Further Designs

Every Night.. has been shortlisted for the Book Design of the Year Award at the Alberta Book Publishing Awards! Sending hearty congratulations and thanks to Natalie Olsen of kisscut design and all at Freehand Books. They made my book into a rich and strange object that complements and develops the stories amazingly — I’m in their debt, and I’m delighted to see their work recognized.

For the Perplexed

Enjoyed Every Night… and want to share it with your book club, but feel like you have no idea what to say about it? Same here. Fortunately, the smart people at Freehand Books can help: they’ve had brilliant young writer Rachelle-Anne Lawka prepare a book club guide.

Rachelle-Anne’s excellent work includes an introductory essay, discussion questions, and an interview with yours truly. It contextualizes the book supremely well, teeing up some very big questions as well as asking some very pointed and precise ones. Now available online: https://freehand-books.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/EN-discussion-guide.pdf

And don’t forget that Freehand offers a discount for book clubs if you order directly from them at https://freehand-books.com/book-clubs/ ! Now all we need is a decent bottle of red wine.

A Friend to Words

Are you a friend to words? Sure you are. So I’m excited to invite you to the launch of a new publication, my first ever chapbook,* titled (wait for it...) “A Friend to Words” on: 

Wednesday May 21st, 7pm, at the West End Phoenix, 3 Bartlett Avenue, Toronto (just north of Bloor, between Dufferin and Dovercourt)

This will be an enormously fun and seriously complete evening, as the brilliant Jane Munro is also launching her poetry chapbook, “Straights and Narrows.”  Snacks, readings, interviews… I hope to see you! All are welcome; seating is limited.

My chapbook, published by the wonderful and dedicated folks at espresso, contains a single new short story, which is a rewrite or remix of or inspired by Nakajima Atsushi’s Zen masterpiece, “The Expert.” I think of it as a comic fable; the publisher calls it a satirical nightmare; make of that what you will. For now I can tell you that it features highly ascetic writers, ants, highly competitive writers, trips to Paris, trips to Saskatchewan, and mentions of Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok — so yes, something for everyone. 

What’s a chapbook, you ask? Well, etymologically, “chap” here relates to “cheap," but is even more closely linked to “chapman” - a peddler or merchant — and chapbook initially comes to mean a small pamphlet containing tales, ballads, or tracts -- sold by the side of the road, as it were. These days, a chapbook is a small, short, and relatively inexpensive book, often containing poetry or other literary works. 

Going back to the origins and essence of what publishing is and means, Bernard Kelly, Cary Fagan and Rebecca Comay have made this into a truly lovely creation and I’m delighted to share it, in a limited edition of 100 copies, available for sale on the night and here and now via the espresso chapbooks website.

Kudos Natalie

Sending super congratulations and thanks today to genius-among-designers Natalie Olsen, who has received an Alcuin Award for her work on my book Every Night…

If you’ve seen the book you already know the extent of Natalie’s contribution, and how thoughtfully she enhances the contents - the double cover, the “watermark” backgrounds, the stark and elegant fonts…

She made Every Night… into a beautiful and captivating object, and I’m delighted to see her work recognized and toast her success. Thanks, Natalie!

It’s a Neo-Romanesque Temple

Special Invitation: After a bit of a pause (trying to make money, but mostly being nostalgic) I’m appearing at the Angel Reading Series on Friday April 4, 7pm. This one promises to be a particularly cracking evening, with a terrific bill (including the incomparable Spencer Gordon) on stage at the beautiful Arts and Letters Club. Hope to see you!

Excerpted

The Hamilton Review of Books has long been one of my favourite publications. (Completely coincidentally, they named Every Night… one of their books of 2024.) And they have now kindly featured an excerpt from one of the key stories in the book, “Like Triumph.”

Photo by Siz Islam on Unsplash

It includes one of my favourite lines, “We used to play pool on College Street: one ball would hit another.” Not a “big” or lyrical line, I know, but in an oblique way it connects themes and moments from throughout the collection: nostalgia, relationships, institutions, causality, snooker… And the book is all about such fragmentary connections.

Thanks, Hamiltonians!

Reet Singh

Crossing points: All the way from Delhi, my NBM Lab friend Upreet Dhaliwal has posted a strikingly astute review of Every Night… As well as calling it "brilliant" and "spectacular" (thanks Upreet) she recommends reading it twice to dive fully into its many puzzles (agreed) and warns the innocent: “Do not go into this book lightly….” (also agreed). My thanks.

The Big Move

Just like everyone else did three years ago,

I’m shifting my newsletter over to Substack. If you’d like to receive occasional news and updates about my writing, join me there!

Kathy L. Brown reads

Thanks to novelist, reviewer, and passionate storytelling blogger Kathy L Brown for her smart and engaged take on Every Night…, which she calls “an amazing experience that all fans of short literary fiction will want to read.” (I couldn’t agree more.)

She finds the book complex and immersive:

“like uncovering a box of photos and documents in the attic of an empty house, the reader must piece together the identities, histories, and tragedies of the characters.”

Or, in another great analogy:

“The book is a corkboard covered in crime scene photos, bits of evidence, and red string with which the reader can tie together the picture of a family’s demise.”

I love this comparison, not least because it refers to my favourite part of every detective show I’ve seen in the last five years.

And again it’s great to see a reader, writer, reviewer (we all wear many hats) sharing their response. I’ve read and enjoyed Kathy’s blog and enjoyed her recommendations, and I’m grateful that she chose to review my work. Merrily we roll along.

At Hazel's

On Wednesday January 22nd I’m reading from new work at the launch of the latest issue of the always engaging Ampersand Review — alongside Leah Bobet, Cassidy McFadzean, and Rami Schandall.

Hope to see you! It'll be a fun evening, as well as an opportunity to support an outstanding publication when (as per usual) literary programming is under threat (and yet we go on!). Good stuff awaits.

Wednesday, January 22, 2025, 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Hazel McCallion Central Library, Program Room 2B
301 Burnhamthorpe Rd W, Mississauga, ON L5B 3Y3

Trish Talks Every Night...

Thanks to Trish Talks Books for a perceptive and generous review of Every Night…

“I loved this short story collection so much. It’s by Torontonian Tarnopolsky, a novelist and playwright, and it gradually unfolds as interconnected stories that are beautifully varied… taken together they form a most fascinating picture of a life unfolding, fitfully and gradually.”

That's it, I'm moving to Steeltown

Thanks to the Hamilton Review of Books for naming Every Night… one of their best books of 2024

H&O

My short story “Chris Cornell,” based on an original piece by Isaac Babel, is published December 19th in the Hingston and Olsen Short Story Advent Calendar. The H&O Calendar--actually a beautiful box of individually bound stories to read day-by-day--is a very special project and always a top treat in the literary year. You'll find a slightly weird interview with me about reading and writing short stories on their website.

What an offer

Wondering what to get that special monk or monster this holiday season? Aren’t we all… So I’m delighted to tell you that the Freehand Books holiday sale is on and you can now get a copy (or why not, multiple copies) of my book Every Night…  at a remarkable 30% discount! Visit www.freehand-books.com and use the code giftfreehand. Guaranteed to appeal and/or appall.

All Lit Up All Over Again

I am delighted to see Every Night… in great company on All Lit Up’s Holiday Reading Edit. I guess an “edit” is a “list,” in this context? Who knows what anything means anymore?

Vaughan

Thanks to Daniel for inviting me to the Writers’ Room at Vaughan Civic Centre Resource Library on Tuesday November 19th at 7pm. This is a great opportunity for an in-person chat about craft and professionalization with a dedicated group. Drop on by - all are welcome!