributes meaningfully to society in some way, where the author has either a strong hook or platform for launching their story.

Alisha enjoys finding new talent and many of her clients are debut authors. They include fiction writer Susan Glickman whose first novel, The Violin Lover, won the Canadian Jewish Book Award for Fiction and was listed by The National Post as one of the best books of 2006. She also represents non-fiction author holistic beauty guru Kristen Ma’s prescriptive non-fiction book, Beauty, Pure and Simple, and The Next Eco-Warriors: The 21st Century Battle to Save the Planet by Emily Hunter.

More about the Rights Factory here.

Special Option: Participants are invited to bring a draft of a query letter you might use to interest an agent or publisher in your book. You don’t need to bring anything, but if you do, 3 copies could be helpful.

Fee: $38.94 plus hst = $44 paid in advance
or $42.48 plus hst = $48 if you wait to pay at the door
To reserve your spot, email brianhenry@sympatico.ca

For information about all of Brian's writing workshops and creative writing courses, see here.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Prose & Poetry at Prana Coffee House in Toronto

"Writing with Style," Saturday, March 12, Guelph

With book editor Brian Henry & author Jean Rae Baxter
Saturday, March 12
10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Harcourt Memorial United Church, 87 Dean Ave, Guelph (Map here.)

If you do any kind of creative writing, fiction or non-fiction, this workshop is for you. We’ll tackle the nitty-gritty of putting words on paper in a way that will grip the reader’s imagination. You'll learn how to avoid common errors that drain the life from your prose. And you'll discover how to make your writing more vivid, more elegant and more powerful.

Workshop leader Brian Henry has been a book editor and creative writing teacher for more than 25 years. He has helped many of his students get published, including guest speaker Jean Rae Baxter…

Jean Rae Baxter has written six books. She's published a short story collection, A Twist of Malice (Seraphim Press), two young adult historical novels, The Way Lies North and Broken Trail (Ronsdale Press), and a literary murder mystery, Looking for Cardenio (Seraphim). She has also contracted a second short story collection, Scattered Light, which will be out in the fall and a third young adult historical novel,The Runaways, which will be published in the spring of 2012.


Fee: $38.94 + hst = $44 paid in advance
or $42.48 + hst = $48 if you wait to pay at the door
To reserve a spot now, email brianhenry@sympatico.ca

For information about all of Brian's writingworkshops and creative writing courses, see here.

Monday, November 22, 2010

"Without Words," a remembrance by Fred Cahoon

I was born when my dad was forty-five years old, a happy mistake, according to my mother. I remember her telling me, how proud my dad was the day I was born and how he had given out a truck-load of cigars. The truck-load metaphor was appropriate, since my dad owned his own ice and oil business and one of his trucks was always in our driveway at the end of each day.

Twenty-five years since he died and all I have to do to be near him is smell his old woolen sweater I’ve saved. His identifiable scent, a combination of El Producto cigar and fuel oil transports me back. I keep the sweater in a Time suit bag. My kids always seek it out and smell it whenever they come to visit. They loved their “Bamp” and didn’t need any words from him to know he loved them just as much.

It’s funny how the sense of smell can transport people back in time. One early spring day, the warm sun seemed to beckon me to dig a lawn chair out of the snow and sit outside on the deck, but not in two feet of the white stuff. I began shoveling at the deck’s edge; spearing and sliding off shovels full until I reached the wood decking. That’s when it hit me, the smell of wet wood.

Instantly I was ten or eleven and my dad was loading the ice truck on an early summer morning with me standing there groggily watching. I didn’t mind helping drag the hose on the oil truck, but even then it embarrassed me to “help” my father make his ice deliveries.

I don’t know exactly why I felt this way, but I did. Sure, I marveled how strong he was, easily able to maneuver the bluish white 300 lb blocks of ice with his ice tongs, sliding the blocks from the ice house storeroom out onto the loading platform and then onto the truck bed. He stacked them lengthwise in an orderly pattern, covering them with a heavy piece of canvas. As needed for deliveries, he cut the required size piece with his ice pick, which he kept in a sheath attached to his belt.

