Catherine Austen's Blog, page 3

Gatineau Book Festival

Come out this weekend to a free bilingual celebration of literacy in Aylmer (Gatineau) featuring authors for all ages.

Join me and a dozen other local authors in the Librairie Michabou Bookstore this weekend for the first annual Gatineau Book Festival to celebrate reading and writing for all ages. This 2-day event will take place on Friday, September 8th from 10:00 am-6:00 pm and Saturday, September 9th from 10:00 am-7:00 pm at the Galeries Aylmer Mall.

Bring your family and your literary aspirations and meet local authors who’ll inspire you to write your own books. Speakers include authors of children’s books, YA novels, historical non-fiction, murder mysteries, sci-fi, political thrillers, and more.

Find the author line-up and event information here.

Learn about other upcoming events at the Michabou Bookstore here.

I’ll be speaking on Saturday at 10am about writing for all ages. Come hear my tips and try a prompt.

I hope to see you there!

Awesome Authors 2023 (Update)

The Ottawa Public Library’s Awesome Authors Youth Writing Contest was a huge success this year, with more entries than ever. Over 700 young writers of poetry, comics, and short stories submitted pieces this winter, leaving judges like me with many difficult decisions (but many hours of delightful reading!).

Check out the library’s post of all the winners and honourable mentions in this year’s contest.

I read almost 250 submissions of English short stories by writers aged 9-12 and it was SO HARD to choose the final pieces. My shortlist was 18 stories and any one of them could have won. So if your story wasn’t chosen in the final 6 for that category, know that many, many great stories were left off the list and you were probably the last one dropped. But keep writing!

Thanks to the support of the Friends of the Ottawa Public Library Association, this year’s winners and honourable mentions will be anthologized in Pot-pourri in the fall. Check out the many past editions of that awesome anthology.

Keep tabs on the OPL website to hear about next year’s contest. And — can’t say it enough — keep writing!

MASC Young Authors and Illustrators Festival 2023 (Update)

It was fab! In person! So many happy young faces! So many talented authors and illustrators!

This year’s MYAIF was a one-day event at Ottawa’s Science and Technology Museum. And what a day! Hosted by JustJamaal ThePoet, with over 140 kids attending, with workshops led by Tim Wynne-Jones, Philippa Dowding, Adrienne Kress, Soyeon Kim, Kean Soo, and me, plus readings, prizes, and lunchtime dancing — you can’t go wrong.

(Okay, I went a little wrong taking Boulevard Lucerne from Aylmer at rush hour with the Champlain Bridge down to one lane, and I was almost late for my own introduction — but all the rest went just right. :-))

Photographs by Martin Lipman, posted on the MASC Facebook page, capture the event better than I can describe, so check them out:

Be sure to keep tabs on the MASC website to find out when you can register for next year’s Young Authors and Illustrators Festival (MYAIF), and check out all their programs happening all year long.

Happy writing and illustrating!

Young Writers’ Markets

I’m resurrecting my old list of Young Writers’ Markets because there are so many young writers who are not eligible to submit to the Ottawa Public Library’s Awesome Authors Youth Writing Contest. What are they to do with their awesome stories, poems, and comics? Well…

If you are a young writer in Canada with no local contests to enter, there is still a market for your work. Follow the link to the post below to get started in your search. (You’ll find an updated list of youth writing markets, plus several links to other lists. Good luck!)

Young Writers’ Markets

MASC Young Authors and Illustrators Festival 2023

It’s back! In person! And I want to see you there.

Young writers and artists in eastern Ontario and western Quebec can sign up now for the MASC Young Authors and Illustrators Festival (MYAIF) to be held in Ottawa on April 4th.

This year’s Festival will offer one day of workshops at the fab venue of the Science and Technology Museum, home of the Crazy Kitchen. I’m one of the workshop leaders this year, and the other four are some greats in the industry: Tim Wynne-Jones, Lesley Livingston, Soyeon Kim, and Philippa Dowding.

Read presenter bios and festival information on the MASC website. You’ll also find glowing testimonials from kids who attended in previous years. It’s a seriously fun event.

The festival is open to young writers and artists in grades 4-8. Registration is limited and you must sign up by February 10th. So get to it.

Take the day off school and do some hands-on learning from professionals in the field of children’s literature.

Hope to see you there!

Awesome Authors 2023 is on!

The Ottawa Public Library’s Awesome Authors Youth Writing Contest is back! Young writers of the nation’s capital, get to work on your poems, short stories, and comics. You could win publication, glory, cold hard cash!

The contest opened on January 10th and it closes on February 24th. Learn all the details from the Awesome Authors page on the OPL website.

I’ll be judging English fiction in the 9-12 age category again this year — and I want to read your story!

Other judges this year are Apollo the Child; Amelinda Bérubé; Pierre-Luc Bélanger; and Éric Péladeau. (Yes, it’s the same awesome crew as last year — why mess with a good thing?) Check everyone out on the Ottawa Public Library’s YouTube channel.

All judges are offering virtual or in-person writing workshops to help you get started, from January 21st through February 11th. Find the full schedule and registration links on the OPL Awesome Authors page.

My short story workshop will be held at 10:30am on Saturday, January 28th at the Blackburn Hamlet branch — in person, hurrah! I hope you can make it.

The Awesome Authors contest is open to all Ottawa youth aged 9-18 who are still in school, and even to the odd non-resident with an Ottawa Public Library card. Entries are judged in two age categories (9-12 and 13-18), two languages (English and French) and three genres (poem, short story, comic). Ambitious writers can submit one (but only one!) of everything. Go wild!

