Festival of the Short Story

From inter-linked tales of Toronto's Portuguese community in Anthony De Sa's Barnacle Love to the dark and humorous tales of Elyse Friedman's Long Story Short, the sheer variety of short fiction being produced in Canada today is truly breathtaking.

The Festival of the Short Story brings together unique combinations of Canadian writers to read from their work and discuss their common craft. With: Pasha Malla (The Withdrawal Method); award-winning short story writer Ahmad Saidullah (Happiness and Other Disorders); Sharon English (Zero Gravity) whose work has been long-listed for the Giller Prize; award winning author Caroline Adderson (Pleased to Meet You), and Journey Prize writers Rebecca Rosenblum and David Whitton.

Moderated by Jane Urquhart, Lynn Coady, Caroline Adderson and Russell Smith.

Book sales by Pages Books & Magazines

SCHEDULE

Elyse Friedman and Pasha Malla
(moderated by Caroline Adderson)
Saturday, June 7,2:00p.m.
Toronto Reference Library,
789 Yonge St.

Anthony DeSa and Caroline Adderson
(moderated by Russell Smith)
Monday, June9, 12:30p.m. Parkdale Branch,
1303 Queen Street West

Ahmad Saidullah and Sharon English
(moderated by Jane Urquhart)
Thursday, June 12, 7:00p.m. Palmerston Branch,
560 Palmerston Ave

David Whitton and Rebecca Rosenblum
(moderated by Lynn Coady)
Friday, June 13, 12:30p.m. Northern District Branch,
40 Orchard View Blvd

Anthony De Sa grew up in Toronto's Portuguese community. His short fiction has been published in several North American literary magazines. He attended The Humber School for Writers and now heads the English department and directs the creative writing program at a high school for the arts. Barnacle Love is his first book and he is currently at work on a novel.

Elyse Friedman was born in Toronto, and raised in North York. Suburbia. Her first novel, Then Again, was short-listed for the 2000 Trillium Book Award. Elyse has penned several feature-length scripts and wrote her second novel, Waking Beauty, and her first book of poems, Know Your Monkey, in tandem. "The Soother", from her book of short stories, Long Story Short, won the Gold National Magazine Award for fiction.

Pasha Malla's first collection of short stories, The Withdrawal Method, will be published by House of Anansi Press in 2008. His writing has appeared in numerous journals, magazines and anthologies, including two appearances in Journey Prize Stories, a "Notable Story" in Best American Nonrequired Reading (edited by Dave Eggers), the forthcoming Toronto Noir anthology and, most recently, GreenTOpia.

Ahmad Saidullah was born in Ottawa, Ontario, grew up in India, and now lives in Toronto. Although he began writing fiction in 2004, his short stories have already garnered many honours. CBC Literary Awards jurors Catherine Bush, Anne Collins, and Eden Robinson praised his award-winning short story, "Happiness and Other Disorders," for its "idiosyncrasy, humour, and empathetic breadth."

Sharon English has published two collections of short stories, Uncomfortably Numb (Porcupine's Quill, 2002) and Zero Gravity (Porcupine's Quill, 2006). Zero Gravity was longlisted for the 2007 Giller Prize, short-listed in the 2007 ReLit Awards, and included in The Globe and Mail's Best 100 new titles of 2006. Originally from London, Ontario, Sharon now lives in Toronto, where she teaches at the U of T.

Rebecca Rosenblum just finished her masters in English and Creative Writing at the University of Toronto. Her work has been published in Exile Quarterly, Danforth Review, echolocation, The New Quarterly, Qwerty, Ars Medica, and Journey Prize Stories 19. Her first collection of short stories will be published in Fall 2008 by Biblioasis. Rebecca lives, works and writes in North Toronto.

David Whitton is a Toronto-based writer whose fiction has appeared in The Journey Prize Stories issues 18 and 05, Best Canadian Stories, the Dalhousie Review, the Fiddlehead, the New Quarterly and Taddle Creek. Short-listed for 2005 CBC Literary Awards, 2005 third prize winner Eden Mills Literary Contest, 2002 first runner-up The Writer's Union of Canada's Emerging Artist Award in Creative Writing.

Caroline Adderson is the author of two internationally published novels, A History of Forgetting and Sitting Practice and a widely anthologized collection of short stories, Bad Imaginings. Her work has won her two Ethel Wilson FictionPrizes, three CBC Literary Awards, as well as numerous nominations including the Governor General's Literary Award, the Rogers' Trust Fiction Prize and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize.

Jane Urquhart has published three books of poetry (I'm Walking in the Garden of His Imaginary Palace, False Shuffles, and The Little Flowers of Madame de Montespan), four novels (The Whirlpool, Changing Heaven, Away, and The Underpainter), and a collection of short fiction (Storm Glass) as well as numerous articles and reviews.