Spring session starts soon: Intensive, Picture Books, Extreme, and Personal Stories courses on offer

Intensive Creative Writing

Offered online at 3 different times:

Tuesday evenings 6:30 – 9:00
First readings emailed March 25.
Classes: April 1 – June 3 (or to June 10 if the course fills up)

Wednesday afternoons, 12:30 – 3:00
First readings emailed March 19.
Classes: March 26 – June 18 (No class April 23 or June 11).

Friday mornings 10:00 – 12:30
Jan 17 –March 7. First readings emailed March 21.
Classes: March 28 – June 20 (or to June 27 if the course fills up. No class April 25, May 16 or June 13)

Intensive Creative Writing isn't for beginners; it's for people who are working on their own writing projects. You’ll be asked to bring in several pieces of your writing for detailed feedback. All your pieces may be from the same work, such as a novel in progress, or they may be stand-alone pieces, such as short stories or essays. You bring whatever you want to work on. 

Besides critiquing pieces, the instructor will give short lectures addressing the needs of the group, and in addition to learning how to critique your own work and receiving constructive suggestions about your writing, you’ll discover that the greatest benefits come from seeing how your classmates approach and critique a piece of writing and how they write and re-write. This is a challenging course, but extremely rewarding.

Fee: $292.04 + hst = $330

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

“Writing Picture Books – Intensive”

Online: Wednesdays, 6:30 – 9:00 p.m.
First readings emailed March 19.
Classes: March 26 – June 4 (or to June 18 if the course fills up. No class April 23 or June 11)

This Intensive course will be organized like my other Intensive courses, but it’s for people writing picture books. You’ll be asked to bring in four pieces of your writing for detailed feedback. This may be four separate picture book manuscripts or, possibly, just one, reworked four times. You bring whatever you want to work on. 

Besides critiquing pieces, we’ll have discussions and I’ll give short talks addressing the needs of the group. You’ll receive constructive suggestions about your writing, learn how to critique your own work, ands you’ll discover that the greatest benefits come from seeing how your classmates approach and critique a piece of writing and how they write and re-write.

I expect you’ll find this course extremely rewarding – and fun. After all, we’re working on picture books! Though if you want to bring board books, early chapter books or a nonfiction proposal, or some other form of kid lit, we’re very easygoing.  ~Brian

Fee: $292.04 + hst = $330

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

“(Not so) Extreme Creative Writing”

 ~ For more experienced writers 

In-person: Thursday afternoons, 12:30 – 3:00 p.m.
First readings emailed March 20.
Classes: March 27 – June 5 (or to June 19 if the course fills up. No class April 24 or June 12).
Burlington Anglican Lutheran Church, 3455 Lakeshore Rd, Burlington, Ontario (Map here)

Extreme Creative Writing isn't like an extreme sport – it doesn't demand something crazy – but it is meant for writers who have been writing for a while or who have done a course or two before and are working on their own projects.

You’ll be asked to bring in a few pieces of your writing for detailed feedback, including a couple longish pieces. All your pieces may be from the same work, such as a novel in progress, or they may be stand-alone pieces, such as essays, picture book manuscripts, or short stories. You bring whatever you want to work on. 

Besides critiquing pieces, we’ll have discussions on topics of interest to the class. In addition to learning how to critique your own work and receiving constructive suggestions about your writing, you’ll discover that the greatest benefits come from seeing how your classmates approach and critique a piece of writing and how they write and re-write. This is a challenging course, but extremely rewarding.

Fee: $256.64 + hst = $290

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

“Writing Personal Stories & Other Nonfiction”

Online: Tuesday afternoons, 1 – 3 p.m.
April 1 – May 27 (or going to June 3 if the course fills up. No class April 29)

In person: Thursday evenings, 7 – 9 p.m.
April 3 – May 29 (or going to June 5 if the course fills up. No class April 24)
Burlington Anglican Lutheran Church, 3455 Lakeshore Rd, Burlington, Ontario (Map here)

If you want to write any kind of true story, this course is for you. Personal stories will be front and centre – we’ll look at memoirs, travel writing, personal essays, family history – but we’ll also look at writing feature articles, creative nonfiction and other more informational writing. Plus, of course, we’ll work on creativity and writing technique and have fun doing it. 