What I hated though, was seeing him stooped over under the weight of half a bar of ice on his back as he walked up the stairs of someone’s second or third floor apartment. Perhaps it was also because I had heard my mother say on more than one occasion, “Your dad should have been a professional person with an office instead of having to toil with his back.” Then she’d say, “Soon everyone will have an electric refrigerator and there won’t be any need for ice delivery.”

Although none of my friends ever teased me about my dad being an iceman, I think my mum’s words, combined with the vision of my dad bent under the weight of the ice, left me wishing neither he nor I had to be involved. And it all it took was the scent of wet wood – the same smell then and now – to transport me back to those memories and feelings.

My father never hugged me or told me he loved me. Come to think of it, the hardest thing I ever did was tell him I loved him. Stupid really, since we loved each other very much, far more than words could ever express. I never really thought of it as a child or felt the need for a verbal and physical confirmation of our affection for each other. I didn’t need to then; he was my father and our home was happy and secure. He never told me he loved me, but he showed me.

Often he’d arrive home with a ball or some small toy and only give it to me after his twinkling eyes or half smile let me know he had something. I remember the same smile when, after my mother had called me numerous times to come for supper and me offering a repeated, “Okay, mum, just a minute,” so I could make one final catch in the after-school ballgame out on the street, my father would come to the door, hold it open, and in a low, snarling, clipped voice, tell me to “Get in here now!”

I would run towards the front steps, jump to the third step from the bottom, and then dive under my dad’s half-hearted swiping spank as he held the storm door open. Once into the hallway, it would be a full out chase through the kitchen, into the dining room, into the living room and round again, with my dad placing chairs strategically to block my passage.

The game lasted until my mother would say, “Okay you guys, that’s enough. Sit down – your supper‘s getting cold!”

When I joined the Navy after high school, my parents drove me into the Naval Yard where I would shortly leave for Basic Training. As we said our goodbyes, my mother wept as we hugged. My father stuck out his calloused hand and said, “Do what they tell you.” It was the best he could say and I’ve never forgotten it.

There’s a picture of my father at Christmas; a profile shot of his head and face I took when I was in my thirties. He has his trademark stub of a cigar sticking out from under his nose with the smoke encircling his head. The crows-feet beside his right eye belie a half smile, almost as if he knew I would love this picture more and more as the years passed and, of course, I do.

When they left me at the naval yard, he and I shook hands and he pulled me toward him. No hug, but I got his meaning.

My father died at eighty-six, in hospital, on morphine following a recent lower leg amputation and was drifting in and out of consciousness. As I was about to leave, my wife told me to tell him I loved him, perhaps suspecting it might be the last time I saw him alive. Though I slightly resented being told, I knew it was the right thing to do. I said, “I love you, Dad.”

Somehow, it sounded shallow to my ear. He didn’t visibly react; maybe he didn’t hear me or maybe he still couldn’t say it back.

Though I know my father loved me, I never heard him tell me; something my son and daughter have never had to think about. Today is my father’s birthday; he’d have been one hundred twelve. I still celebrate quietly, without the words.

Fred Cahoon is a retired Microbiologist and lives with his wife on the Severn River. Blessed with a keen memory for the details of his youth and primarily written as a memoir for his son, daughter and grandchildren, Fred has compiled a collection of over a dozen short stories related to his boyhood years in New England. Fred is currently working on his first novel. Fred also feels passionate about the beauty of nature and the sea which has inspired him to write many poems using a variety of rhyming styles. Fall is his favorite season.

For information about Brian Henry's writing workshops and creative writing courses, see here.

Creative Nonfiction contest: The Night – Deadline Januay 10, 2011

Creative Nonfiction magazine and The Salt Institute for Documentary Studies are seeking essays about "The Night": It was a dark and stormy night; Strangers in the Night; the night sky; Friday Night Lights; things that go bump in the night; Take Back the Night; night owls; The Night Before Christmas; The Night Watch; The Night Kitchen; The Armies of the Night; The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down; prom night; date night; Good Night, Nurse!

Essays must be vivid and dramatic; they should combine a strong and compelling narrative with a significant element of research or information, and reach for some universal or deeper meaning in personal experiences. We're looking for well-written prose, rich with detail and a distinctive voice.

Essays will be judged by Susan Orlean, and Best Essay will be awarded $5,000 plus publication in the Summer 2011 issue of Creative Nonfiction. One runner-up will receive $2,500 plus publication online.

