Линн Коуди - Best Canadian Stories 2020

Jeff Noh, a writer based in Montreal, was born in Seoul and grew up in New Jersey, New York, and Southern Alberta. He is an inaugural UNESCO City of Literature writer in residence in Bucheon, South Korea, where he is completing work on a novel in progress.

Casey Plettis the author of the novel Little Fish and the story collection A Safe Girl to Love , and co-editor of the anthology Meanwhile, Elsewhere: Science Fiction and Fantasy From Transgender Writers . A winner of the Amazon First Novel Award, the Stonewall Book Award, the Firecracker Award for Fiction, and a two-time winner of the Lambda Literary Award, she has written for multiple publications including the New York Times , McSweeney’s Internet Tendency , The Walrus , them ., Plenitude , and others.

Eden Robinson’s latest novels are Son of a Trickster and Trickster Drift . The final novel in the Trickster series, Return of the Trickster , is forthcoming spring 2021.

Naben Ruthnumis the author of Curry: Eating, Reading and Race , and, as Nathan Ripley, of the thrillers Find You In the Dark and Your Life is Mine . Ruthnum has won the Journey Prize and a National Magazine Award for his short stories.

Pablo Strausshas translated many works of fiction from Quebec, including Maxime Raymond Bock’s Atavisms (2015) and Baloney (2016). He grew up in Victoria, BC, and makes his home in Quebec City.

Souvankham Thammavongsa’s first story collection is How to Pronounce Knife (McClelland & Stewart, 2020). Her stories have won an O. Henry Award and appeared in Harper’s Magazine , The Atlantic , Granta , The Paris Review , and other places.

Senaa Ahmad, “The Women, Before and After” ( PRISM international )

Lisa Alward, “Wise Men Say” ( The New Quarterly )

Kris Bertin, “Mon Semblable” ( Halloween Review )

Shashi Bhat, “Good Enough Never Is” ( The Malahat Review )

Jowita Bydlowska, “Penelope” ( The Fiddlehead )

Steven Heighton, “Notes towards a new theory of tears” ( PRISM international )

Ben Ladouceur, “Man and His World” ( The Puritan )

Allison LaSorda, “Satellites” ( The New Quarterly )

Sadi Muktadir, “Quadruple Bypass” ( Joyland )

Téa Mutonji, “Property of Neil” ( Joyland )

Kira Procter, “Mucho Mucho Fun” ( New England Review )

Eliza Robertson, “The Aquanauts” ( Carte Blanche )

Natalie Southworth, “The Realtor” ( The New Quarterly )

John Elizabeth Stintzi, “Coven Covets Boy” ( The Puritan )

Anne Stone / Wayde Compton, “Antiquing in Vermont” ( PRISM international )

Kasia van Schaik, “Evening Mood at Schlachtensee” ( Cosmonauts Avenue )

Martha Wilson, “Binoculars” ( EVENT )

For the 2020 edition of Best Canadian Stories , the following publications were consulted:

Adda , Bad Nudes , Border Crossings , Brick , Broken Pencil , Canadian Notes & Queries , Carte Blanche , Cosmonauts Avenue , The Dalhousie Review , Electric Literature , EVENT , The Fiddlehead , filling Station , Geist , Grain Magazine , Granta , Halloween Review , Joyland , Maisonneuve , Malahat Review , Minola Review , The Nashville Review , The New England Review , The New Quarterly , Orca , The Paris Review , Plentitude , Prairie Fire , PRISM international , The Puritan , Queen’s Quarterly , Ricepaper Magazine , Riddle Fence , Room , 2019 Short Story Advent Calendar, subTerrain , Taddle Creek , The /tmz/ Review , THIS Magazine , Trinity Review , The Walrus .

“Government Slots” by Omar El Akkad first appeared in the 2019 Short Story Advent Calendar (Hingston & Olsen Publishing, 2019).

“The Drain” by Lynn Coady first appeared in Electric Lit .

“Daughter of Cups” by Kristyn Dunnion first appeared in Orca: A Literary Journal .

“Madame Flora’s” by Camilla Grudova first appeared in The Puritan .

“The Last Big Dance” by Conor Kerr first appeared in The Malahat Review .

“Phoenix” by Alex Leslie first appeared in Cosmonauts Avenue .

“If You Start Breathing” by Thea Lim first appeared in Granta .

“Victory Day” by Cassidy McFadzean first appared in PRISM international .

“Drago” by Michael Melgaard first appeared in Bad Nudes . From Pallbearing copyright © 2020 by Michael Melgaard. Reproduced with permission from House of Anansi Press Inc., Toronto. www.houseofanansi.com

“Jikji” by Jeff Noh first appeared in Carte Blanche .

“Hazel & Christopher” by Casey Plett first appeared in the 2019 Short Story Advent Calendar (Hingston & Olsen Publishing, 2019).

“Your Random Spirit Guide” by Eden Robinson first appeared in The Fiddlehead .

“Common Whipping” by Naben Ruthnum first appeared in Granta .

“The Gas Station” by Souvankham Thammavongsa first appeared in The Paris Review . “The Gas Station” from How To Pronounce Knife: Stories by Souvankham Thammavongsa, Copyright © 2020 Souvankham Thammavongsa. Reprinted by permission of McClelland & Stewart, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited; Bloomsbury Circus, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc; and Little, Brown and Company, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Any third party use of this material, outside of this publication, is prohibited. Interested parties must apply directly to Penguin Random House Canada Limited for permission.

Paige Cooper’s debut collection of short stories, Zolitude , won the 2018 Concordia University First Book Prize, and was nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction, the Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction, and the Danuta Gleed Award. CBC, Toronto Star, The Walrus , Globe and Mail , The Puritan, and Quill & Quire all listed it among their best books of 2018.

Copyright © the contributors, 2020

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher or a licence from The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). For an Access Copyright licence, visit www.accesscopyright.caor call toll free to 1-800-893-5777.

FIRST EDITION

ISBN 978-1-77196-362-6 (Trade Paper)

ISBN 978-1-77196-363-3 (eBook)

Edited by Paige Cooper

Cover and text designed by Gordon Robertson

Published with the generous assistance of the Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $153 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country, and the financial support of the Government of Canada. Biblioasis also acknowledges the support of the Ontario Arts Council (OAC), an agency of the Government of Ontario, which last year funded 1,709 individual artists and 1,078 organizations in 204 communities across Ontario, for a total of $52.1 million, and the contribution of the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit and Ontario Creates.