Whether you want to write a book or just get your thoughts down on paper, this weekly course will get you going. We'll reveal the tricks and conventions of telling true stories, and we’ll show you how to use the techniques of the novel to recount actual events. Weekly writing exercises and friendly feedback from the instructor will help you move forward on this writing adventure. Whether you want to write for your family and friends or for a wider public, don't miss this course.

Fee: $212.39 plus 13% hst = $240

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

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, teaches creative writing at Ryerson University (now called Toronto Metropolitan University) and has led workshops everywhere from Boston to Buffalo and from Sarnia to Saint John. But his proudest boast is that he’s has helped many of his students get published. 

Read pieces about ~ or inspired by ~ Brian's retreats, courses and workshops here (and scroll down).

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

To receive new postings on Quick Brown Fox as soon as they go up, visit Quick Brown Fox on Substack, and subscribe: https://brian999.substack.com/ 

Thistledown Press seeks Canadian fiction and nonfiction, plus some kid lit and poetry

Thistledown Press

220 20th Street West
Unit 222
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
S7M 0W9

https://thistledownpress.com/

Founded in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, in 1975, Thistledown Press began as a venue for new Prairie writers and soon burgeoned into a publisher of emerging and established writers from across Canada. Thistledown has published more than 500 titles in its 45 years.

Thistledown has published work by Tanya Bellehumeur-Allatt, Lorna Crozier, Susan Juby, Patrick Lane, Alden Nowlan, Alistair MacLeod, John Lent, Angie Abdou, Harold R. Johnson, Susan Musgrave, Marty Chan, Devin Krukoff, Tara Gereaux, Rita Bouvier, Leah Horlick, and Dawn Dumont. 

The press came under new ownership in fall 2020, and the new team continues Thistledown’s commitment to publishing Canadian literary writing, with a particular focus on authors from Western Canada.

Thistledown publishes novels, short story collections, creative nonfiction, and collections of poetry they find irresistible. They will consider YA novels and – occasionally – books for younger children.

Thistledown is open for submissions September 1 – May 1.

All queries must be submitted by post, on paper. Thistledown does not return submissions. In your query package, please include:

A cover letter that describes your work and its appeal to readers of Canadian literature and which states clearly the genre of your submission

An author bio that includes your publication history

A brief marketing analysis

A selection of work from your manuscript: the first thirty pages of a novel or nonfiction manuscript, or two or three short stories, double spaced. For poetry submissions, please send fifteen to twenty pages, single-spaced, with each poem beginning on a new page.

Your contact information, including an email address.

See Thistledown Press’ full submission guidelines here.

See all upcoming weekly writing classes, one-day workshops, and weekend retreats here.  

Navigation tips: Always check out the Labels underneath a post; they’ll lead you to various distinct collections of postings. See information about other publishers looking for manuscripts here (and scroll down). If you’re looking specifically for publishers of children’s and young adult books or short pieces, see here (and scroll down).

Three new books!

Note: 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. for a writers' group or beta readers; a notice in Quick Brown Fox, will help you find them. 

Email me at: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

 

Hello, Brian. 

One Autumn at Ril Lake is out, available on Amazon (here).  This is book 3 of the Muskoka Cottage series. 

In Gratitude,

D. M. Rutherford

aka Margery Reynolds

www.margeryreyonlds.ca

Please also check out my newsletter here.

One Autumn at Ril Lake

Julie Wight doesn’t like complicated. Her mid-forties, single life is a rhythmic flow of exercise, teaching at the village school, and relaxation in her all-seasoned home on the shores of the tranquil Ril Lake. The most complicated Julie’s life gets is deciding which kind of wine she’ll drink while watching the sun set over the lake.

But the village has a doctor and with no rental properties available in town the widower Dr. Michael Adams signs a one-year lease on Julie’s cottage next door. When he and his three daughters move in, suddenly, for Julie, uncomplicated isn’t possible anymore.

What does Joy know that her sisters don’t? Why is Faith having nightmares? Who is the woman Hope talks to over the fence at school? And why is Michael Adams reluctant to talk about his past?