Guidelines: Essays must be unpublished, 4,000 words maximum, postmarked by January 10, 2011, and clearly marked "The Night" on both the essay and the outside of the envelope. Author's name and contact information should appear in a cover letter, but not the manuscript itself. There is a $20 reading fee. Please send manuscript, accompanied by a cover letter with complete contact information including the title of the essay, SASE and payment to:

Creative Nonfiction
Attn: The Night
5501 Walnut Street, Suite 202
Pittsburgh, PA 15232

Creative Nonfiction was the first and is still the largest literary magazine to regularly and exclusively publish high quality nonfiction prose. The journal has helped launch the careers of some of the genre's most exciting emerging writers, as well as helping establish the creative nonfiction genre as a worthy academic pursuit.

Creative Nonfiction has a circulation of 7,000 and serves the whole spectrum of readers, from nonfiction and journalism enthusiasts to poetry and fiction writers, editors and agents.

Recent partnerships with book publishers, notably W. W. Norton and Southern Methodist University Press, have led to special issues published simultaneously as books an arrangement that not only offers great value to subscribers but also helps work stay in print for longer and have wider distribution.

The editorial board of Creative Nonfiction includes many of America’s most important authors of creative nonfiction: Diane Ackerman, Buzz Bissinger, Edwidge Danticat, Annie Dillard, Dave Eggers, Jonathan Franzen, Tracy Kidder, Rick Moody, Dinty W. Moore, Patricia Park, Francine Prose, Richard Rodriguez, Lea Simonds, Rebecca Skloot, and Gay Talese.

Home: https://www.creativenonfiction.org/
Submissions: https://www.creativenonfiction.org/thejournal/submittocnf.htm

To keep up to date with all the annual writing contests in Canada, get the 2011 Canadian Writers' Contest Calendar just $23 including tax and shipping. To order your copy, email brianhenry@sympatico.ca  
For information about Brian Henry's writing workshops and creative writing courses, see here.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

"Morning Rhyme" by Cynthia Young

A poem for Existentialists, Nihilists, and Agnostics
mirror, mirror on the wall,
am I really here at all?
I see you, but look at me,
so who is it, I really see?

are you here or am I there?
am I really meant to care?
I see my eyes,
I feel my face,
but am I really in this place?

am I real?
or am I fake?
perhaps I'm some
false god’s mistake?

still, I have mass,
and take up space…
a little “matter”,
the human race?
*
Cynthia Young has been an avid reader and writer since elementary school. She delights in reading a good descriptive story that is told lyrically and/or with dry humour. Cynthia has worked as an editor, a legal assistant, and a concierge. Her experience as a copy editor and her love for making puns make her especially fun at parties.

For information about Brian Henry's writing workshops and creative writing courses, see here.

Friday, November 19, 2010

"Writing for Children," Saturday, March 5, Toronto

Writing for Children & for Young Adults – the world's hottest market
Saturday, March 5
10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
The World's Biggest Bookstore, 20 Edward St, Toronto
(A block north of Dundas, just west off Yonge St.)

Whether you want to write the next best-selling children’s books or just want to create stories for your own kids, this workshop is for you. Learn how to write stories kids and young adults will love, and find out what you need to know to sell your book.

Special option: You may, but don't have to, bring 2 copies of the opening couple pages (first 500 words) of your children’s book or young adult novel. (Or if 1,000 words will get you to the end of your picture book or to the end of your first chapter, bring that.) If you’re not currently working on a children’s story, don’t worry, we’ll get you started on the spot!

Workshop leader Brian Henry has been a book editor and creative writing instructor for more than 25 years. He is also the author of a children’s version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Tribute Publishing Inc).

"Brian’s the real deal. He isn't just an inspiring teacher – he's plugged into the publishing world! He got me an agent who sold my first novel, Bitten, to publishers around the world. Last May, my young adult novel, The Awakening, hit number 1 on the New York Times bestsellers' list. And Random House Canada, Bantam U.S. and Little Brown in Britain have contracted my next seven books. So it looks like I’ll be writing for a while."
- Kelley Armstrong, Aylmer, Ontario, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Awakening, The Reckoning, The Gathering, and other supernatural thrillers for teens and adults.

