Free money: Canada Council Grants for writers

Note: Don't ever miss a post on Quick Brown Fox. Fill in your email in the box to the right under my bio, and get each post delivered to your Inbox.  ~ Brian

The Canada Council for the Arts provides various kinds of grants for writers and publishers. I've never applied for a grant myself, but maybe you should. After all, it's free money. 

The Grants for Professional Writers program covers subsistence, project and travel expenses. The Creative Writing Grants component gives Canadian authors (emerging, mid-career and established) time to write new literary works, including novels, short stories, poetry, children’s and young adults’ literature, graphic novels, exploratory writing and literary non-fiction.

(Exploratory writing is writing that uses technology to present literature in an innovative manner or explores forms of literature outside the conventions of the novel, short story or poem.)

Emerging writers are eligible for grants of $3,000 to $12,000.

Eligibility criteria for Emerging writers:

One literary book published with a professional publishing house

Or for fiction, a minimum of four texts of creative literary writing (e.g. short stories, excerpts from a novel) published on two separate occasions in literary magazines, recognized periodicals (including general interest magazines), or anthologies published by professional publishing houses

Or for poetry, a minimum of 10 published poems is required

Or for literary non-fiction, a minimum of 40 pages (10,000 words) of literary articles published in literary magazines, recognized periodicals or anthologies published by professional publishing houses.

Mid-career and established writers are eligible for larger grants and require more publishing credits to quality.

The Canada Council for the Arts also provides travel grants for writers, grants for spoken word, story-telling and literary performance (see here), grants for aboriginal writers, for publishers, for writers in residence and for literary readings. Check it all out here.

See Brian Henry's schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Barrie, Brampton, Bolton, Burlington, Caledon, Cambridge, Georgetown, Guelph, Hamilton, Kingston, London, Midland, Mississauga, Newmarket, Niagara on the Lake, Orillia, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Stouffville, Sudbury, Toronto, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

How to Get Published workshop, Saturday, March 7, in Niagara on the Lake

The Niagara on the Lake Writers’ Circle presents…

“How to Get Published”

~ An editor & an agent tell all ~

Saturday, March 7, 2015

10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Niagara on the Lake Public Library, 10 Anderson Lane, NOTL, Ontario (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!

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.

Workshop leader 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, teaches creative writing at Ryerson University and has led workshops everywhere from Boston to Buffalo and from Sarnia to Charlottetown. But his proudest boast is that he has helped many of his students get their first book published and launch their careers as authors.

Guest speaker  Olga Filina is a literary agent with The Rights Factory, a boutique agency that deals in intellectual property rights for entertainment products, including books, comics & graphic novels, film, television, and video games. As an international agency, TRF licenses rights in every territory. TRF works directly with publishers, producers, studios, game developers and other rights-buyers in all territories, occasionally in conjunction with local representatives.  

The Rights Factory has an roster of both fiction and non-fiction writers including Jennifer Close, debut author of the short story collection, Girls In White Dresses; Margot Berwin, author of Hot House Flower and the Nine Plants of Desire (optioned by Julia Roberts in conjunction with Columbia Pictures for film rights), and the forthcoming paranormal romance, Aromata. It’s a young agency, with half a dozen agents actively looking for authors,

Olga Filina is a graduate of Humber’s Creative Book Publishing Program, Olga spent over a decade as a sales manager and book buyer for both national and independent book store chains and two years as a literary assistant at The Cooke Agency.

While Olga will read anything that may set her book clubs on fire, she gravitates towards commercial and historical fiction, great genre fiction in the area of romance and mystery, nonfiction in the field of business, wellness, lifestyle and memoir and young adult and middle grade novels with memorable characters. In her spare time, Olga sits on library boards, organizes literary festivals and runs more book clubs than she can count.

More about The Rights Factory here.

Fee:   40.71 + 13% hst = 46 paid in advance
     or 43.36 + 13% hst = 49 if you wait to pay at the door.

To reserve a spot now, email brianhenry@sympatico.ca

See Brian's full schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Barrie, Brampton, Bolton, Burlington, Caledon, Cambridge, Georgetown, Guelph, Hamilton, Kingston, London, Midland, Mississauga, Newmarket, Niagara on the Lake, Orillia, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Stouffville, Sudbury, Toronto, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

Love letters ~ Where your fellow writers are getting published

Hey, classmates:

My short story is out on CommuterLit.  Thanks to everyone for your suggestions.  Hope everyone is still writing and I'm sure I'll see you soon in another class!

Kym Mulder

Read Kym’s story, “The Itch” here.

Hi, Brian.

Remember the story about the blood stained envelope, the walnut box, and the contract killer that I started at your “How to Build a Story” workshop? It’s being posted on CommuterLit soon I called it “The Walnut Box” (formerly it was “Brithday Gift”).

