Leslie Vryenhoek releases debut collection of short fiction

Scrabble Lessons

a collection of short fiction by Leslie Vryenhoek

published by the Canadian literary press Oolichan Books launched November 17, 2009 by the author in St. John's, Newfoundland.

Leslie Vryenhoek's work has won the Eden Mills Literary Festival competition, the Cahoots Fiction contest and the Dalton Camp Award, and placed in the Sheldon Currie Fiction Contest (The Antigonish Review) and This Magazine’s Great Canadian Literary Hunt.

All She Swallowed, one of the fifteen stories found in Scrabble Lessons is also available as an audio digital download read by the author, from Rattling Books.

Bella's Tree illustrations by Jirina Marton win Governor General's Award

Congratulations to Jirina Marton, winner of a Governor General's Literary Award for Illustration for Bella's Tree

Children’s Literature – Illustration
Jirina Marton, Colborne (Ontario), Bella’s Tree, text by Janet Russell.(Groundwood Books / House of Anansi Press; distributed by HarperCollins Canada)

Jirina Marton’s illustrations invite the reader to a winter landscape full of textures and subtle, earthy colour palettes. The Van Gogh-like interior and its warm tones create a holiday season mood that evokes an emotional response. The illustrations are well crafted and capture the imagination and humanity of the everyday lives they portray.