Fee: $38.94 + 13% hst = $44 paid in advance
or $42.48 + 13% hst = $48 if you wait to pay at the door
To reserve a spot now, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

Photos: Two books by Brian"s students – The Awakening, a #1 New York Times bestselling YA novel by Kelley Armstrong and Business in Bangkok, a picture book by Lynn Westerhout.

For information about all of Brian's writing workshops and creative writing courses, see here.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Brianne Mulligan joins Movable Type Literary, seeks youth and adult fiction

Former Razorbill associate editor Brianne Mulligan has joined Movable Type Literary Group as an associate agent. At the agency, she will focus on “high concept young adult and middle grade fiction” along with a few commercial fiction and nonfiction projects for adult readers.

At Razorbill (Penguin's YA imprint), Mulligan acquired Will Hill‘s upcoming Department 19 and David Iserson‘s Firecracker. She has also worked at Random House’s Doubleday Broadway and Penguin’s Gotham Books.

Mulligan had this statement: “I’ve worked inside corporate publishing for my entire career, and I’m very excited to use my knowledge to help authors find success … Movable Type is on everybody’s short list of agencies doing things right, and I’m looking forward to helping them move into juvenile fiction.”

Rachel Vogel also recently joined Movable Type, where she specializes in upmarket fiction and narrative nonfiction.

Submissions: General submissions may be sent via e-mail to submissions@movabletypenyc.com  

For non-fiction proposals, Movable Type requests a variation of the traditional query letter, a less formal, more efficient document: one page with three paragraphs. First, personal history and platform, including previous publications, media appearances, training, etc. Second, a concise description of the book concept, including unique selling points. Third, a preview of the promotional plan, including endorsements, media contacts, and brand development.

For fiction: Having found that that query letters do a fine job of showcasing one's talent in writing jacket copy or promotional material but rarely offer agents a useful preview of a writer's prosecraft, in lieu of query letters, MTLG asks that authors send the first ten pages of their manuscript, followed by a one page synopsis of the balance of the work, and a word count.

More about Movable Type Literary Group here.

Note: Brian Henry has a couple "How to Get Published" workshops coming up: in Mississauga on December 4 with literary agent Martha Magor Webb  (see here) and in Burlington on February 19 with agent Alisha Sevigny of the Rights Factory  (details to come. - more about Alisha and The Rights Factory here and here.).

For information about all of Brian's writing workshops and creative writing courses, see here.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

You’re invited to a book launch & open house, Thursday, November 18, in Lindsay

Rev. Janet Stobie and A Place Called Home homeless residence invite you to our book launch and open house, to introduce our new story book:
A Place Called Home (Homeless? Who, me?)
Thursday, November 18
5:30 - 7:00 p.m. Book Signing and Open House
6:00 p.m. Official Launch Ceremony
at A Place Called Home Offices, 64 Lindsay Street South, Lindsay, Ontario
RSVP 705-328-0905 Ext. 221

All proceeds from the sale of A Placed Called Home will be used in support of the homeless programs at the residence in Lindsay Ontario.

The book will be available for purchase at the launch, in Lindsay at Footprints and Kent Book stores, from the author, at A Place Called Home offices and on the internet at www.revjantheauthor.blogspot.com  and www.aplacecalledhome.org

For informaiton about Brian Henry's writing workshops and creative writing courses, see here

Monday, November 15, 2010

Writers wanted to read their work out loud at CJ’s Café

Come and hear some of the best writers you'll hear this year read their work.  We have 3 nights of readings coming up:
Thursday, Dec 2
Thursday, Dec 9
& Wednesday, Dec 15

All 3 evenings start at 6:30 p.m.
at CJ's Café in Bronte, 2416 Lakeshore Rd W, Oakville. (On the south side of Lakeshore, just east of Bronte Rd, next to Lick’s ice cream – map here.)

Besides coming to hear the readings, you're also invited to come as a participant, to give a public reading of your own writing – if you’ve ever published a piece on Quick Brown Fox (or you have a piece in the queue waiting for publication) or if you’ve taken any of my “Intensive,” “Intermediate,” “Extreme” or “Advanced” creative writing courses.