As for “Two Cuts from Death” (you remember – the writer who tortures her abusive mother), I entered it into gritLIT.

I’ll keep you posted!

Thanks again,

Hannah McKinnon

Note: I have a “How to Build Your Story” workshop coming up Saturday, October 18 in Peterborough. See here.

Read Hannah’s bio and find links to all the stories she’s published on CommuterLit here. For information about the gritLIT writing contest, see here.  

For information about submitting to CommuterLit, see here, and to read about their new contest, see here.

Hi, Brian;

Just a short note to let you know that one of my writings has been published in the Praise Writers Magazine,  Issue 3. This is the second time that one of my works has been published in that magazine.

Sincerely,
Rosemary Hagedorn

For information about submitting to Praise Writers and its sister magazine, Halcyon, see here.

Brian,

Excellent presentations June 22 in Ottawa. Thanks so much for the whole day and your comments on my query letter.  I was so inspired that I actually rewrote my query that night, even tho I got home very late after meeting with friends.  That’s inspiration. 

As I told you in person, your “How to Get Published” was the most useful presentation of that kind I have ever attended, and I have been to several.

Carolyn Forde
of Westwood Creative Artists

Thanks for helping writers so much.

Kind regards,

Nadia A. Senyk

Note: I have “How to Get Published” workshops coming up in Oakville on Saturday, Sept 27, with literary agent Carolyn Forde (see here) and in Niagara on the Lake on Sunday, March 1, with literary agent Olga Filina (see here). 

See my schedule full here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Barrie, Brampton, Bolton, Burlington, Caledon, Cambridge, Georgetown, Guelph, Hamilton, Kingston, London, Midland, Mississauga, Newmarket, Niagara on the Lake, Orillia, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Stouffville, Sudbury, Toronto, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

Literary agent Mackenzie Brady of New Leaf Literary seeks new authors

Joanna Volpe

New Leaf Literary & Media

110 West 40th Street, Suite 410
New York, NY 10018

http://www.newleafliterary.com/

New Leaf Literary is a young agency, led by Joanna Volpe who was previously with Nancy Coffey Literary. Joanna represents all kinds of fiction, from picture books to adult, and like all four agents at New Leaf, she's taking on new clients. 

Here’s what New Leaf has to say about itself: “At New Leaf Literary & Media we believe in total client representation, before and beyond the sale. While it all begins with a good story, there is so much more that goes into a career as an author. It is our goal to not only advise and assist in this journey, but to stand with our clients at each stage.

“We provide editorial direction for each and every project in the development stages, and before a book is published, we work with our clients to develop promotion plans that enhance and support the publisher's outreach. With a comprehensive subrights department and film representation in-house, we are always considering the global and multimedia possibilities for each project we take on.

“Most importantly, we believe in open and honest communication with our clients throughout the entire process.”

The newest member of the team is Mackenzie Brady, who joined New Leaf Literary as an agent in 2014. Like all new agents, she needs authors. Previously, she was an agent at Charlotte Sheedy Literary Agency and before that an intern at Farrar, Straus & Giroux and Fine Print Literary Mgmt.

Mackenzie  was a microbiologist in her pre-publishing life, so she’s always on the hunt for projects that bring new facets of science to light. She is endlessly fascinated by the human body, especially the heart. Follow her on Twitter: @mackenziecbrady.

Mackenzie’s taste in nonfiction extends beyond science books to memoirs, lost histories, epic sports narratives, true crime and gift/lifestyle books. She is particularly interested in projects with a strong narrative and a female bend.

Mackenzie also represents select adult and YA fiction projects. Her favorite novels are almost always dark, visceral reads focused on the complexities of being a human. Think Breaking Bad and The Wire but in book form. She also represents illustrators (with or without book projects of their own). In the end, all she wants is to be told a good story.

Query Mackenzie at query@newleafliterary.com

In the subject line of the email, put the word “Query” plus the agent’s name and the title of your book (for example: “Query for Mackenzie: Title”). Include up to 5 double-spaced sample pages within the body of the email. No unsolicited attachments.

Full submission guidelines here. See author bios for all the staff at New Leaf here.

Carolyn Forde
of Westwood Creative Artists

Brian Henry will lead “How to Get Published” workshops in Oakville on Saturday, Sept 27, with literary agent Carolyn Forde (see here) and in Niagara on the Lake on Sunday, March 1, with literary agent Olga Filina email brianhenry@sympatico.ca for details.

Brian also has some great workshops coming up, including, "Writing Great Characters," Saturday, Aug 16, in Hamilton (see here), “How to Make Yourself Write,” Saturday, Sept 13 in Brampton (see here),  “Writing & Revising,” Saturday, Sept 20, in Toronto (see here), and “How to Write a Bestseller,” with New York Times #1 bestselling author Kelley Armstrong, Saturday, Nov 22, in Burlington (see here) and Saturday, Dec 6 in London (see here). See Brian's full schedule here.

