Three Canadian literary agents at Anne McDermid Associates seek new authors

Vincent Lam is one of many celebrated authors
represented by the Anne McDermid Agency

Anne McDermid & Associates

63 Bloom Avenue
Toronto, ON  M6E 1S1
http://www.mcdermidagency.com/

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

Anne McDermid founded this agency in Toronto in January 1996. She had previously been a senior partner in the distinguished British agency Curtis Brown for several years.
 

The McDermid agency represents literary novelists and commercial novelists of high quality and writers of nonfiction in the areas of memoir, biography, history, literary travel, narrative science, investigative journalism, popular culture and lifestyle

The agency also represents a certain number of children's and young adult (YA) writers and writers in the fields of science fiction and fantasy.

The McDermid agency's clients include distinguished literary authors such as Michael Crummey, Greg Hollingshead, Andrew Pyper, Nino Ricci, David Adams Richards and Michael Winter.

The agency also represents writers of narrative nonfiction, such as Charles Montgomery and James MacKinnon, both of whom won the Charles Taylor prize for literary nonfiction in their years of publication.

Submissions:
If you are interested in submitting your work McDermid & Associates, please e-mail your query to: info@mcdermidagency.com
Your query should include a brief description of yourself and your project, and you are welcome to include the first 5 pages of your manuscript. Please do not send any further material unless invited. And naturally, you should address your query to one agent in particular.

The agency has three agents currently looking for new authors:

Martha Magor Webb is a literary agent, director and full partner at Anne McDermid and Associates. Martha represents a growing list of writers, focusing on literary fiction, narrative nonfiction (including memoir and true crime) and ideas-driven nonfiction. 

Her clients include:

Pasha Malla (long-listed for the Giller Prize, shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize, winner of the Danuta Gleed and the Trillium awards)

Damian Tarnopolsky (shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers Prize and the Amazon.ca award)

Russell Smith

Jessica Grant, (winner of the Amazon.ca First Novel and the Winterset awards)

Grace O'Connell, 

Matt Lennox

Andrew Westoll

and Karen Le Billon, whose first book French Kids Eat Everything sold into thirteen countries and translated into ten languages.

Martha will be the guest speaker at Brian Henry's "How to Get Published" workshop, Saturday, February 22, in Burlington. Details here.

Chris Bucci represents both fiction and nonfiction, focusing particularly on nonfiction in the areas of popular science and technology and popular culture.

Monica Pacheco  represents a growing list of writers. Her clients include:

Actress/writer/director Sarah Polley (Didi and the Bean, forthcoming from HarperCollins Canada)

Yves Meynard (Chrysanthe trilogy, Tor/Macmillan 2012)

Madeline Ashby (The Machine Dynasty series, Angry Robot)

Marty Chan (The Ehrich Weisz Chronicles, Fitzhenry & Whiteside)

Irina Kovalyova (Specimen, forthcoming from House of Anansi spring 2015)

Sarah Henstra (Mad Miss Mimic, forthcoming from Penguin Canada summer 2015)

and Bram Stoker Award-winning horror writer David Nickle.

Monica is actively seeking clients in the areas of literary and commercial fiction, young adult (YA), fantasy and science fiction.

Monica tweets at @monicapacheco  

Literary agent Olga Filina
of The Rights Factory will 
be our guest speaker at the
"How to Get Published"
workshop, Saturday, April 19,
in London. Details here.

Brian Henry will lead a “How to Get Published” workshop with guest speaker Martha Magor Webb of the Anne McDermid literary agency in Burlington on Feb 22 (see here). He’ll also lead “How to Get Published" workshops in Thessalon in Algoma on March 23 (see here) and in London on April 19 (see here).

Also, Brian will lead a “Writing for Children & for Young Adults” workshop in Caledon at the Bolton Library on Jan 18 (see here).

Brian also has a number of weekly courses coming up in January. You can scroll through the details for all of them here. 

He'll lead a “Writing your life & other true stories” on Tuesday afternoons in Burlington (see here) and a “Welcome to Creative Writing” course on Tuesday evenings in Burlington (here).