If you’ve done this before, you know what a charge it is. If you haven’t done it yet, don’t miss this opportunity! To reserve your spot on the readers’ list, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

We can have only a limited number of readers in an evening. December 2 is already full.  We have one spot still open Dec 15, and half a dozen open for Dec 9.  But don’t delay, these nights will fill up, too.

For information about Brian Henry's upcoming creative writing classes and writing workshops, see here.

"Gertrude and Claudius," by John Updike, reviewed by Maria Rainier

I was in a used book store looking for a copy of Ezra Pound’s The Cantos – one with a nice, beat-up spine and some character so that it would already look like I’d read it – when a clerk dumped several volumes in a pile in the corner (evidently part of their sorting system). Then he rushed back to the cash register.

At the very top of the pile was a significantly smaller book than the one I was looking for, but there were two names printed on its cover that appealed to my addiction to the classics and to medieval nerdiness: Gertrude and Claudius.

I never knew that John Updike had written any lengthier works than those in the collection of short stories I’d been forced to read in my junior year of high school, and also some series involving a rabbit or something. That he had taken a stab at the retelling of Hamlet from the perspective of his murderous uncle-turned-stepfather and his troubled mother was news to me.

I forgot to buy The Cantos.

As I read Updike’s forward to Gertrude and Claudius, I learned that he had taken into account the earlier Scandinavian legends of royal heirs feigning insanity to avenge a father’s murder. Updike also fleshes out the scenery and culture of the characters’ present – the gradual switch from paganism to Renaissance humanism and empiricism – that readers hungry for more than Shakespeare’s dialogue will appreciate.

The narrative is beautifully written. What is perhaps most delightful is that the reader forgets most, if not all, prejudices against Gertrude and even the murderous Claudius as a forbidden love blossoms years ahead of the tragedy where Shakespeare took up his tale.

The more one knows Hamlet and the innuendo and quips old William wrote between the lines, the more one is likely to enjoy Updike’s version. I remember my days in English Lit with Mrs. Johnson—most of my classmates failed to sympathize with the hesitant and brooding Hamlet, although I, being hesitant and somewhat brooding myself, always did.

In Updike’s hands, the sullen, loner prince who stands between Gertrude and Claudius in this novel has become something like the villain, and no Shakespeare play will be the same again.

Maria Rainier is a freelance writer and blog junkie from Indiana. She is currently a resident blogger at First in Education, researching various online programs and degree programs. In her spare time, she enjoys square-foot gardening, swimming, and avoiding her laptop.

Quick Brown Fox welcomes your book reviews or or other book related articles.  Guidelines here.

For information about Brian Henry's writing workshops and creative writing courses, see here.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

"Writing for Children," Saturday, February 26, Barrie

Writing for Children & for Young Adults – the world's hottest market
Saturday, February 26
10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
The Community Room in Zehrs, 472 Bayfield Street, Barrie
(Next to Wal-Mart, across from Georgian Mall)

Whether you want to write the next best-selling children’s books or just want to create stories for your own kids, this workshop is for you. Learn how to write stories kids and young adults will love, and find out what you need to know to sell your book.

Special option: You may, but don't have to, bring 2 copies of the opening couple pages (first 500 words) of your children’s book or young adult novel. (Or if 1,000 words will get you to the end of your picture book or to the end of your first chapter, bring that.) If you’re not currently working on a children’s story, don’t worry, we’ll get you started on the spot!

Workshop leader Brian Henry has been a book editor and creative writing instructor for more than 25 years. He is also the author of a children’s version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Tribute Publishing Inc).

"Brian’s the real deal. He isn't just an inspiring teacher – he's plugged into the publishing world! He got me an agent who sold my first novel, Bitten, to publishers around the world. Last May, my young adult novel, The Awakening, hit number 1 on the New York Times bestsellers' list. And Random House Canada, Bantam U.S. and Little Brown in Britain have contracted my next seven books. So it looks like I’ll be writing for a while."
- Kelley Armstrong, Aylmer, Ontario, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Awakening, The Reckoning, The Gathering, and other supernatural thrillers for teens and adults.