But the best way to get your manuscript ready for publication is with a weekly course. This fall, Brian will be offering weekly classes for writers from beginning to advanced. Check out details of all six upcoming classes here. 

Specifically, Brian is offering “Welcome to Creative Writing” class on Tuesday mornings in Burlington (see here), “Writing Your Life & Other Personal Stories” on Tuesday afternoons in Burlington (see here), “The Next Step in Creative Writing” on Wednesday evenings in Burlington (see here), on Thursday afternoons in Mississauga (see here) and Thursday evenings in Georgetown (see here). He’s offering “Intensive Creative Writing” on Wednesday afternoons in Burlington (see here).

To register or for more details of any course or workshop, email brianhenry@sympatico.ca

Brian's full schedule (see here) includes writing workshops and creative writing courses in Barrie, Brampton, Bolton, Burlington, Caledon, Cambridge, Georgetown, Guelph, Hamilton, Kingston, London, Midland, Mississauga, Newmarket, Niagara on the Lake, Orillia, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Stouffville, Sudbury, Toronto, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

Happy Eid!

Eid Mubaruck!

Contests, MeetUps, Calls for submissions, and a magazine that pays

The annual gritLit Writing Contest is open for submissions. Wants short fiction (3,000 words or less) and intriguing poems (up to 300 lines). Cash prizes: First place $200, second place $100, third place $50 (Entry Free: $20 per submission)

Deadline: July 31, 2014 Contest details here.

gritLIT also invites you to their next MeetUp on Monday, July 28 (between 7:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.) at Brown Dog Coffee Shoppe on Locke Street in Hamilton. Bring your laptop, your notebook, your ideas and inspiration and spend a couple of hours writing and networking with other local writers. For future MeetUps, check out the gritLIT MeetUp page here.

Note: Quick Brown Fox also maintains MeetUp Pages. For Halton and Peel, see here. For Guelph, Georgetown and Brampton, see here. For Toronto and points north (including York Region and Simcoe), see here.

You’re welcome to propose a writers get-together anytime. Just sign-up with the relevant MeetUp group and post the time and place you want to get together with your fellow writers. Send me an email, too, (brianhenry@sympatico.ca) to bring your proposed get-together to my attention, and I can publicize it on the Quick Brown Fox blog and in the newsletter, too. – Brian

Our Canada Magazine is a great place to get your first story published in a national magazine, with a million readers. Our Canada primarily publishes true stories, but is now looking for fiction, as well:

“We’re looking for short stories, creative nonfiction and poems that are set in Canada, include Canadians themes and/or reflect Canada’s way of life or values. We want insight into Canada as a nation, its people or the Canadian experience. We welcome submissions from yet-to-be discovered Canadian authors and published Canadian writers alike. Stories selected will be published in Our Canada’s new section called Writer’s Block.”

Submision guidelines and on-line submission form here. Deadline: ongoing.

Our Canada also continues to want your true stories. “We want to hear about your Hometown and all its quirks and about that Favourite Vacation at home or abroad. Do you have a rickety old car story for our Wheels section? Or are you a Collector of unusual things now cluttering your shelves? Maybe you or someone you know is particularly Crafty or has a talent to be Showcased?

We love to get stories about The Way it Was and Funny tales of mishaps and misadventures. Finally, because Canada is such a fantastic mosaic, we want to hear from different Cultural viewpoints and about those exciting and/or difficult journeys of Coming to Canada.

If you have an idea you don't see here, send it along! We can't wait to read about it and perhaps share it with the rest of Canada.

Submission guidelines and online submission form here. Deadline: ongoing. 

Note that Our Canada takes full rights to your nonfiction when they publish it (so no republishing your piece elsewhere), and for fiction, it acquires exclusive North American rights for two years (and then rights revert to you).

Submissions wanted for Some Tea, Some Truth, Some Fiction II, the second biannual writer’s festival at the Toronto Public Library on November 9, 2013. Accepting stories that can be read in ten minutes or less, plus short films, mini-plays, photo-essays and other creative work. Theme: love/friendship and work. Also holding an audience-inspired mini-write-a-thon. Deadline: September 1, 2013.

Halcyon Magazine is seeking submissions for an upcoming issue, and is open to entries for a contest. Submission call: looking for autumn-related stories, poems, haiku, recipes, articles, quotes, and fillers. Deadline: August 31, 2013. Photo and Writing Contest: invites entries of autumn-related photography. Prize: Copy of magazine. Deadline: September 1, 2013.

The “Sexy and sensual literary arts magazine” IN MY BED (Canada) is seeking submissions for an upcoming print issue. Looking for poetry, fiction, novel excerpts, painting, photography, and art. Theme: Sex and Magic. Prefers work that transcends traditional erotica and uses art and writing to explore, observe, and exhibit themes in an experimental and abstract manner.