Brian will lead “Next Step” courses on Tuesday mornings in Burlington (see here), Thursday afternoons in Mississauga (here) and Thursday evenings in Georgetown (here); and he'll lead “Intensive” courses for more experienced writers on Wednesday afternoons in Burlington (here) and Wednesday evenings in Mississauga (see here).

To register or for more details of any course or workshop, 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, Orillia, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Stouffville, Sudbury, Thessalon, Toronto, Algoma, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

Love letters ~ Where your fellow writers are getting published

Hi, Brian.

I wanted to let you know about a new anthology that I'm in and other news.

A Touch of Winter includes myself and 14 other authors from Black Opal Books. My piece is a change from my usual mystery or romance and is a comic piece.

It is available in print or paperback here.

The other news is that I will be the featured author this week on The Book Nook with Sarah on Rogers. Not sure if you get the London channel or not. I hope I come across okay but it was fun to do and hope it gives me some exposure.  

Bev Irwin
bevirwin@rogers.com
www.bevirwin.com

Hi,
Just wanted to share my good news. A poem I submitted has been published on an online website, In Other Words: Merida.
Luba Sargeant

Read Luba’s poem, “Sunset over Georgian Bay,” here. For information about submitting to In Other Words: Merida, see here.

Dear Brian,

I just received your newsletter and thought I would share my exciting news with you. My indie novel Sex & Samosas was optioned for a movie! I still remember attending your excellent workshop in Kingston about how to get published and how you told me not to give up on my story. I sincerely thank you for your support then. Fast-forwarding to today, the last two years have been amazing. The book is getting great reviews and I receive lots of letters from very satisfied readers :-)
I hope you are well! I recommend your workshop to the writers I know!
My best to you,
Jasmine
www.jasmineaziz.com

Hi, Brian. 

Commuter Lit published my short story yesterday – the one I started in your writing workshop in Ottawa:  “Grunion the Interstellar Groom.”

Katie Oppen

Read Katie’ story here.

Brian,

Thanks for the pointer regarding CommuterLit at your workshop in Sudbury.  They are publishing a piece of mine soon!

Dave Cushing

Read Dave’s story, "Grading the Curve," here.

For information about submitting to CommuterLit, see 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, Orillia, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Stouffville, Sudbury, Thessalon, Toronto, Algoma, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

Success: The Toronto School Board takes Sex Workers’ Day off its calendar of significant days for our kids

Every year, the Toronto District School Board publishes a Days of Significance Calendar for students. It includes the holidays of different religions and various UN mandated observances, such as the International Day of Families (May 15). 

The Board also included the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers on the Calendar.

Sex Workers’ Day is celebrated by prostitutes, strippers, porn actors, dominatrixes and, until this year, by the Toronto District School Board. The day’s purpose is to “advocate for removal of all laws that criminalize sex work” and to remove all negative stigma so that prostitution becomes just one more career path.

Last March, I wrote a letter to the Board suggesting that they might want to rethink their endorsement of this day. After all, a school board must be politically neutral; it shouldn’t be endorsing anyone’s politics – not to mention that a school board really shouldn’t be helping to make prostitution a respectable career for young people.

I followed up with a couple more emails, then a couple phone calls and was at last assured that the appropriate committee would look into it. And then I heard nothing.

Ad campaign by a sex workers organization
to promote prostitution as a career choice

So this fall I started sending emails again. An email to Donna Quan, the new Director of Education, finally produced a two-line reply (not from Ms Quan herself): The sex workers day had been taken off the Days of Significance Calendar, and the Calendar itself had been taken off the public website.

In other words: first, the Board’s noticed it’s not a good idea to endorse prostitution as a career path, and second, annoying parents can no longer check what the Board thinks is worth promoting. Now only teachers and school board staff get to look at the Days of Significance Calendar.

What might be on the Calendar? Well the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) has produced a Days of Significance Calendar for schools. OISE trains our most senior educators and many teachers, and unfortunately, OISE has become a fundamentalist institution that believes the purpose of schools is to indoctrinate kids into far left politics.