Fee: $38.94 + 13% hst = $44 paid in advance
or $42.48 + 13% hst = $48 if you wait to pay at the door
To reserve a spot now, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca  

Photos: Two books by Brian"s students – Journey to the City of Six Gates by Graeme MacQueen and The Awakening, a #1 New York Times bestselling YA novel by Kelley Armstrong

For information about all of Brian's writing workshops and creative writing courses, see here.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Gaspereau Press, publisher of the Giller Prize winning novel, "The Sentimentalists" by Johanna Skibsrud

Johanna Skibsrud author of The Sentimentalists
Gaspereau Press
47 Church Avenue
Kentville, Nova Scotia
B4N 2M7
http://www.gaspereau.com/

"Gaspereau Press is a Nova Scotia owned and operated trade publisher based in Kentville, Nova Scotia. Publishing short-run editions of both literary and regional interest, Gaspereau Press produces quality first-edition paperbacks and limited-edition hardcover books aimed at the Canadian market. Our list includes poetry, local histories, literary essays, novels and short-story collections.  They publish about ten new titles a year."
 
And they're not kidding about creating quality books.  Now that Johanna Skibsrud has won the Giller for The Sentimentalists, Gapereau hasn't gone to a mass market press and asked them to crank out 50,000 copies by tomorrow.  They're continuing to hand-print on Rolland’s Zephyr Antique Laid, a creamy, sensual book paper.  Then the signatures are smyth-sewn and bound into card covers and enfolded in letterpress-printed jackets.   Gaspereau can create only about 1,000 of these a week, a small fraction of the current demand.  I can't imagine the author is happy with this.
 
Gapereau may give in to pressure to mass produce The Sentimentalists, but unless or until they do, it will be in short supply, possibly for the next year or two.   If you want a copy, I suggest you order it today, directly from the publisher.  (The publisher gets to keep a lot more of what you pay that way, too). Or download one onto your Kobo reader. (Sorry not available for Kindle.) 

If you're interested in submitting to Gaspereau, they accept both partial and full manuscripts for consideration. But all submissions and editorial inquiries should be sent by mail no email submissions.  They reply within four to eight months.  They publish only Canadian authors and do not publish children's books, commercial or mass-market fiction, cookbooks, how-to guides, fantasy novels, romance novels, science fiction or mysteries.

Full submission guidelines here: http://www.gaspereau.com/submit.shtml

For information about Brian Henry's writing workshops and creative writing courses, see here.

"Autumn Mauve," a remembrance by Lauren Ryan

Isabel Milne Ryan 1928-1995

It was a simple tube of lipstick, a pretty pinkish-mauve, one my mother always liked. She’d asked to borrow it and I’d lent it to her, quickly forgetting all about it. Several weeks later, when my life would change forever, it appeared again unexpectedly in a basket where I kept my makeup.

Though the lipstick is now long gone, I never could part with that basket. It’s moved with me over the years, from apartment to apartment, and house to house, tucked away in a box that rarely gets opened. It’s faded and old, collecting dust now, like some of my memories. But there are some memories that never leave you.

Fifteen years ago this September we learned my mother had colon cancer and needed an operation to see how far it had spread. My three siblings and I were given her expected prognosis shortly after: six months to a year to live. After the news, she moved into my apartment to recover from the operation. My sister Andrea temporarily suspended her life in Montreal and my other siblings Michele and Greg, visited frequently. Together, we planned simple day trips, trying to squeeze a lifetime of living into those last few months.

While recovering, she experienced a lot of pain and at one point, it got so bad we took her to the E.R. After hours of watching her be poked and prodded we were elated when the doctors told us it was just a hernia. Soon after, they were apologizing. It was not a hernia and she would have to be admitted again. This time it would be her last.

We gathered around her bed after the doctor had left the room. She acknowledged in a roundabout way that she knew she was dying.

“I know what you know,” she whispered to us, as if we too, had just been given the news.

She told us about final things that needed to be done: clothes to be picked up at the cleaners, cheques to be returned, as though she were making plans to be away on a long trip, not dying.

It was December, three months later. As Christmas approached, she slipped a little further away. It was surreal; this woman who had fiercely loved and cared for us all those years was now deteriorating. We had a celebration of sorts in her hospital room on Christmas day. Presents were opened and food was shared although she could no longer eat. We kept up a front of cheerfulness for her, and she did the same for us. Finally, on January 4, she slipped away for good.

