Zoe Whittall
"Zoe Whittall might just be the cockiest, brashest, funniest, toughest, most life-affirming, elegant, scruffy, no-holds-barred writer to emerge from Montreal since Mordecai Richler..." The Globe & Mail
Wednesday, October 20, 2021
This website isn't active
Friday, December 11, 2020
2020 Update
Tuesday, August 18, 2015
I HAVE A NEW WEBSITE!
Friday, October 24, 2014
autumn
Friday, April 25, 2014
Montreal Blue Metropolis Festival next weekend
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
New Book Club edition of Holding Still for as Long as Possible coming in April!
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Monday, January 07, 2013
Winter update
I have been paying the bills teaching writing at The University of Guelph, and online for the University of Toronto. I'll be teaching a second level short story workshop starting in February if you'd like to join the class. I've also been doing little things like this for CBC Music, and reviewing books for The Walrus and the Globe, most recently the musical teen dream memoir 1982 by Jian Ghomeshi. You can also check out the February issue of The Believer Magazine for my interview with the lovely and iconic author Sarah Schulman. If you haven't already, I would urge you to read Sweet Jesus, the new novel by Christine Pountney, my favourite Canadian book of 2012. And to stop myself from posting yet another photo of one of my cats, here is me in my Edmonton hotel room wearing the most excellent new dress from Rowena in #yeg, the best dress shop in Canada, perhaps?
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Conversation with Sarah Slean on CBC Music, and quick summer update
Wednesday, April 04, 2012
We've been in a tropical moonlight night / 'Cause nobody taught her 'bout you*
Tomorrow I will be a guest at the Humber College Book Club - who have been reading Holding Still for as Long as Possible. I love book club visits.
On June 12th, I will be reading at a Night of Literature and Storytelling for Thunder Bay Pride at the Mary JL Black Library with fellow writers Susan Goldberg - an old friend from the Stern Writing Mistresses writing group days - Rachel Mishenene,and Ma-Nee Chacaby.
If you're in Toronto for Pride this year I'll be doing a stand-up comedy gig with fellow scribe Mariko Tamaki.
I wrote a guest books column for The Toronto Standard.
In May my good friend Grace O'Connell will be launching her first novel The Magnified World - which is brilliant, btw. I reviewed for Fashion. I would strongly recommend that you pick it up for your summer reading pleasure.
*Lyrics taken from the soundtrack to our trip to the Bahamas, which was of course, Bahamas. (Ok, this was also on repeat. Love Kelly!)
Monday, November 07, 2011
Interview in Maisonneuve Magazine
Saturday, July 23, 2011
mostly I've been swimming in lakes, but also...
- I'm reading on August 11 at Another Story Bookstore on Roncesvalles Ave in Toronto
Other than that, I'm working away on the new novel, and occasionally on the collection of short stories called We Might Be The Worst People on Earth.
For some folks who asked on Twitter, I do love attending book club meetings. If you'd be interested in booking something like that you can reach me via laura@anansi.ca for Holding Still for as Long as Possible, or m.howsam@cormorantbooks.com for Bottle Rocket Hearts.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Holding Still for as Long as Possible wins a Lambda Literary Award!!!
This is Emma Donoghue announcing my book in the best lesbian fiction category. Eileen Myles, who faithful readers will know is a friend and someone I admire very much, won the prize. So that rocks.
Me clutching my prize in a lovely state of shock.
My fellow canuck nominees and seatmates: Daniel Allen Cox, Amber Dawn and Vivek Shraya.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
spring update
I had an awesome reading at the Parliament street library in Toronto last week. I talked about my rapid reads novel, The Middle Ground, published by Orca Books. I haven't had such a lovely and engaged crowd in quite a while. I will find out on June 9th if it wins the Ontario Library Association's Golden Oak award.
In other news, I'm currently at work on my screenplay and the fourth novel, and I'm also trying to learn to drive. I'm pretty terrible at it so far.
There is a great review up on the Lambda Literary Awards of Holding Still for as Long as Possible. Here is an excerpt:
"The book is grounded in Josh’s EMT work, weaving cardiac arrest and twelve hour shifts among the nuances of these characters’ relationships with each other, creating a foundation of trauma that expertly juxtaposes life against death. And Josh within himself is a case study of perfect post-coming out literature: while we know he is trans, we’re following him in his life as it is, not while he struggles with identity, or patiently explains hormones to new friends. Josh is just a guy, and with these parameters we get one of the best trans man portraits fiction has yet to see.
