Good News!
20 November 2011: CW MFA Graduate Mathew Henderson Signs with Toronto's Coach House Press
Mathew's first collection of poetry will be released in the Fall of 2012.
20 October 2011: Jacob Arthur Mooney Shortlisted for the International Dylan Thomas Prize
Jacob Arthur Mooney, a graduate of the CW MFA and a member of the program's first cohort, is on the short-list for the international Dylan Thomas Prize, awarded annually to a writer under 30. This is among the world's richest literary prizes for young writers. Mooney was recently writer in residence at the Pierre Berton House in Dawson City, Yukon, and is currently travelling in Europe. He is short-listed for his second collection, Folk, published by McClelland & Stewart.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/10/20/dylan-thomas-prize-finalists-mooney.html
http://www.dylanthomasprize.com/news/
October 2011: Tanis Rideout's New Novel, Above All Things, Sells in International Markets
MFA Graduate Tanis Rideout's first novel, Above All Things, will be published by McClelland & Stewart in the Spring of 2012. The novel has also been sold internationally: Amy Einhorn at Penguin (US); Viking at Penguin (UK); Piemme (Italy); and with the Orlando at the A.W. Bruna Group (Netherlands).
Tanis's first book of poetry will be published by Wolsak & Wynn in 2013.
05 October 2011: Playwright Robert Chafe Is Shortlisted for the $100,000 Elinore and Lou Siminovitch Prize; Shane Neilson Lands Silver in ForeWord Magazine's Book of the Year Awards
Six playwrights from across the country have been shortlisted for the coveted $100,000 Elinore and Lou Siminovitch Prize, among them
Newfoundland playwright Robert Chafe (2011 cohort), who won the 2010 Governor General's Literary Awards for drama.
Organizers unveiled on Tuesday half a dozen finalists for Canada's most lucrative theatre honour, which will be awarded in Toronto on Nov. 7.
Robert Chafe, of St. John's, Newfoundland, winner of the 2010 Governor General's Award for drama (for Afterimage) and artistic associate and playwright for Newfoundland troupe Artistic Fraud, is currently a first-year student in the University of Guelph's Creative Writing MFA program.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/10/04/siminovitch-short-list-playwrights.html
In other good news:
Complete Physical (2011 cohort), published by Porcupine's Quill, was awarded Silver in ForeWord Magazine's Book of the Year Awards. The link is: http://www.bookoftheyearawards.com/winners/2010/category/poetry/
July 2011: Jeff Latosik Wins the Trillium Prize for Poetry
Jeff Latosik of Toronto and a graduate of the first cohort of the Creative Writing MFA won the $10,000 Trillium poetry prize for Tiny, Frantic, Stronger (Insomniac Press). The winner was announced today.
Four titles are short-listed for the Trillium Book Award for Poetry in English language, which recognizes literary achievement for a first, second or third published work of poetry.
Shane Neilson of the 2011 cohort was also short-listed for this award. Paul Vermeersch (2009 cohort), and faculty member Michael Winter were short-listed for the Trillium Award for best work published in English in Ontario this year.
June 2011: CW MFA Faculty Member Dionne Brand Is Awarded the Griffin Prize for Poetry
Toronto poet Dionne Brand has won the Griffin Poetry Prize for her narrative poem Ossuaries.
Brand won the $65,000 prize — Canada's richest poetry prize and the world's largest prize for a single poetry collection in English — at a gala in downtown Toronto Wednesday night. Brand and each finalist also earned $10,000 for participating in the readings the night before the prize gala.
For more, please see: www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/06/01/brand-griffin-poetry.html
Upcoming Publications from our CW MFA Graduates: 2011 & 2012
Graduate Grace O'Connell is signed by Doubleday (Random House) as the New Face of Fiction. Her first novel will be published in the Spring of 2012.
Graduate Stacey J. Madden's first novel, Poison Shy, will be published by ECW Press in the Fall of 2012.
Nancy Jo Cullen's (2008 cohort) will have her collection of short stories, The Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time, published by Biblioasis.
Aggie Maksimowska's (2008 cohort) first novel, Decathalon, will be published by Pedlar Press in 2012.
Jamie Forsythe's (first cohort) first collection of poetry will be published by Mansfield Press in 2012.
Recent Publications by MFA Grads
2011: Graduate Aisha Sasha John's first collection of poetry, The Shining Material, is published by BookThug.
2010: Graduate Zoe Whittall publishes the Lambda award-winning Holding Still For As Long As Possible (House of Anansi, 09/10).
2010: Leigh Nash (2007 cohort) sees her first collection of poetry, Goodbye, Ukuele, debut with Mansfield Press.
13 October 2010: Graduate Sandy Pool Earns GG Nomination
Recent CW MFA graduate Sandy Pool has been nomninated for a 2010 Governor General's Literary Award for her poetry collection, Exploding Into Night. Exploding Into Night is Sandy's first book, which was published in 2009 by Guernica Editions. Sandy is currently working toward a PhD at The University of Calgary.
Core faculty member Judith Thompson has also received a nomination for her play Such Creatures, and Karen Connelly, a sessional instructor with the program, has been nominated for her non-fiction title, Burmese Lessons: A Love Story.
31 August 2010: Two MFA Writers Shortlisted for the 2010 ReLit Awards
Zoe Whittall (Graduated 2009) and Matt Lennox (Current Student) are both on the shortlist for the 2010 ReLit Awards. Zoe's second novel, Holding Still For As Long As Possible, was published in 2009 by Anansi. Matt's first book, a short story collection called Men of Salt, Men of Earth, was also published in 2009 with Oberon Press.
19 May 2010: Nancy Jo Cullen Awarded the Dayne Ogilvie Grant
Nancy Jo Cullen (Graduated 2010) was recently named the fourth annual recipient of the Dayne Ogilvie Grant. The Dayne Ogilvie is awarded to "an emerging gay or lesbian writer who demonstrates great literary promise through a body of work of exceptional quality." Nancy Jo has published three collections of poetry, Science Fiction Saint, Pearl, and Untitled Child, all with Calgary's Frontenac House.
Kilby Smith-McGregor Wins the 2010 RBC Brownen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers
Kilby Smith-McGregor, who is now in her second year of the program, was awarded the 2010 RBC Brownen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers for her short story "The Bird in Hand."
