Here are 75 Canadian short stories available free online
Kevin Hardcastle curated a list of stories to read in 2020, it's updated for 2024
May is short story month! Celebrate by reading a great Canadian short story.
Kevin Hardcastle is an author from Ontario. His debut short story collection, Debris, won the Trillium Book Award in 2016 and his first novel, In the Cage, came out in 2017. He posted a roundup of short stories to read online on his personal website in 2020, which was adapted for CBC Books. This is an updated and adapted version of that original list — we have deleted stories no longer available online and added stories that have since been published on CBC Books.
You can also read a story by Hardcastle, Montana Border, that was published by The Walrus.
Why Kevin originally curated this list
"The past few months have been filled with uncertainty and unforeseen challenges for almost everybody, including those who write, publish and sell literature across the country. Books that were to launch this spring and summer have had to be released into the world without in-person readings and tour appearances. Festivals have had their authors and panellists recreate the experience online, as best they can, and as long as they have enough Internet to make it happen. Publishing houses are trying to find ways to draw attention to new books and voices and some authors have been left to do what they can to promote their work, while at the mercy of an industry scrambling to adapt.
"Nonetheless, people are sharing their own work and the work of writers that they admire. Those who love books have been doing what they can to keep people connected. The Writers' Trust has run online panels and created a fund for writers in need. The FOLD broadcast their festival online and continue on with their webinar series, giving crucial voices a platform. Renowned writers like David Robertson, Heather O'Neill, Vivek Shraya and Waubgeshig Rice have been reading prose and poetry or talking to their readers live on social media. Independent booksellers are delivering books or leaving them curbside so that we can stay home and get lost in those stories for a time.
The writing community I found, and some of the best new writing I read in past years, came as a result of writing, reading, and sharing short fiction.- Kevin Hardcastle
"But literature might still be hard to come by for readers who are unable to afford new books or who are in rural areas without access to booksellers, reliable Internet and, of course, their public libraries.
"Luckily, there is a treasure trove of short fiction that has been published in journals over the years, and much of it actually published or archived online. The writing community I found, and some of the best new writing I read in past years, came as a result of writing, reading, and sharing short fiction. So I thought that curating a list of short stories by Canadian, Indigenous and Métis authors would be a fine way to read some literature and to lend support. Many of those on the list have books out recently, or right now, and perhaps this is a way to lead readers further to those.
"Here are some stories by writers you may or may not know, along with stories that have been discovered through the CBC Short Story Prize."
Meditations on a Lake by Anuja Varghese
Anuja Varghese is a Hamilton, Ont.-based writer and editor. Her stories have been recognized in the Prism International Short Fiction Contest and the Alice Munro Festival Short Story Competition and nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Varghese won the 2023 Governor General's Literary Award for fiction and the Dayne Ogilvie Prize for her story collection Chrysalis.
Meditations on a Lake was published by CBC Books as part of a partnership with the Canada Council for the Arts.
Tupelo by Jack Wong
Jack Wong is a Halifax-based author and illustrator who was born in Hong Kong but grew up in Vancouver. Wong won the 2023 Governor General's Literary Award for young people's literature — illustrated books for his picture book When You Can Swim, which he wrote and illustrated.
Tupelo was published by CBC Books as part of a partnership with the Canada Council for the Arts.
Lilly in the Wintertime by Sheila Heti
Sheila Heti is a Canadian playwright and author whose work has been translated in over a dozen languages. Pure Colour was also shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize in 2023. Heti won the 2022 Governor General's Literary Award for fiction for her novel Pure Colour. Her latest novel is Alphabetical Diaries.
Lilly in the Wintertime was published by CBC Books as part of a partnership with the Canada Council for the Arts.
This Story is Against Resilience, Supports Screaming As Needed by Jen Ferguson
Jen Ferguson is an author, activist and academic of Michif/Métis and Canadian settler heritage based in Los Angeles. She has a PhD in English and creative writing. Her work includes the 2016 novel Border Markers and her essay Off Balance was featured in Best Canadian Essays 2020. Ferguson won the won the 2022 Governor General's Literary Award for young people's literature — text for her YA novel The Summer of Bitter and Sweet , her debut YA novel.