My mother was loving and kind with a silly sense of humour and a strong sentimental outlook on life. She was an avid reader and lover of music, especially the big band era and jazz of all types. She could spend hours poking around in stores filled with music, books or other quirky treasures. On many occasions she came home with an assortment of different items, like a purple heart-shaped glass ashtray, a flowery tea cosy or funky coloured tights.

“Isn’t this gorgeous, Lauren?” she would beam, showing me her latest ‘odd’ treasure. “Only thirty dollars!” Her tastes grew more experimental the older she got.

She was a unique spirit who danced to her own funny beat. Literally. She would stomp with her feet, bop from side to side and sing – ‘dah, dah, dah’ - while furiously clapping her hands. It always cracked us up. Some mornings I would wake up to her singing “It’s a beautiful day......! Da na, na na na!” as she breezed through my room yanking open the curtains in an attempt to get my lazy bones out of bed.

She often made up strange words that were used throughout our lives. I still remember some of them, as they became part of her vocabulary. “Awww..Bodie Godin..!” (rough translation: poor you!)

In the fifties, she left her home town Winnipeg behind with my father to make a new start in Toronto. Together they raised four children. We have fond memories of her piling us into the old, black family station wagon and taking us on adventures – everywhere. But she would always get lost coming home. One time we ended up in a field in the pitch black surrounded by cows.

My mother rarely got upset about the dumb things we did as kids. My oldest sister Michele was never reprimanded for destroying a table center piece (full of feathers) for a school project, or running away (and taking the neighbourhood with her) to follow a fire in the distance, or even taking the baby sister (me), and climbing onto the neighbours’ roofs for the view.

Another memory that stands out involves my grandmother who, in one of her moods, did something outrageous one day while my mother was at work. Michele ran to tattle on her the minute my mom walked through the door.

“Mom!” she whispered excitedly. “Grandma tore down all the vines on the house!”

“Ok,”she murmured, concealing her obvious disappointment. “Thanks for telling me.”

Her beloved vines were gone but Grandma never incurred any wrath from her, though one could argue it was well deserved.

I remember the care packages she sent us when we were away at University, especially the letters and cards filled with day-to-day happenings and lots of love and the giant chocolate chip cookies for Michele that always arrived broken. My sister Andrea remembers opening packages filled with the odd combination of bacon and underwear.

Although she had been hesitant to speak her mind at times, she grew quite bold in later years. When someone was rude at the grocery store, she would purposely bump their butt ever so gently with her cart. Or declare in the line-up a little louder than necessary “Someone’s being very rude!” As a teen, I wanted to shrivel up and die. Now I can only smile.

There was further evidence as she got older that she no longer cared what others thought. If someone pointed out the piece of macaroni that had unknowingly landed in the middle of her shirt, she just shrugged it off with a wave of her hand. “Oh well, never mind!”

Once, she taped up her broken glasses and if anyone asked what had happened, she would shrug and reply “I haven’t gotten around to replacing them yet.”

Stories shared about her past often evoked in her a melancholic mixture of emotions. She had almost no memory of her own mother who suffered from a mental illness and was sent to an institution when my mother was very young. A number of female relatives helped care for the three daughters until their father hired a housekeeper, whom he eventually married.

She had a strained relationship with her father, who had always been a cold and distant figure. As a Math professor at the University of Manitoba, he was not particularly supportive of her and refused to pay for her post-secondary education when she wouldn’t pursue science or mathematics.

The daughters would soon suffer another loss. Jean, the middle one, was sent away at age thirteen for a mental illness similar to her mother’s. My mother would see her only a couple more times when they were in their fifties. This must have hurt her deeply but she rarely spoke of it.

Over the years, she often mentioned making that sentimental return journey to Winnipeg where all the memories of her youth were held. She never did make that trip but one day I plan to make it for her, and visit all the places she so vividly talked about.

Every now and then I feel a quiet astonishment that she’s really gone. It’s strange how the cushion of time makes the rawest of emotions seem far away, as if from a dream. I’m still sad when I think of her, but it hurts differently now. Memories take on more significance and I remind myself to share them with the next generation – children who will one day grow up and never have the pleasure of knowing their grandmother.