OISE thinks kids ought to be taught to observe the birthday of the founder of the Communist Party of Canada, that kids need to celebrate the Quebec students who closed down their schools to protest against tuition fees becoming almost as high as their cell phone bills, and that kids should should learn that Stephen Harper is a war criminal and Che Guevara is a martyr to social justice. 

To promote their political perspective, OISE has created its own Calendar. The Calendar includes many inoffensive  dates such as Tommy Douglas's birthday, but the overall slant is pure lunatic left.

To date, the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario – the most radical and politicized of our teacher unions – has endorsed this Calendar (see here).

Will the Toronto Board adopt it, too? I doubt it. Many sane people work for the Toronto Board. But who knows? Unless a teacher rats them out, the Board can do all sorts of strange things without parents knowing.

* 

Read my earlier, more detailed posting about the Board’s promotion of International Sex Workers’ Day here.

“A guide to Horizontal Parenting” by Shannon Day

Horizontal Parenting (or couch-based parenting) isn’t likely something that you plan for but you should. There’ll, indeed, be times when you’re out of commission, partially or fully.  And, unless family members or friends come to the rescue, you’ll still have to take care of and entertain your kids.

Whether morning sickness is your nemesis, an all encompassing flu has you in its clutches or, heaven forbid, you’ve got a hangover. The fact is: it’s possible to play an active parenting role while remaining, virtually, inactive.

It doesn’t really matter what lands you on the couch. It’s what you do, while you’re there, that counts.

Here are some simple suggestions to help you excel as a Horizontal Parent. The following ideas can be orchestrated from the comfort of your couch and, depending on the age of your children, your involvement can be minimal, allowing you to rest.

1.       Play I Spy.

2.      Play UNO.

3.      Read books.

4.      Ask the kids to tell you, or each other, stories. Take turns adding details.

5.      Encourage the kids to play Make your own Sandwich.

6.      Play computer games.

7.      Make bracelets.

8.      Build a giant tower with Lego or blocks.

9.      Play Tic Tac Toe.

10.   Play Spa. You are the spa goer. The kids are the staff, who specialize in hand and foot massages (provide a towel and lotion).

11.    Engage in a horizontal game of Keep the Balloon Up.

12.   Do Improv.

13.   Play Hospital. You’re the patient. They’re the doctors.

14.   Do puzzles.

15.   Provide never-seen-before crafty things (like stickers, colouring sheets and crayons. Avoid scissors, markers, glue and sparkles).

16.   Watch movies (of course).

17.   Snuggle.

18.   Play Theatre. Ask the kids to create, rehearse and perform their own show.

19.   Order a pizza.

20.  Hold a Tidying Up competition.

You can be really organized by pre-packing a Horizontal Parenting Kit. That way, when the unexpected (or the self-inflicted) strikes, you’ll be ready.

To build your own kit, you’ll need: UNO cards, books, DVDs,  beads and pipe cleaners (for simple bracelets), blocks or Lego, lotion, a towel, balloons, a doctor’s kit, puzzles, stickers, crayons, colouring sheets and some Improv ideas.

For example: everyone is at a party and each person is assigned a funny character. They have to try to guess who the other characters are, while acting like their assigned character (e.g., a Disney princess, an angry villain, a favourite hockey player, a popular singer, a teacher from school, the principal or a family member. You could also assign them each an animal or an object (e.g., a kettle, a door, a hair dryer, a chair, a tree, a swing, a mat or a tooth brush).

Whatever you do release the activities one at a time and as slowly as possible. Maximize each one.  This slow release will ensure that more time is filled and that the kids are sufficiently entertained for as long as possible resulting in some quality Horizontal Parenting that you can almost feel good about.

Shannon Day is a contently, suburban wife and the mom of three fab little ladies. She blogs at Martinis and Motherhood, where you’ll find articles, stories and drink recipes created for the non-perfect mom who values family, friendship and a nice cocktail once in a while: 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, Orillia, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Stouffville, Sudbury, Thessalon, Toronto, Algoma, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

Three free contests and a call for submissions from Accenti

TransitionsAbroad.com, an important travel webzine, invites you to enter its free Narrative Travel Writing Contest with a $500 first-place prize.