This Story is Against Resilience, Supports Screaming As Needed was published by CBC Books as part of a partnership with the Canada Council for the Arts.
Old Bones by Kate Gunn
Kate Gunn grew up on Galiano Island off the west coast of British Columbia. She currently lives and works in Vancouver. Her short fiction has previously appeared in Prism International and the Antigonish Review.
Old Bones made the 2024 CBC Short Story Prize shortlist and was published by CBC Books.
Lamentations by Miriam Ho Nga Wai
Miriam Ho Nga Wai is an architect and writer based in Toronto. Her stories have appeared or are forthcoming in Nimrod and Ecotone. She has been longlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize and was a finalist for the Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Short Fiction. She is a founding editor of the award-winning Canadian journal -SITE Magazine, and a former fiction editor at Guernica. Drawing on a background in architecture, her work explores themes of place, memory and longing. In the stolen hours before her daughter wakes up, she is hard at work on a novel and a short story collection.
Lamentations made the 2024 CBC Short Story Prize shortlist and was published by CBC Books.
How to Make a Friend by Zilla Jones
Zilla Jones is an African-Canadian woman writing on Treaty 1 territory (Winnipeg). Her stories appear in Prairie Fire, The Malahat Review, Prism International, The Fiddlehead, FreeFall Magazine, the Ex-Puritan, Room Magazine, Bayou Magazine and The Journey Prize Stories. In 2023, she was a Journey Prize winner and a finalist in the Writers' Trust RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers. She has also won the Malahat Review Open Season Award, the Jacob Zilber Prize for Short Fiction, the FreeFall short fiction award and placed second in the Prairie Fire and Austin Clarke contests. Her debut novel, The World So Wide, and a short fiction collection, So Much To Tell, are forthcoming with Cormorant Books in 2025 and 2026.
How to Make a Friend made the 2024 CBC Short Story Prize shortlist and was published by CBC Books.
Jones previously made the 2020 CBC Short Story Prize longlist for Our Father and has longlisted twice for earlier versions of How to Make a Friend, in 2022 and 2023.
The Baby by Kailash Srinivasan
Born and raised in India, Kailash Srinivasan now lives in Vancouver. His writing highlights fractures of all kinds: personal, societal, economic, religious and political. He also writes about injustice and inequality. His work has appeared in publications such as Identity Theory, Midway Journal, Snarl, Hunger, XRAY, Coachella Review, Selkie, Oyster River Pages, Sidereal and Lunch Ticket. He was shortlisted for the 2024 Malahat Review Open Season Awards — Fiction, the 2023 Bridport Prize for Fiction and the 2022 Bristol Short Story Prize. He also received an honourable mention for the 2023 Craft First Chapters Contest. He's currently at work on his first novel.
The Baby made the 2024 CBC Short Story Prize shortlist and was published by CBC Books.
Srinivasan was on the 2024 CBC Short Story Prize longlist twice: for Disprin and for The Baby. He previously made the 2023 CBC Short Story Prize longlist for an earlier version of The Baby.
Permission to Pause by Carley Thorne
Carley Thorne is a comedian and writer living in Toronto. She is a Jack Whyte Storyteller's Award winner and her writing has been shortlisted for the 2023 Federation of BC Writers Contest — Short Fiction. She has performed as a part of the JFL42 comedy festival and as an understudy at the Second City Toronto. Alongside Blair Macmillan, she is the creator and co-host of Girl Historians, a comedy podcast about history. The current season is all about the Salem Witch Trials. She is currently working on a novel.
Permission to Pause made the 2024 CBC Short Story Prize shortlist and was published by CBC Books.
Dear M by Clara Chalmers
Clara Chalmers is a King's College London dropout and ex-perfectionist. She writes profusely but often in secret. Her laptop is littered with poems, short stories and the corpses of abandoned novels. As she sheds her perfectionist tendencies, she hopes some of her words will escape into the open and impact a wider audience.
Dear M The Baby made the 2023 CBC Short Story Prize shortlist and was published by CBC Books.