I still have some mementoes that belonged to her - knickknacks, cherished books, even old recipes and notes scribbled in her handwriting. A few things have been thrown away, but with difficulty, for each time I feel the loss of her all over again. But I’ve learned over time that ‘things’ don’t hold as much meaning as the memories themselves. They are just triggers, and sometimes they even stop working as such.

Over the years, I have felt flickers of resentment when hearing others speak of the mothers they still have. Those feelings have mostly passed. Although she did leave us too soon, I have come to realize how lucky I was. Not everyone has the kind of relationship we had. We were able to transcend our mother-daughter bond into one of real friendship. For that, I will always be grateful.

And now I come to the story of the lipstick. My mom passed away on a cold and sunny January day at Women’s College Hospital. Two weeks later, while getting ready to go out, I suddenly noticed the lipstick on top of a heap of makeup in my basket. I stared at it in disbelief, somewhat frightened. How had it gotten there? I visited that basket of makeup every day and it hadn’t been there the day before. I would have seen it.

Right then I sensed my mother’s presence in the room. Reaching over I picked up the lipstick. Trembling, I turned the tube to release the colour, and there it was – that pretty Autumn Mauve – the very one I’d lent her. I could only conclude that it was my mother reaching out one last time, to let me know that she was okay on her journey and she would watch over me. I knew then that the bond we had forged over a lifetime would never be broken.

Lauren Ryan's love of writing drew her to a career as a communications professional before she opted to temporarily leave it behind to stay at home with her children. Two years ago, she decided to take her passion for writing more seriously. Three Brian Henry workshops later, she has worked on everything from picture books and adult short stories to personal essays. She is currently writing her first Young Adult novel. She also made the short list for the Dame Lisbet Throckmorton Fiction Writing Contest for her first adult short story, "Derailed." And she published "A Boy's Best Friend," a short piece about raising her sons, in the June 2010 issue of Today's Parent.  You can read that piece here.  

For information about Brian Henry's writing workshops and creative writing courses, see here.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

You're invited to a book launch, Tuesday, November 16, in Toronto

Hi Brian,
Just a quick note to let you know that I'm a co-winner of the cross-Canada 2010 Ken Klonsky Novella contest run by Quattro books of Toronto. Quattro's holding a book launch for my novella Retina Green:
Tuesday, November 16 at 7:00 p.m.
at the SuperMarket, 268 Augusta Ave, Toronto (Map here.)
Along with Retina Green two other novellas will be launched that night, so it ought to be a fun evening.  Everyone's welcome, so come on down!
Reinhard Filter

Note: The Ken Klonsky Novella contest opens for entries in the spring, but if you're interested in entering, it's not too early to start getting your novella into shape.  Contest details here. (Scroll down past the bit where they say they're not accepting submissions.)
To keep up to date with all the annual writing contests in Canada, get the 2011 Canadian Writers' Contest Calendar. To order your copy, email brianhenry@sympatico.ca
For information about Brian Henry's writing workshops and creative writing courses, see here.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

"Writing Your Life," Saturday, February 5, Ingersoll

Writing memoirs & other true stories
Saturday, February 5
10:30 a.m. - 4:15 p.m.
Ingersoll Public Library
130 Oxford Street, Ingersoll (Map here.)

Have you ever considered writing your memoirs or family history? This workshop will introduce you to the tricks and conventions of telling true stories and will show you how to use the techniques of the novel to recount actual events. Whether you want to write for your family or for a wider public, don't miss this workshop.

Workshop leader Brian Henry has been a book editor and creative writing instructor for 25 years. He has helped many of his students get published, including our guest speaker, Ross Pennie.

Dr. Ross Pennie is the author of The Unforgiving Tides, a doctor’s memoir of Papua New Guinea (Manor House Publishing). He has also signed a contract with ECW Press for three medical mystery novels. The first of these, Tainted, came out last April; the next will be out in 2011. Dr. Pennie will speak on how to turn ordinary life into dramatic material and will answer questions about how he wrote his memoir and got it published.  Visit Ross's website here.

Fee: $39.05 plus gst = $41 paid in advance
or $42.86 plus gst = $45 if you wait to pay at the door
To reserve a spot now, email brianhenry@sympatico.ca

For information about all of Brian's writing workshops and creative writing courses, see here.