The theme for this year's contest is very broad and in keeping with our editorial. We wish to explore the idea of travel as a way to not only leave behind your material and spiritual preconceptions, but to use the opportunity to open up to ideas, aesthetics, and rituals which you have internalized into your own life going forward. 

What did you learn during your travels and did this fundamentally transform your perception(s) of the world? Do you believe that you may have touched your hosts in ways which may have in some way transformed their views of the world as well, or is that presumptuous as a de facto "outsider" to their rituals and way of life? 

We encourage you to approach the subject in the empathetic way in which you traveled and stayed in host countries and homes. Please weave these ideas implicitly into a narrative if this relates to one of your experiences.

Accompanying photos which enhance the narrative are highly preferred. Photojournalistic essays or accompanying videos will also be considered, and humor is appreciated where appropriate.

Please include an optional bio of 1-3 sentences which reference your websites, blogs, books, and contact information in the body of the submission.

TransitionsAbroad.com will publish the top three winners' entries as well as those of the selected runner-ups.

In this year's Narrative Travel Writing Contest, the first-place winner’s entry will receive $500 US, the second-place winning entry $150, and the third-place winner $100.

Any other articles selected as runner-ups will receive a $50 payment.

Deadline:  January 15, 2014. Full submission guidelines here.

Transitions Abroad also accepts and pays for articles. Payment ranges from $25 to $150 (the average payment is $100 for an article in the 1,000 – 2,000-word word range). See submission guidelines here.

SpiritFirst.org is dedicated to promoting meditation, spiritual awareness and mindfulness. Each year it sponsors a free contest and awards prizes up to $175 for unpublished poems of any length on the theme of meditation, mindfulness, stillness, or silence.

Poems may reflect any discipline or any faith or none. Maximum 3 poems per person. Email entries strongly preferred; postal mail is only accepted from authors who have no Internet access. Contest sponsor Spirit First is an interfaith meditation center in the Washington, DC area. 

Deadline: Entries must be received by January 31, 2014. Full contest rules here.

Jerry Jazz Musician awards a $100 prize for short fiction, 1,000 – 5,000 words. The work will be published on the home page of Jerry Jazz Musician and featured there for at least four weeks. The Jerry Jazz Musician reader has interests in music, social history, literature, politics, art, film and theatre, particularly that of the counter-culture of mid-twentieth century America.  While your writing should appeal to a reader with these characteristics, all story themes are considered.

This is a free contest; no entry fee.

Deadline: January 31, 2014.  Full contest details here.

Brian,

Based in Montreal, Accenti describes itself as "the Canadian magazine with an Italian accent." It strives to reflect the cultural imprint of Italian Canadians in its editorial content. Accenti appeals to Canadians of Italian origin and anyone who shares an affinity for things Italian. In so doing, it endeavours to act as a cultural bridge among peoples.

Accenti is currently publicizing its 9th Writing Contest, open to prose works (fiction and nonfiction) worldwide. Accenti Magazine would be very glad to have this competition publicized in your newsletter. 

The topic is open and the top prize is $1,000 (CDN) and publication in Accenti. Entries must be previously unpublished and not under consideration by any other publication. Thus, entries must be original and not a translation of a previously published work, although these can be an English translation of the author's unpublished original work in another language. The maximum length for submissions is 2,000 words. The entry fee is $20.

Deadline: February 7, 2014. For more details see here. 

Kindest regards,
Nora Martín
for Accenti Magazine

Regular submissions:
Accenti considers unsolicited articles for publication. These can include news items, commentaries, works of fiction, non-fiction, etc. Photographs and illustrations can accompany submissions. However, please do not send images unaccompanied by an article or story. Submissions must be in English and be between 500 and 2000 words. Email submissions must be sent as attached files, preferably in Word format. 

Full submission guidelines here. Submit to: submissions@accenti.ca 

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, Orillia, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Stouffville, Sudbury, Thessalon, Toronto, Algoma, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.