Eel Broth for Growing Children by Helen Han Wei Luo
Helen Han Wei Luo is a writer, artist and philosophy PhD student at Columbia University. She holds a BA in political science from Simon Fraser University and an MA in philosophy from the University of British Columbia. Her poem Consider the Peony appears in the Best of Canadian Poetry 2023 anthology. She is currently working on a novella titled Elegy for Daji, a radical feminist retelling of Shang dynasty Chinese mythology. In Vancouver, she paints hummingbirds, tunes violins, touches trees. In New York, she photographs flamboyant subway rats. She previously made the 2020 CBC Short Story Prize longlist for Aranaj, the Fishmonger Who Wept for the Fish and she was also on the 2016 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlist for Character.
Eel Broth for Growing Children made the 2023 CBC Short Story Prize shortlist and was published by CBC Books.
Just a Howl by Will Richter
Will Richter is a writer living in Vancouver. Stories of his have appeared or are forthcoming in various literary magazines in Canada and the U.S., including Arts & Letters, The Fiddlehead, Fiction International, subTerrain, The Threepenny Review and Witness. Will has also written and collaborated on several comic shorts for Rogue Wave Comics, based in Düsseldorf, Germany. He's currently working on a collection of short stories and a novel. He previously made the 2021 CBC Short Story Prize longlist for Proverbs of the Lesser and was also longlisted in 2019 for his story At a Distance.
Just a Howl won the 2022 CBC Short Story Prize and was published by CBC Books.
Marriage by Nicholas Ruddock
Nicholas Ruddock is a physician and writer who has worked in Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec, Yukon and Ontario. Has had novels, short stories, poetry published since 2002 in Canada, U.K., Ireland and Germany. He is married to the artist Cheryl Ruddock, with four children. He is the author of the 2021 novel Last Hummingbird of West Chile and previously made the 2016 CBC Poery Prize longlist for Storm as well as the 2016 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlist for The Hummingbirds.
Marriage made the 2023 CBC Short Story Prize shortlist and was published by CBC Books.
Bird Emergent by Katie Welch
Katie Welch writes fiction and teaches music in Kamloops, B.C. Her debut novel, Mad Honey, is a 2023 OLA Evergreen Prize nominee. She grew up in Ottawa and holds a BA in English literature from the University of Toronto. Her short stories have been published in Event Magazine, Prairie Fire, the Antigonish Review, the Temz Review, the Quarantine Review and elsewhere. She was first runner-up in UBCO's 2019 Short Story Contest, and her story Poisoned Apple was chosen as Pick-of-the-Week by Longform Fiction. She is currently working on her next novel.
Bird Emergent made the 2023 CBC Short Story Prize shortlist and was published by CBC Books.
Me Against Jim Bailey by Susanna Cupido
Susanna Cupido is a student from New Brunswick. She is studying for her MFA in creative writing at Cornell University. Her poem The Door won the Accenti Poetry Contest in 2021.
Me Against Jim Bailey made the 2022 CBC Short Story Prize shortlist and was published by CBC Books.
Desire Path by Jeremy Elder
Jeremy Elder is a Toronto-based advertising copywriter and part-time aspiring poet. His personal creative writing explores his own history and aims to add to the legacy of queer literature, art, storytelling and community that has always deeply inspired him. Desire Path is his first work of personal fiction.
Desire Path made the 2022 CBC Short Story Prize shortlist and was published by CBC Books.
Dinner With Friends by Nancy Hui Sulaiman
Nancy Hui Sulaiman is a Chinese Canadian writer from LaSalle, Ont. She has a Honours BA from the University of Windsor in English literature and communication studies and a MA in journalism from Western University. She is currently working on writing short stories and a novel. In 2020, her story, What Fits in the Palm of Your Hand, was chosen as a runner-up in the Little Birds Contest from the Sarah Selecky Writing School.
Dinner With Friends made the 2022 CBC Short Story Prize shortlist and was published by CBC Books.
Nesting Season by Anna Ling Kaye
Anna Ling Kaye is a writer and editor based in Vancouver. Her fiction won the 2021 RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers and has been shortlisted for the RBC/PEN Canada New Voices Award and the Journey Prize.
Nesting Season made the 2022 CBC Short Story Prize shortlist and was published by CBC Books.
Beneath the Softness of Snow by Chanel M. Sutherland
Chanel M. Sutherland won the 2021 CBC Nonfiction prize for her story Umbrella and is the recipient of the 2022 Mairuth Sarsfield Mentorship, a component of the Quebec Writers' Federation Fresh Pages initiative. Born in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Chanel moved to Montreal when she was 10 years old. She holds a BA in English literature from Concordia University and is currently writing her first book, a collection of short stories that explore the Black Caribbean immigrant experience.