The contest deadline is February 24th, 2023. Winners will be announced in the spring.

Be sure to read all the rules before submitting. (Don’t go over the 1000-word limit.) And check out the winning pieces from past years anthologized in Pot-pourri, published annually by the Friends of the Ottawa Public Library Association.

Good luck!

Stories and Litmags

I’m resurrecting my old list of Canadian litmags because it’s just so handy for short story writers to know the word limits at a glance. Since I’m updating it for myself, why not share?

I’ve been fortunate in having several stories (for adults) published this year, including a few in online journals:

something funny in Carouselsomething sad in Prairie Journalsomething slipstream in Agnes and True

It’s time I got a collection together! That’s one of the projects I’ll be working on in 2023.

I do still write for kids, and I have several stories for children coming out online this winter, too, some for Blue Met and some for Alloprof.

Blue Met is doing magical things with a new story of mine for their “Numbers Spelled Out” series, and I’ll post about that in 2023. For now, they’ve republished their holiday series from 2021, so you can listen to me read a children’s story, “Winter Blues,” — and listen to many other authors read their stories, too — on the Blue Met website.

And novels? I have one for young readers out on submission and one for teens in the revision stage that tops my 2023 To-Do list. So yeah, I’m still writing.

Here’s my litmag list. Have a look. Read. Submit. Subscribe — any one of these journals makes a great Christmas present. Happy New Year to all!

Short Fiction Markets – Canadian Lit Mags A-Z

Pot-Pourri 2022

It’s here, awesome authors! The latest volume of Pot-Pourri, containing all the winning stories, poems, and graphic narratives from Ottawa’s Awesome Authors aged 9-18.

Buy your copy today.

Check out the gorgeous cover design by Gaurinanda Abhilash:

Once again, the anthology is generously produced by the Friends of the Ottawa Public Library Association (FOPLA), with a gorgeous cover designed by a young Ottawa artist, and full of entertaining and moving pieces selected from the annual OPL Awesome Authors Youth Writing Contest.

And once again, I’m proud to be the English editor of this year’s book, alongside the longstanding French editor, Michel Goyette.

Still Covid-conscious, this year’s book launch was a simple pick-up rather than a party, but I was pleased to be there for part of it, to meet some of this year’s contest winners, and to chat with fellow judge Amelinda Bérubé, author of spooky young adult novels. (I interviewed her in 2020 for my Cabin Tales podcast — she’s so insightful!)

Look how happy we were to be there:

Amelinda was the 2022 judge of English Fiction in the teen category. I judged the 9-12 stories. And we both hope to judge those categories in 2023 — I’ll keep you posted on this blog.

I’ve been a judge of this contest for several years, and I’m ever amazed at the talent it solicits from youth of all ages. I use Pot-pourri in my writing workshops to exemplify fine writing by young people.

Pick up your copy today for just $15 — makes a great Christmas gift for the young writers on your list. And scoop up previous editions at the bargain price of $5.00. Proceeds from all sales benefit the Ottawa Public Library.

Online Character Workshop

Join me online on Saturday, January 14th at 1pm EST for a one-hour workshop on characterization: Nice is Not Enough, part of the SCBWI (Canada East) “Digging Deeper” workshop series.

Here’s the blurb:

Nice is Not Enough: Developing Likeable and Unlikeable Characters:

What makes us root for a character? How flawed can a protagonist be? Is quirky the best we can make of sidekicks? Is there ever a role for a cliché? Must we empathize with evil to write well-rounded villains?

This workshop will focus on character development, why we attach to fictional characters and how we can develop characters that readers feel for—whether love or love to hate. With exercises designed to shift your point of view and move your fictional cast farther from your comfort zone, this workshop is made for novelists. (But picture book authors are welcome, too!) Come with characters from your work in mind, or start fresh from prompts to develop a spectrum of good guys, flawed heroes, memorable sidekicks, sympathetic villains, and bad guys.

Go to the SCBWI Canada East website to register.

(NB: This is a workshop for adult writers of children’s fiction, unlike most of workshops, which are for kids.)

And check out some other SCBWI Canada East events too.

Happy New Year!

The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators is a global community of writers, illustrators, translators, publishers, librarians, advocates, and other industry professionals working to establish a more imaginative and inclusive world through the power of children’s literature.

November 12th Online Workshop

Join me online next Saturday, November 12th, at 1pm EST for a one-hour workshop on characterization: Nice is Not Enough, part of the SCBWI (Canada East) “Digging Deeper” workshop series.

Here’s the blurb:

Nice is Not Enough: Developing Likeable and Unlikeable Characters:

What makes us root for a character? How flawed can a protagonist be? Is quirky the best we can make of sidekicks? Is there ever a role for a cliché? Must we empathize with evil to write well-rounded villains?

This workshop will focus on character development, why we attach to fictional characters and how we can develop characters that readers feel for—whether love or love to hate. With exercises designed to shift your point of view and move your fictional cast farther from your comfort zone, this workshop is made for novelists. (But picture book authors are welcome, too!) Come with characters from your work in mind, or start fresh from prompts to develop a spectrum of good guys, flawed heroes, memorable sidekicks, sympathetic villains, and bad guys.

Go to the SCBWI Canada East website to register.

(NB: This is a workshop for adult writers of children’s fiction, unlike most of workshops, which are for kids.)

And check out some other SCBWI Canada East events too.

Happy November!

The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators is a global community of writers, illustrators, translators, publishers, librarians, advocates, and other industry professionals working to establish a more imaginative and inclusive world through the power of children’s literature.