Deadline September 1, 2013. Submission guidelines here. 

Louis Grace Publishing is putting together a series of anthologies on the topic of Women In Nature. Women in Nature: An Anthology, will be the first book in the WIN-Women in Nature Series.  The WIN series are collections of stories from women all across the North American continent... and beyond!  

These are true stories about the varied ways in which women relate to nature and our natural environment.  Subsequent WIN books will include: WIN on Dwelling; WIN on Indigenous Ways; WIN on Food, WIN on Adventure; WIN on Water;  WIN on Healing; WIN on Children; and more!

The publisher is looking for good fun engaging stories and inspiring, uplifting, adventurous, funny, stories of your relationship with nature.

Deadline September 1 for most anthologies. Submission guidelines here.

Hybrid literary & arts print magazine CAROUSEL is looking for poetry, fiction, comics, pageworks, visual poems, and hybrid literary works. Payment ranges from $15-80 plus a 2-issue subscription. “Interested in representing both new and established artists, with a specific focus on positioning Canadian talent within an international context.” 

Deadline September 4, 2013. Submission guidelines here.

Gemini Magazine calls for entries for its flash fiction contest. Maximum length 1,000 words. First prize: $1,000 prize, plus five other cash awards. Entry fee still only $4.

Deadline: September 2, 2014. Submission guidelines here.

See Brian Henry's schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Barrie, Brampton, Bolton, Burlington, Caledon, Cambridge, Georgetown, Guelph, Hamilton, Kingston, London, Midland, Mississauga, Newmarket, Niagara on the Lake, Orillia, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Stouffville, Sudbury, Toronto, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

Double Exile by Yoko Morgenstern, reviewed by Tanaz Bhathena

Red Giant Books, paperback $13.95, just released! Available through Amazon here.

Yoko Morgenstern’s debut historical novel is an engaging take on the story of German writer Hans Carossa, a man best known for his poetry, autobiographical novels and Inner Emigration in the 1940s – a self-imposed exile some German artists went through during the Second World War by refusing to participate in public activities – a silent protest against the Nazi regime.   

The novel begins in the year 2009, with a young Japanese woman named Ayumi who travels to Germany to complete her college thesis and battle her own personal demons – by analyzing Hans Carossa’s life and writings to discover if the writer was in fact a Nazi supporter, as people accused him of being.

Ayumi’s journey leads her to an old librarian named Alex, a man whose father was a close friend of the mysterious Carossa. Moving back and forth in time, the novel tracks the lives of Hans Carossa and Alex’s father, Max Breidenstein, and their silent, secretive protests against Hitler’s treatment of the Jews. It is a time when books are being burnt in bonfires, when freedom of expression has ceased for writers, leaving them with one of three choices:

To leave the country.

To stay and accommodate.

To stay and be silent.

Yoko Morgenstern

Carossa’s silence quickly becomes an element crucial to his survival, even though it brands him a National Socialist in the years to come. Max, on the other hand, is realizing his own dreams of being a writer, but at the cost of his work being perpetually censored by the government.

 The two men offer fascinating perspectives into the history of the Third Reich and its silent rebels: men who communicate secretly with Jewish friends in North America, men who eventually band together to rescue a Jewish writer and his family from concentration camps in France.

While his secret rebellion offers him comfort, Carossa is forced to participate more and more in frequently in government propaganda, eventually accepting a post as president of the European Writers Association, the German answer to International PEN. Max has his own troubles when his affair with the wife of a Nazi official comes to the attention of the authorities and his lover goes missing. 

Morgenstern prose is simple and elegant, her characterization subtle and compassionate. The novel, though rich in historical detail, does not overwhelm the reader. To those unfamiliar with the history of Inner Emigration and the role of writers in Nazi Germany, Double Exile offers another worldview – leaving behind a question about silence – if it is truly cowardice or simply another way of showing that there were no heroes in this world, only humans.

Note: Red Giants Books is an independent publisher of literary fiction and nonfiction based in Cleveland, Ohio. It’s run by co-publishers Rob Jackson and Dave Megenhardt.

Query them at: newbooks@redgiantbooks.com

Tanaz reading at CJ's Cafe

Tanaz Bhathena writes Middle Eastern and South Asian fiction. She is the winner of the 2009 MARTY for Emerging Literary Arts and a semi-finalist for the 2013 Jeffrey Archer Short Story Challenge. Her work has appeared in Blackbird, Witness, Room Magazine, and Asia Literary Review. She has most recently completed her first novel.

See Brian Henry’s schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Barrie, Brampton, Bolton, Burlington, Caledon, Cambridge, Georgetown, Guelph, Hamilton, Kingston, London, Midland, Mississauga, Newmarket, Niagara on the Lake, Orillia, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Stouffville, Sudbury, Toronto, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.