Beneath the Softness of Snow won the 2022 CBC Short Story Prize and was published by CBC Books.
Kids in Kindergarten by Corinna Chong
Corinna Chong received her MA in English and creative writing from the University of New Brunswick. Her first novel, Belinda's Rings, was published in 2013. In 2023, she published the short story collection The Whole Animal which includes her prize-winning story Kids in Kindergarten. Her reviews and short fiction have been published in magazines across Canada, including The Malahat Review, Room, Grain and The Humber Literary Review. She teaches English and fine arts at Okanagan College in Kelowna, B.C.
Kids in Kindergarten won the 2021 CBC Short Story Prize and was published by CBC Books.
Deville at Home by Brooks McMullin
Brooks McMullin is a university lecturer of literature and composition, who writes short stories, novels and screenplays. He was a runner up in the 2012 CBC Short Story Prize, with Pax, and was a quarter-finalist in 2006 Zoetrope screenwriting contest for the feature-length script, Coal War.
Deville at Home made the 2021 CBC Short Story Prize shortlist and was published by CBC Books.
Stump by Miranda Morris
Miranda Morris is a writer, illustrator and multi-instrumentalist currently based in Hamilton. She grew up in the Georgian Bay woods north of Parry Sound, where she returned to quarantine following a year of playing trombone in a 12-piece funk band in New Orleans. After graduating Ryerson University's film production BFA program, specializing in screenwriting and production design, she split her time between Toronto and Louisiana for 10 years — working in film, riding Greyhound buses and doodling. She's seen a UFO and one time she danced with Bruce Springsteen in Moncton. She's now working on a collection of short stories.
Stump made the 2021 CBC Short Story Prize shortlist and was published by CBC Books.
Leaving Moonbeam by Ben Pitfield
Ben Pitfield is a writer, filmmaker and tree planter from Toronto. He holds degrees in literature and business from the University of Rochester and has planted 750,000 trees in northern forests. He is a staff writer for the UK-based art journal Sepia and his poetry and short fiction have been published in journals in Canada and the U.S. He is currently at work on a novel, a thriller, set in the world of remote communities and bush camps.
Leaving Moonbeam made the 2021 CBC Short Story Prize shortlist and was published by CBC Books.
Her First Palestinian by Saeed Teebi
Saeed Teebi is a writer and lawyer based in Toronto. He was born to Palestinian parents in Kuwait, and, after some time in the US, has lived in Canada since 1993. His writing frequently engages the immigrant experience and his Palestinian background. His collection of short stories Her First Palestinian, features this story and was a finalist for the 2022 Atwood Gibson Writers's Trust Fiction Prize.
Her First Palestinian made the 2021 CBC Short Story Prize shortlist and was published by CBC Books.
Three Tshakapesh Dreams by Samuel Archibald
Samuel Archibald is a Montreal-based short story writer. His debut collection of short stories entitled Arvida — which is also the name of Archibald's hometown in Quebec — was nominated for the 2015 Scotiabank Giller Prize and was a finalist in Combat des Livres 2013, defended by Bernard Landry. The book was translated from French to English by Donald Winkler.
Three Tshakapesh Dreams was published by The Walrus.
Imperfect Homes by André Babyn
André Babyn is a writer and editor from Toronto. His short stories have ben published in Maisonneuve, the Fanzine, Hobart and Grain. His novel Evie of the Deepthorn was published in spring 2020.
Imperfect Homes was published by Hobart Pulp.
War of Attrition by Carleigh Baker
Carleigh Baker is a nêhiyaw âpihtawikosisân/Icelandic writer from Vancouver. Her debut short story collection, Bad Endings, won the City of Vancouver Book Award in 2017 and was a finalist for the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize and the Emerging Indigenous Voices Award for fiction.
War of Attrition was published by Joyland.
Cowan by Kris Bertin
Kris Bertin is a writer from Halifax. He won the Danuta Gleed Literary Award for his debut short story collection Bad Things Happen. He is also the author of the short story collection Use Your Imagination! and the graphic novels The Case of The Missing Men and The Cursed Hermit, which were illustrated by Alexander Forbes.
