Congratulations to Richelle Kosar – winner of the Toronto Star Short Story Contest

Back in the 1990s, Richelle was part of a class I taught at Ryerson University that was a precursor to the “Intensive,” “Intermediate” and “Extreme” creative writing classes I teach today. At the time, Richelle was working on her manuscript for The Drum King, which was published by Turnstone Press in 1998 (available here).

Then in 2003, Richelle published A Streak of Luck with Cormorant Books (available here). Now, with her story "Citrines," she's won first place in the Toronto Star Short Story Contest, which comes with a prize of $5,000.
- Brian

"Citrines" by Richelle Kosar

We were having a great time.

Let me tell it. You always forget something important. And I wouldn’t say a “great” time. Actually we were thinking that the food was the same as before. We were saying that maybe next year we should try somewhere different. Remember?

Yeah, true. The food was kind of boring. But every day was sunny and the water was always warm.

The weather was good, but you can get that in a lot of places. Anyway, one afternoon we started walking along the beach. It stretched for more than a mile and there were lots of hotels along the way. Big, gorgeous hotels. We picked one and said if we ever won the lottery we’d stay there.

And then we saw them … more


In the fall, I'll be leading three "Intermediate Creative Writing" classes - on Tuesday afternoons in Mississauga on Ridgeway Dr. (details here), on Wednesday afternoons in Burlington (details here), and on Wednesday evenings in Mississauga on Truscott Dr. (details here - note this class is almost full).

I also have introductory classes starting this summer and fall and Saturday workshops throughout Ontario and beyond.  See my schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, Georgetown, Oakville, Burlington, Hamilton, Kitchener, Guelph, Woodstock, London, Orangeville, Barrie, Kingston, Gravenhurst, Muskoka, Peel, Halton, the GTA, South Carolina, etc.