Writer in Residence

Toronto Public Library (TPL)’s Writer in Residence program supports writers and encourages exchanges between the author and the community. The Writer in Residence creates and delivers online programs, evaluates submitted manuscripts, meets virtually with writers from the general public, and works on their own project(s).

Writers who have held residencies at the library include Gail Bowen, Chester Brown, Austin Clarke, Karen Connelly, Deborah Cooke, Farzana Doctor, Sarah Ellis, Rabindranath Maharaj, Elizabeth Ruth, Robert J. Sawyer, Karl Schroeder, Allan Stratton, Sugith Varughese, Tim Wynne-Jones, Alissa York, David S. Young and Kim Echlin.

Summer 2021 Writer in Residence - Canadian Fiction Writer

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  Kate Cayley, TPL’s Summer 2021 Writer in Residence, is a fiction writer, playwright, and poet. She has written a short story collection, How You Were Born, two collections of poetry, When This World Comes to an End and Other Houses, a young adult novel, The Hangman in the Mirror, and a number of plays, both traditional and experimental, which have been performed in Canada, the US and the UK. She has won the Trillium Book Award, the Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction, an O. Henry Short Story Prize, and a Chalmers Fellowship, and been shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award for Fiction, the K. M. Hunter Award, the ReLit Award and the Toronto Arts Foundation Emerging Artist Award, and long-listed for the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Prize and the CBC Prize in both poetry and fiction. Her short stories, poems and essays have appeared in a wide variety of magazines and anthologies, including Best Canadian Poetry. She has been writer in residence at McMaster University, and a playwright in residence with Tarragon Theatre and Zuppa Theatre. She lives in Toronto with her wife and their three children. Her second short story collection, Householders, is forthcoming from Biblioasis.

  https://www.katecayley.ca

Upcoming Program

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  Structure and Outline: Where to Start and How to Go On

  Sat Jun 26, 2021 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.

  An informal talk and Q&A about structure and craft.

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  How to Begin: How Do You Craft an Opening So That the Reader Keeps on Reading?

  Sat Jul 03, 2021 1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.

  An interactive workshop focussed on crafting openings that keep the reader reading.

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  What You Say Reveals Who You Are: A Workshop on Dialogue

  Sat Jul 10, 2021 3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

  Join us for a workshop in how to write dialogue that is true to the voice of each person, that tells a story, and that reveals a character's history.

All Programs

Submitting Your Manuscript

Writers of Canadian Literature are invited to submit manuscripts for review and feedback. The Writer in Residence will meet with the first 15 authors whose manuscript submissions satisfy the requirements below. We regret that the Writer in Residence may not be able to meet with everyone who submits a manuscript. Meetings with the Writer in Residence are by appointment only, and will be held virtually.

Following are the manuscript submission requirements:

• Submissions should be short stories or novel excerpts, 2,500 words maximum, or a maximum of 10 pages of poetry. Please ensure submissions are typed pages, double-spaced for prose, single spaced for poetry, 12 pt Times New Roman, single-sided.
• Include a cover page with your name, address, email, and telephone number.
• Material submitted will not be returned so please do not submit originals.
• Please email your submission to: trllanglit@tpl.ca
• Mail to: Writer in Residence – c/o Toronto Reference Library, Languages & Literature Department, (4th Floor), 789 Yonge Street, Toronto, ON M4W 2G8
• Manuscripts will be accepted from Tuesday, June 1, 2021 to Monday, June 28, 2021.

For more information, please call 416-393-7085.

Apply to be Writer in Residence

Toronto Public Library's (TPL) Writer in Residence program supports writers and encourages exchanges between the author and the community.

Applications are not currently being accepted for the Writer in Residence program.

Stay tuned for the next opportunity to apply for TPL’s Writer in Residence program. Toronto Public Library typically hosts two residencies per year.