Cowan was published by The Walrus.
The Three Times Rule by Becky Blake
Becky Blake is a writer and teacher from Toronto. She won the 2013 CBC Short Story Prize and the 2017 CBC Nonfiction Prize. She is also the author of the YA novel Proof I Was Here.
The Three Times Rule won the 2013 CBC Short Story Prize.
Moriah by Paige Cooper
Paige Cooper is an author and short story writer from Montreal. Her work has appeared in The Journey Prize Stories and Best Canadian Stories anthologies. Her first published book, the short story collection Zolitude, won the 2018 Concordia University First Book Prize, was on the longlist for the 2018 Scotiabank Giller Prize and was a finalist for the 2018 Governor General's Literary Award for fiction.
Moriah was published by Gulf Coast.
Esperanza by Trevor Corkum
Trevor Corkum is a writer and teacher who lives in Toronto and Prince Edward Island. He has been nominated for the Journey Prize, a National Magazine Award, a Western Magazine Award, the CBC Short Story Prize and the CBC Nonfiction Prize. He was on the 2019 CBC Short Story Prize longlist for Saving Face. Corkum's debut novel The World After Us will be published in 2025.
Esperanza was published by Joyland.
Hashtag Maggie Vandermeer by Nancy Jo Cullen
Nancy Jo Cullen is a fiction writer and poet living in Toronto. She is the author of the novel The Western Alienation Merit Badge, the short story collection Canary and four poetry collections: Nothing Will Save Your Life, Science Fiction Saint, untitled child and Pearl.
Hashtag Maggie Vandermeer was published by This Magazine.
Gibson by Brenda Damen
Brenda Damen is a writer from Calgary. Her short story Gibson won the 2020 CBC Short Story Prize. It was the first writing competition Damen ever entered and Gibson is her first published work.
Firebugs by Craig Davidson
Craig Davidson is a writer originally from St. Catharines, Ont. He has published several works of fiction, including Cataract City, which was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize in 2013, Rust and Bone, which was made into an Oscar-nominated feature film of the same name, The Fighter and The Saturday Night Ghost Club. He is also the author of the memoir Precious Cargo, which was defended by Greg Johnson on Canada Reads 2018. He also writes horror novels under the name Nick Cutter.
Firebugs was published by The Walrus.
After 'While by Cherie Dimaline
Cherie Dimaline is a bestselling Métis author best known for her YA novel The Marrow Thieves. The Marrow Thieves, was named one of Time magazine's top 100 YA novels of all time and was championed by Jully Black on Canada Reads 2018. Her other books include VenCo, Red Rooms, The Girl Who Grew a Galaxy, A Gentle Habit and Empire of Wild.
After 'While was published by CBC Books.
The Goddess Lisa by Erin Frances Fisher
Erin Frances Fisher is a writer and musician based in Victoria. She published her debut short story collection, That Tiny Life, in 2018 and was a finalist for the Ethel Wilson fiction Prize and Danuta Gleed Literary Award. Her work has been published in publications like Granta, Little Fiction, The Malahat Review and PRISM international.
The Goddess Lisa was published by Little Fiction.
What You Need by Andrew Forbes
Andrew Forbes's first short story collection What You Need was a finalist for the Danuta Gleed Literary Award and Trillium Book Award.His stories have been published widely, appearing in publications like The Feathertale Review, Little Fiction, PRISM International, New Quarterly and Maisonneuve Magazine. He is based in Peterborough, Ont. His novella McCurdle's Arm: A Fiction and novel The Diapause are forthcoming.
What You Need was published by Little Fiction.
Smiley by Jane Eaton Hamilton
Jane Eaton Hamilton is an award-winning writer whose work spans fiction, nonfiction and poetry. Their books include WEEKEND, love will burst into a thousand shapes, Hunger and July Nights. They have twice won the CBC Short Story Prize and their work has been included in the Journey Prize Anthology and Best Canadian Stories.
Smiley won the 2014 CBC Short Story Prize.
Complicit by Khalida Venus Hassan
Khalida Venus Hassan is a short story writer and literary assistant based in Toronto. In 2018, she was a finalist for the RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers. She is working on her first collection of short stories.