Will Julie’s desire for a simple life drive her to unravel the mysteries behind Michael’s alluring smile or will she break their lease and send them packing, nightmares, secrets and all?

One Autumn at Ril Lake is available here, as are One Summer at Ril Lake and One Winter at Ril Lake.

Hello, Brian.

My second poetry collection came out in late November this year. Seasons is a collection of poetry about seasons in nature and seasons of our lives, plus memory and wonder, all brought together.

I write in a variety of genres and have found poetry to be a special outlet.

Cover art by Heike Elliott. Edited my Maxie Martin. Available on my website here, (along with my other books).

Carolyn Wilker

https://www.carolynwilker.ca/
http://poetpotter.blogspot.ca

 

Brian,

On behalf of your writing fans, thank you for mentioning Stalker, along with other new books in your list of many recent publications.

I am now pleased to announce my first novel, Searching for Maya, published November 2024.

Best,

Heather

www.heatherrath.net

P.S. Brian, you are responsible for this publication. Years ago, I asked you to critique my then-manuscript and I was so sensitive to your criticisms that I threw the novel in a corner. I'm sure you have no recollection! Years later, I lifted your comments from my deep dark hidden corner and with new eyes, I recognized your comments as true and honest. So I reworked the novel and this Maya book is the result.

So, Brian, I owe this one to you … thank you so much!

Searching for Maya by Heather Rath

A young girl is raped by her priest and gives birth to a daughter, Maya, whom she puts up for adoption to get a chance at a better life. But Maya's mother cannot heal the baby hole in her heart. When she finally escapes an abusive relationship after 20 years, she searches for Maya. Both mother and daughter, unknown to each other, find themselves in the Maya country of Mexico, and are followed by a stalker.

Searching for Maya is available here. Stalker is available here.

***

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

See more books from your fellow authors here (and scroll down).

See where your fellow writers are getting short pieces published here (and scroll down).

Note:  You can get new postings on Quick Brown Fox delivered straight to your Inbox as I publish them. 
Subscribe to Quick Brown Fox on Substack here: https://brian999.substack.com/

“Escape to the Bookmobile” by Glenys Smith Elliott

As a child, I loved going to the bookmobile on Wednesday evenings and looked forward to it all week. The bookmobile provided an escape from the tense reality of my home to a make-believe world full of possibilities and alternate realities. Each new book gave my head an interesting place to return to over and over again.

Dinner was usually over by 6 pm, and at once, I started to plot my escape from arguing, taunting and drinking. Slowly, I removed myself from the other eyes at home, hoping to get away unnoticed. With any luck, the nightly fight over dinner would end with the meal as my parents served themselves another drink in the living room while my younger sister and brother screamed and chasing each other around.

If it had been a rare quiet dinner, a sliver of peace ushered me away.

I could barely keep still waiting for 6:45 when the bookmobile arrived. My family lived in the seventh house along Pharmacy Avenue, south of Shepherd. Gazing up the street from my parent's bedroom window, my heart raced, watching for the back of the bookmobile as it reversed up the paved space between Shoppers Drug Mart and Wishing Wells Woods.

Even on the coldest evenings, I watched the clock, eager to put on my coat, hat and boots and head out. Then with the door silently closed and my destination in clear view, I blasted up the street to the bookmobile.

There was always a lineup to get into the bookmobile, rain or shine or snow. Parents chatted, teenagers kept their heads bent toward each other, whispering, and children circled around, skipping and running. My first move always was to scan the area, hoping no school bullies were hanging around the area, ready to swear and name-call without provocation. Adult eyes did not see everything.

Three steps led up onto the bus with a handrail for balance. Only a few people could fit in the small space at one time. Once you reached the top step, a narrow hallway ran down the centre of the bus. Both sides were flanked floor to ceiling with bookshelves. The vast number of books the bookmobile could hold fascinated. Were there any books left at the library?

The first whiff of inked words on paper, magically held together between a front and back cover, soothed me. That smell trumped the scent of flora and fauna in the summer and the quiet peace of snowfall in winter. My shoulders relaxed, my gaze became less furtive, and my steps slowed.

