Exciting news to share! “The Reminiscence Effect” has been shortlisted for EVENT’s 2016 Non-Fiction Contest. The piece is about aging, memory, and a non-fiction writer’s responsibility to the people they write about.
I’m pleased as can be, and can’t wait hear to hear the winners in the fall. Congrats to all the other shortlisted writers, including my UBC pals!
After three great years, I’m happy to announce that I graduated from UBC’s Creative Writing Program last week. It was a fun week of readings, celebrations with pals and mentors, and convocation wizardry.
Masters of the Dark Arts.
Huge thanks to all the folks who inspired and supported me throughout my MFA–faculty, staff, fellow students, friends, and family. I’m so lucky and grateful to have had this time at UBC. The program truly changed me and the way I write.
Plus, now I have this cool piece of paper for my wall.
Hurray!
So psyched to have two creative nonfiction pieces out this month in anthologies from Caitlin Press and Little Fiction | Big Truths! I’m in truly fine company in each (Nancy Lee! Stacey May Fowles! Sierra Skye Gemma! Many others!), and both publishers were a treat to work with. The anthologies are:
RE/CODED
Edited by Amanda Leduc and Troy Palmer
Little Fiction | Big Truths
“Sixteen diverse essays that explore how various forms of technology have impacted our lives, loves, families and futures.”
My piece, The Archive, asks whether the internet has changed the way we remember love.
Boobs: Women Explore What It Means to Have Breasts
Edited by Ruth Daniell
Caitlin Press
“A diverse collection of stories about the burdens, expectations and pleasures of having breasts. From the agony of puberty and angst of adolescence to the anxiety of aging, these stories and poems go beyond the usual images of breasts found in fashion magazines and movie posters, instead offering dynamic and honest portraits of desire, acceptance and the desire for acceptance.”
My piece, A Site of Potential, discusses breasts as ongoing sites of contemplation, expectation, and change.
Big thanks to the folks at Little Fiction | Big Truths and Caitlin Press!
I’m thrilled to have “Time of Your Life,” an essay on 90sFest and nostalgia marketing, posted over at The Awl. The Awl is one of my favourite sites, and this piece was a real dream to write. In short: I went to a 90s music festival hosted by Pauly Shore and watched drunk millennials dance to Smash Mouth.
The article is from my thesis (a collection of personal essays about nostalgia and memory), and features, among other bizarre details:
My interview with the super talented Ayelet Tsabari is now posted on Nineteen Questions! I’ve been a big fan of Ayelet’s work for a long time, and had the good fortune of publishing one of her memoir pieces at PRISM. She spoke to me about literary agents, revision strategies, bravery, and much more. You can check out the interview here.
And since you’ll want to read her work after hearing her insightful answers, here are some links:
You and What Army (Nonfiction – PDF)
Victim (Nonfiction – PDF)
The Best Place on Earth (Information about her debut short story collection)
I was so pleased to hear that my short story “Veneers” was one of Joyland’s most read stories of 2015! Thanks, Joyland readers, for taking a chance on a celebrity dentistry love triangle. You can read “Veneers” here, along with rad stories from writers across North America—I’m honoured to be in such great company!
One of my short stories is featured on Joyland this month! It’s a comedic tale of celebrity dental hygiene that required me to Google the following: 
Sufficiently intrigued? Read the piece here!
I have a new piece up on McSweeney’s Internet Tendency! So thrilled to be featured on one of my favourite sites. Check it out if you’re interested in writing critiques, s
ex critiques, or both:
Writers’ Workshop Critiques as Applied to Your Sex Life
And since you’re on the site, here are links to a couple other recent McSweeney’s pieces I’ve loved:
Thirteen Creative Writing Exercises for Women
Vegetable Gardening Tips, A – Z
I’m very excited to have a short story in the new issue of Echolocation! Echolocation is a great lit mag run by the graduate English students at the University of Toronto. Issue 14 also includes work by my awesomely talented fellow UBC students Matthew Walsh and Ruth Daniell. My piece, “The One-up,” is a strange little romance about a man who moves from Toronto to Windsor.
To check out Issue 14, you can visit Echolocation’s website here.
My “choose your own adventure” style story is now posted in Riley Park! If you like interactive narratives and/or stories about meat raffles, drop by the neighbourhood to check it out. Here’s some news coverage on the project:
CBC On the Coast
(Segment on the Active Fiction Project starts at 1:00)
The project is a collaboration between UBC’s Creative Writing Program and the Vancouver Public Space Network. You can learn more about it here:
Nicole Boyce 