Complicit was published by The Puritan.
Witching by Alix Hawley
Alix Hawley is a writer from B.C. She won the 2017 CBC Short Story Prize for her story Witching. She was also the winner of the 2015 Amazon.ca First Novel Award and the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize for her debut novel, All True Not a Lie in It, a book that fictionalized the life of Pennsylvania Quaker Daniel Boone. Her 2018 novel My Name is a Knife continues the story of Daniel Boone.
Witching won the 2017 CBC Short Story Prize.
Don't Come In Here by Andrew Hood
Andrew Hood has published two short story collections, The Cloaca and Pardon Our Monsters, the latter of which won the Danuta Gleed Literary Award in 2007. His work has appeared in publications like Maisonneuve, PRISM International and The New Quarterly. Hood lives in Guelph, Ont.
Don't Come In Here was published by The Coast.
Enigma by David Huebert
David Huebert won the CBC Short Story Prize in 2016 and went on to publish a full collection of short fiction, titled Peninsula Sinking. The book won the Jim Connors Dartmouth Book Award and was shortlisted for the Alistair MacLeod Short Fiction Prize and Danuta Gleed Literary Award. Huebert is from Halifax. His debut novel, Oil People, will be out in fall 2024.
Enigma won the 2016 CBC Short Story Prize.
The Very First Girl in the World to Win the Dakar by Amy Jones
Amy Jones' debut novel, We're All in this Together, was a national bestseller and finalist for the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour. Her books include the novels Every Little Piece of Me and Pebble and Dove and the short story collection What Boys Like. She currently lives in Toronto.
The Very First Girl in the World to Win the Dakar was published by The Puritan.
Mine by Daniel Sarah Karasik
Daniel Sarah Karasik has published drama, poetry and fiction. Their books include Faithful and Other Stories, Hungry and Little Death. They live in Toronto. They won the 2012 CBC Short Story Prize.
Mine won the 2012 CBC Short Story Prize.
Thrown Overboard, Manacled in a Box by Cody Klippenstein
Cody Klippenstein is an award-winning short story writer. Her work has won the Zoetrope: All-Story short fiction contest and The Fiddlehead Short Fiction contest. She splits her time between Canada and the U.S.
Thrown Overboard, Manacled in a Box was published by Joyland.
The Stunt by Michael LaPointe
Michael LaPointe is a writer and critic based in Toronto. His work has been published in The Atlantic, The New Yorker and the New York Times. He is also a columnist for The Paris Review. His debut novel isThe Creep.
The Stunt was published by Hazlitt.
Lagomorph by Alexander MacLeod
Born in Inverness, Cape Breton and raised in Windsor, Ont., Alexander MacLeod is a short story writer and academic. His debut short story collection Light Lifting was shortlisted for the 2010 Scotiabank Giller Prize, the 2011 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award and the Commonwealth Prize. It won the Atlantic Book Award. Lagomorph won a 2019 O. Henry Award and is part of his fiction collection Animal Person.
Lagomorph was published by Granta.
One Hundred Knives in the Air by Pasha Malla
Pasha Malla was born in St. John's, grew up in London, Ont. and now lives in Toronto. Malla's debut short story collection, The Withdrawal Method, was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Prize and longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and his first novel, People Park, was a finalist for the Amazon.ca First Novel Award. His most recent novel is Kill the Mall.
One Hundred Knives in the Air was published by The Walrus.
Neutral Buoyancy by J.R. McConvey
J.R. McConvey is a writer and documentary producer from Toronto. His work has appeared in publications like The Malahat Review, Joyland and others. His debut short story collection was Different Beasts, published in September 2019. His novel False Bodies is forthcoming in 2024.
Neutral Buoyancy was published by Joyland.
Hard to Know by Sophie McCreesh
Sophie McCreesh is a fiction writer based in Toronto. Her work has been appeared in Peach Mag, Bad Dog Review, Hobart Pulp and other publications. She is the author of Once More, With Feeling published in 2021.
Hard to Know was published by Hobart Pulp.
In the Dark by Sarah Meehan Sirk
Sarah Meehan Sirk is a radio producer and writer. Her first book was the short story collection, The Dead Husband Project. She lives in Toronto.