I pretended to be interested in all the books while patiently waiting in the queue. Secretly, my heart was in the fiction section. I scoured the shelves, searching for anything about outer space; aliens, travel to the moon, and spaceships were the shiny objects in my sights.

But science fiction wasn’t all that interested me. Books that followed me into adulthood , that never parted from my shelves and that I eventually read to my children, included The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Charlotte’s Web, and Nancy Drew Mystery Books.

The bookmobile was always crowded; you felt the breath on your neck from the person behind you. You might even know what they had for dinner, especially cabbage rolls. In winter, bulky coats meant even fewer people fit inside. Salt accumulated on the rubber floor mat and was gritty underfoot. The librarian usually voiced a warning to be careful not to tramp on the person’s foot ahead of you in line.

Feeling self-conscious in front of all the people in the bookmobile and terrified of drawing attention to myself, my fingers fidgeted and my feet shuffled forward and back while waiting my turn. How quickly could I find my allotment of books and get out?

With last week’s choices clutched closely to my chest, I scoured the shelves in search of the perfect read. A rainbow of book spines, listing titles and authors, swirled before my eyes. The tingle in my stomach would begin as soon as I spotted a book that looked good.

Plucking it off the shelf. I flipped from the front to the back cover and quickly read the inside jacket to confirm my selection. Instantaneously, I knew if I was going to take the book home or return it to the shelf. When I reached to return a book, I felt the impatient eyes of all the people waiting behind me.

My best friend Alison and her family were always one of the first people in the lineup. She lived behind us on a side street, with their backyard adjacent to our side neighbour's backyard. They were a family of five, similar to mine, with two older girls and a younger boy.

Alison mirrored my eldest sibling's position in her family and was my direct opposite in appearance. She was tall and gangly with long, straight, blond, and highly sought-after hair. We became best friends when my young brother didn’t come home from school one evening. Knowing she had a similar-aged brother, I summoned up my courage and knocked on her door and asked if she had seen my brother.

Alison offered to help search, and we bonded, wandering around the neighbourhood for hours in the scary dark, searching for my brother long after he had been found.

When I visited Alison’s house, the living room always had at least three family members with their noses tucked tightly into a book. The room was set up with a terracotta-coloured couch, and across from it, on either side of the fireplace, were two matching wingback chairs that created enough seating for five people to read. Bright lamps sat beside each spot. Books littered the tables, turned upside down to preserve the current page.

Their television was nowhere to be seen. I later discovered it deep in the basement with the homemade wine, where it was rarely watched.

All the time spent reading books from the bookmobile served Alison well. Later in high school, she corrected the teacher’s comments on her essays, resulting in a silent agreement between the two in which she didn’t attend classes, submitted all assignments on time, and, in exchange, got an A+. All her visits to the bookmobile definitely paid off.

I did not meet the standards to arrange the same deal with my English teacher, but I was happy to receive Alison’s proofreading expertise.

Our interests eventually shifted from the bookmobile to sneaking Alison’s father’s revered red Fiat Spyder convertible from the driveway. Late in the evening, one of us got in the driver's seat, lifted the handbrake, and put the car in neutral. The other pushed, and slowly, we inched silently down the driveway. With jerks and grinding noises, we both learned how to drive the gear shift – and without getting caught.

With the fervour of teenage imaginations, we created our own fantastic stories about what her father had gotten up to in that Fiat – perhaps a good start toward a book I might myself write one day and find on the shelf of a bookmobile.

***

Glenys Smith Elliott is a retired mental health and addiction educator who now enjoys sharing her time with family and friends, is obsessed with fitness but never fit, and has a newly found curiosity about writing. She is inspired by how people endure hardship and make changes in their lives.

She has lived in Auckland, New Zealand, Vancouver, and Toronto while raising her family. She looks forward to extended travel to exotic places in retirement.

Her earliest memories of writing are poems about her own childhood emotions in early grade school, and she wishes she could find some of them now.

Through Genealogy, Glenys has explored her family’s rich history, reaching back to World War II and plans on writing a memoir to honour some of these brave stories.

See Brian Henry's upcoming weekly writing classes, one-day workshops, and weekend retreats here.