Whittall also paints confident portraits of each character’s fluid sexuality, without getting bogged down in labels and politics: Amy is still attached to her ex-boyfriend Jason, but crushes out on the girl she sees at Starbucks; Billy doesn’t bat an eye when she morphs from mourning her girlfriend of seven years to falling for a guy. Whittall is expertly setting the tone for a whole new generation of queer fiction.
...
Whittall demonstrates her talent in the book’s crescendo, a flawlessly narrated collision of the characters’ lives. With the ending, a story that begins as interesting catapults into un-put-downable, and cements the characters of Josh and Amy and Billy in my heart. I’m still thinking about them. I can’t wait to see what queer magic Whittall pens next."
Monday, April 18, 2011
OP Mag reviews Holding Still for as Long as Possible
"The thing that makes this novel markedly different than almost every other novel ever written in the history of the novel, is that it is written from an insider’s perspective about young trans and queer people ... it is an immensely important book. Holding Still might be the first of a new upsurge in literature about trans people – authentic narratives, executed skillfully and received with great acclaim. I want you to read this book and I want you to write a novel, because I want to read more of these. I want trans people to realize that our lives, that our communities, that our worlds are valuable and deserve to be recorded."
That last line made me tear up a little bit. Thanks Tom!
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Holding Still for as Long as Possible is nominated for two LAMBDA Literary Awards!
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This is a photo from Xtra's article about the awards |
Xtra! wrote an article about all the Canadians on the 2011 list.
I'm pleased to see fellow Canadian femme Amber Dawn's book Sub Rosa nominated for Debut Lesbian Fiction. I just interviewed her for Queeries. Also happy to see Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation on the list. I just finished reading it, and it rocked.
In other news, I'll be working with writer Lisa Foad on the film version of HSFLAP this year. And I just found out that Bottle Rocket Hearts the film is going to receive funding from Telefilm. All in all, a tremendous week. Plus, it's warm enough to ride my bike. Woot!
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Featured in Elle Magazine!
In other news, I'll be on CBC Radio's Day 6 show tomorrow with a silly rant I wrote about my anxiety around the boomers aging.
Friday, January 07, 2011
2011!
It’s been quite a year for Zoe Whittall. In the spring, her critically acclaimed second novel — a vivid depiction of Toronto’s Queen West community entitled Holding Still for as Long as Possible — was published in paperback. Then it was nominated for a ReLit Award, an honour that recognizes the best new work from independent publishers.In other news, I will be appearing in Winnipeg on March 7th with Chandra Mayor and Ivan Coyote, and in Ottawa at Algonquin College some time this spring. Algonquin chose Holding Still for as Long as Possible for their One School One Book campaign.
And in the fall, Canada Reads came calling.
!! How could I forget - I'm appearing in the anthology Persistence: All Things Butch and Femme edited by Ivan E. Coyote and Zena Sharman.
If you're in Toronto, you might see me trying my hand at stand-up comedy. I'm not quite brave enough to advertise my gigs yet...but perhaps I will in the future.
Tuesday, November 09, 2010
Bottle Rocket Hearts makes the Canada Reads Top Ten!
*dorky CBC retro t-shirt in photo is completely nerd-tentional.
Tuesday, November 02, 2010
Bottle Rocket Hearts for Canada Reads
What do you think? I'm sorry I don't know how to make the screen fit - I'm not exactly a tech whiz.:)
Monday, November 01, 2010
Positive review of Holding Still for as Long as Possible in Booklist
Whittall, Zoe (author).
Sept. 2010. 300p. Anansi, paperback, $14.95 (9780887849640).
REVIEW.
First published September 15, 2010 (Booklist).
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Bottle Rocket Hearts made the 2011 Canada Reads Top 40!
You can go here to vote. You can read more about Bottle Rocket Hearts on the Cormorant Books website, which also features a handy electronic preview of the first chapter, so if you're not familiar with the book you can feel free to check it out.
Thanks so much to everyone who voted.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Canada Reads
Personally, I'd love to see so many books on the list - When I Was Young and In My Prime by Alayna Munce, Fauna by Alyssa York, or Cumberland by Michael V. Smith - and these are just the ones I'm thinking of off the top of my head.
I'm sitting in my hotel room in London, Ontario right now. This afternoon I'm speaking on a panel with Shelagh Rogers from the CBC. Then it's back to Toronto, and back to work on the script version of Bottle Rocket Hearts, and my short story collection in progress.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
From the Chelsea Hotel
Monday, September 06, 2010
ReLit Shortlist & NYC reading
I'm very excited about my very first spot on a shortlist and honoured to be included.
Next week I'll be in New York City, reading at the McNally Jackson store with fellow Anansi author Emily Schultz, along with Jim Hanas and Amanda Stern.
You can follow me on twitter here.