In the Dark was published by Joyland.
Harold by Michael Melgaard
Michael Melgaard is a short story writer from Toronto. His books are the short fiction collection, Pallbearing, and the novel Not That Kind of Place. His work has appeared in Joyland, Bad Nudes, The Puritan and other publications.
Harold was published by Joyland.
Lipstick Day by Leah Mol
Leah Mol has an MFA in creative writing from UBC. She works as a proofreader, writer and piano teacher. She currently lives in Toronto. Her debut novel is Sharp Edges.
Lipstick Day won the 2019 CBC Short Story Prize.
Bliss by Sofia Mostaghimi
Sofia Mostaghimi is a fiction writer and editor based in Toronto. Her work has been longlisted for the Journey Prize and published in The Puritan and The Unpublished City. Her novel is Desperada.
Bliss was published by The Puritan.
The Many Faces of Montgomery Clift by Grace O'Connell
Grace O'Connell is the author of the novels Be Ready for the Lightning and Magnified World. Her writing has appeared in publications like The Walrus, the Globe and Mail and Elle Canada. She lives in Toronto.
The Many Faces of Montgomery Clift was published by Taddle Creek.
A Song for Robin by Heather O'Neill
Heather O'Neill is a novelist, short story writer and essayist from Montreal. She won Canada Reads 2024, championing The Future by Catherine Leroux, translated by Susan Ouriou. O'Neill is the first person to win Canada Reads as both an author and a contender. Her debut novel Lullabies for Little Criminals won Canada Reads 2007 when it was defended by musician John K. Samson.
O'Neill became the first back-to-back finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize when her novel The Girl Who Was Saturday Night and short story collection Daydreams of Angels were shortlisted in consecutive years. Her books also include the novels When We Lost Our Heads and The Lonely Hearts Hotel.. She lives in Montreal.
A Song for Robin was published by Literary Hub.
Accidental by Julie Paul
Julie Paul is a fiction writer and poet who lives in Victoria, B.C. She's published three short story collections, Meteorites, The Pull of the Moon and The Jealousy Bone, and two poetry collections, The Rules of the Kingdom and Whiny Baby.
Accidental was published by The New Quarterly.
Had It and Lost It by Ryan Paterson
Ryan Paterson's writing has appeared in Riddle Fence and Write Across Canada: An Anthology of Emerging Writers. He lives in Windsor, Ont.
Had It and Lost It was published by The New Quarterly.
Green Velvet by Krzysztof Pelc
Krzysztof Pelc is a professor of political science at McGill University. He is the author of Making and Bending International Rules and Beyond Self-Interest, and he is completing a novel, titled The Sexual Lives of Plants, about lust, language and authoritarianism.
Green Velvet won the 2018 CBC Short Story Prize.
Chaser by Daniel Perry
Daniel Perry has published two collections of short fiction, Nobody Looks That Young Here and Hamburger. His work has appeared in publications like The Dalhousie Review, Exile, Little Fiction and others. He lives in Toronto.
Chaser was published by Little Fiction.
I Know What You Are, and Real by Sara Peters
Sara Peters has published two books, 1996 and I Become a Delight to My Enemies. She lives in Toronto.
I Know What You Are, and Real was published by Sara Peters.
How Long and What a Marvel by Zoey Leigh Peterson
Zoey Leigh Peterson has published short fiction in The Walrus, EVENT, Grain, PRISM International, Best Canadian Stories and other publications. Her debut novel Next Year, For Sure was longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize in 2017.
How Long and What a Marvel was published by The Walrus.
A Love Like in the Movies by Casey Plett
Plett is the Canadian author of A Dream of a Woman, Little Fish, A Safe Girl to Love. She is a winner of the Amazon First Novel Award, the Firecracker Award for Fiction and a two-time winner of the Lambda Literary Award. Her work has also been nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. Plett splits her time between New York City and Windsor, Ont.
A Love Like in the Movies was published by Rookie Mag.
Summer '16 by Natasha Ramoutar
Natasha Ramoutar is a writer based in Scarborough, Ont. Her work has been published in The Unpublished City II, PRISM Magazine, Room and other places. Her first poetry book, Bittersweet, was published in 2020.
Summer '16 was published by Open Book.