For more essays and other pieces about books or about reading, writing, and the writing life, see here (and scroll down).

You have until Feb 28 to submit your Kid Lit manuscripts to Groundwood Books and your adult manuscipts to House of Anansi

House of Anansi Press (for adults)

and Groundwood Books (for children)

128 Sterling Road
Lower Level
Toronto, Ontario

https://houseofanansi.com/

House of Anansi Press was founded in 1967 by writers Dennis Lee and David Godfrey to publish work by Canadian writers. The House got its start publishing authors such as Matt Cohen, Michael Ondaatje, Northrop Frye, Austin Clarke, Harold Sonny Ladoo, Daphne Marlatt, Roch Carrier, and Margaret Atwood (who also worked for the press as an editor).

Now under the ownership of Scott Griffin, House of Anansi Press aims to continue breaking new ground with award-winning and bestselling books that reflect the changing nature of the country and the world.

Anansi publishes about 35 books a year, including fiction, poetry, drama, French-Canadian writers in translation, lifestyle, and authors from around the world.  Anansi also publishes children’s literature under its Groundwood imprint….

Groundwood Books publishes literary picture books, fiction, poetry, nonfiction and graphic novels from Canada and around the world. The press is home to award-winning authors and illustrators, such as Deborah Ellis, Marie-Louise Gay, Sydney Smith and Jillian Tamaki, among many others. 

Groundwood is open for submissions August 1–September 30 and February 1–March 31.

In Picture Books, Groundwood seeks beautifully written manuscript, featuring distinctive stories and children in real-life situations.

Groundwood is always looking for new authors of book-length middle grade and young adult fiction. Their mandate is to publish high-quality, character-driven literary fiction with a strong narrative voice. They do not generally publish stories with an obvious moral or message, or genre fiction such as horror or high fantasy.

Groundwood is also looking for nonfiction for children of all ages, from informational picture books to issues-driven works for middle grade and young adult readers.

For middle-grade and YA nonfiction, they do not require a completed manuscript. Please submit a proposal that includes a compelling introduction to and argument for the book, followed by a chapter outline that conveys the proposed content of the work, plus one or two sample chapters that convey the proposed tone and approach. 

Please also include a bio and/or previous publishing credits that demonstrate credentials relevant to your book or give you authority on the proposed subject.

Groundwood is also looking for Canadian illustrators. 

Submit to Groundwood through their submissions  portal here.

But first, look over their detailed submission guidelines here.

---

Note: Patricia Ocampo, Senior Editor with Kids Can Press, will be a guest speaker for our “Writing for Children and for Young Adults” workshop on  Saturday, March 1, 2025. Details here.

Also, I'll be one of many speakers at the Prairie Horizons Conference for Kid Lit writers, May 16 – May 18, 2025, in Saskatoon. Details here.

Finally, I'll have a new weekly Kid Lit course starting this spring. Email me, if you want to get to the front of the line for joining the class: brianhenry@sympatico.ca ~Brian

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House of Anansi Press is open for direct submissions from authors {as opposed to agented authors} only in August and February. In all areas, they’re open to submissions from new authors, as well as established authors.

In fiction, they seek literary, upmarket, and genre novels, plus short story collections.

In nonfiction, they look for creative nonfiction, essay collections, “book-length deep dives,” and life-style oriented projects. Currently they’re not looking for personal memoirs or autobiographies.

In poetry, they’re pursuing “experimentations with lyric traditions.”

Like everyone else, they especially welcome “work by writers from historically underrepresented communities, including—but not limited to—those who are Black, Indigenous, people of colour, disabled, neurodivergent, and LGBTQIA+.”

Anansi is also particularly interested in authors debuting later in life or without an MFA.

Full guidelines here.

Note: If you’re interested in meeting an agent and in getting published, don’t miss our upcoming “How to Get Published” workshop. Details here.

See all of Brian Henry's upcoming weekly writing classes, one-day workshops, and four-day retreats here.

Navigation tips: Always check out the Labels underneath a post; they’ll lead you to various distinct collections of postings. For more children’s and young adult publishers, see here {and scroll down}. For book publishers in general, see here {and scroll down}.