Heart Lake by Rudrapriya Rathore
Rudrapriya Rathore is a fiction writer who has published work in the Hart House Review, The Puritan and The Walrus. She received the Irving Layton Award for fiction in 2014. She lives in Toronto.
Heart Lake was published by Joyland.
We Walked on Water by Eliza Robertson
Eliza Robertson has published two books, the acclaimed short story collection Wallflowers, and award-winning novel Demi-Gods. She lives in Montreal.
We Walked on Water was published by Granta.
Common Whipping by Naben Ruthnum
Ruthnum is a Toronto author, writer and journalist. He is the author of the memoir Curry: Eating, Reading, and Race and the novels Helpmeet and A Hero of Our Time. He has also written the thrillers Find You In The Dark and Your Life is Mine under the pen name Nathan Ripley.
Common Whipping was published by Granta.
Goat by Andrew F. Sullivan
Andrew F. Sullivan is a writer based in Hamilton. His work has been nominated for National Magazine Awards and appeared in The Globe and Mail and The Walrus. His books include the novels Waste and The Marigold and the short story collection All We Want is Everything.
Goat was published by Joyland.
Multicoloured Lights by Jess Taylor
Jess Taylor is the author of two collections of short fiction, Just Pervs and Pauls, and the novel Play. The title story of Pauls won the 2013 Gold Fiction National Magazine Award, while Just Pervs was a finalist for the 2020 Lambda Literary Award in Bisexual Fiction. She lives in Toronto.
Multicoloured Lights was published by Notes and Queries.
Mom is in Love with Randy Travis by Souvankham Thammavongsa
Souvankham Thammavongsa is an award-winning author and poet whose debut short story collection, How to Pronounce Knife, won the 2020 Scotiabank Giller Prize.
Her poetry collections include the Trillium Book Award winner Light, the ReLit Award winner Small Arguments and 2019's Cluster, a wide-ranging collection of ruminations on nature, family and politics written in Thammavongsa's celebrated minimalist style. Cluster was a 2020 finalist for the Pat Lowther Memorial Award.
Mom is in Love with Randy Travis was published by Electric Literature.
1 Dog, 1 Knife by Daniel Scott Tysdal
Daniel Scott Tysdal is an award-winning poet whose books include The Mourner's Book of Albums and Predicting the Next Big Advertising Breakthrough Using a Potentially Dangerous Method. His debut short story collection is Wave Forms and Dooms Scrolls. He teaches creative writing at the University of Toronto Scarborough.
1 Dog, 1 Knife was published by The Puritan.
Show Me Yours by Richard Van Camp
Richard Van Camp is a Tlicho Dene writer from Fort Smith, N.W.T. who has written over 20 books across multiple genres. His graphic novel A Blanket of Butterflies was nominated for an Eisner Award and his children's book Little You, illustrated by Julie Flett, was translated into Bush Cree, Plains Cree, South Slavey and Chipewyan.
Van Camp's seminal 1996 novel The Lesser Blessed was adapted into a film by First Generation Films. His other books include Moccasin Square Gardens, Angel Wing Splash Pattern, Night Moves and We Sang You Home.
Show Me Yours was published by The Walrus.
I Want It All, I Want it Now by Ian Williams
Ian Williams is a Vancouver-based poet, fiction writer and academic from Brampton, Ont. He won the Giller Prize in 2019 for his novel Reproduction. His other books include the poetry collection Personals, the short fiction collection Not Anyone's Anything and the essay collection Disorientation. He is currently a professor at the University of Toronto. He is the 2024 CBC Massey Lecturer.
I Want It All, I Want it Now was published by Fashion.
Mountain Under Sea by D.W. Wilson
D. W. Wilson is the author of Once You Break a Knuckle, a collection of short stories, and Ballistics, a novel. In 2011 he won the BBC National Short Story Award for The Dead Roads. He won the Manchester Fiction Prize and the CBC Short Story Prize in 2015.
Mountain Under Sea won the 2015 CBC Short Story Prize.
Difficult People by Catriona Wright
Catriona Wright has published a poetry collection, Table Manners, as well as a collection of short fiction, Difficult People. Her work has appeared in publications like Geist, Joyland, Grain and Room. She is the poetry editor at The Puritan.
Difficult People was published by Joyland.
