Sarah Selecky (born 17 September 1974) is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

writer. Her debut short story collection '' This Cake Is for the Party'' was a shortlisted nominee for the

Scotiabank Giller Prize The Giller Prize (known as the Scotiabank Giller Prize from 2005-2023) is a literary award given to a Canadian author of a novel or short story collection published in English (including translation) the previous year, after an annual juried c ...

and longlisted for the Frank O'Connor Short Story Award in 2010. Raised in the Hanmer area of

Greater Sudbury Sudbury, officially the City of Greater Sudbury, is the largest city in Northern Ontario by population, with a population of 166,004 at the 2021 Canadian Census. By land area, it is the largest in Ontario and the List of the largest cities and t ...

, she graduated from

Trent University Trent University is a public liberal arts university in Peterborough, Ontario, with a satellite campus in Oshawa, which serves the Regional Municipality of Durham. Founded in 1964, the university is known for its Oxbridge college system, sma ...

. She attended the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay, British Columbia, Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 1903 as Victoria College, British Columbia, Victoria Col ...

's undergraduate writing program briefly before returning to

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

to pursue her writing career. While living in Toronto, she completed the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

's Optional-Residency MFA in Creative Writing. She published short stories in ''

The Walrus ''The Walrus'' is an independent, nonprofit Canadian media organization. It is multi-platform and produces an eight-issue-per-year magazine and online editorial content that includes current affairs, fiction, poetry, and podcasts, a nation ...

'', ''

Geist ''Geist'' () is a German noun with a significant degree of importance in German philosophy. ''Geist'' can be roughly translated into three English meanings: ghost (as in the supernatural entity), spirit (as in the Holy Spirit), and mind or int ...

'', '' The Journey Prize Anthology'', ''

The New Quarterly ''The New Quarterly'' is a literary magazine based in Waterloo, Ontario that publishes short fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction from emerging and established Canadian writers. History and profile ''The New Quarterly'' was established in ...

'' and '' Prairie Fire'' before publishing ''This Cake Is for the Party'' in early 2010. Selecky launched an online writing instruction course, Story Is a State of Mind, in 2011. She also runs an online creative writing program called Sarah Selecky Writing School. The school hosts an annual writing competition, Little Bird Writing Contest, with winners published in an anthology, ''Little Bird Stories'', each year. Editors of the anthology have included

Cherie Dimaline Cherie Dimaline () is a writer and a member of the Georgian Bay Métis Council of the Métis Nation of Ontario. She is most notable for her 2017 young adult novel '' The Marrow Thieves'', which explores the continued colonial exploitation of I ...

Esi Edugyan Esi Edugyan (born 1978) is a Canadian novelist.Donna Bailey Nurse"Writing the blues". ''Quill & Quire'', July 2011. She has twice won the Giller Prize, for her novels '' Half-Blood Blues'' (2011) and '' Washington Black'' (2018). Biography Esi Ed ...

Zsuzsi Gartner Zsuzsi Gartner (born 4 May 1960 in Winnipeg) is a Canadian author and journalist. She regularly writes for ''The Globe and Mail'', the ''Vancouver Sun'', ''Quill & Quire'', ''Canadian Business'', and ''Western Living.'' Biography Gartner was bo ...

and Lisa Moore.

Books

* ''This Cake is for the Party: Stories.''

Thomas Allen Publishers Dundurn Press is one of the largest Canadian-owned book publishing companies of adult fiction and non-fiction. The company publishes Canadian literature, history, biography, politics and arts. Dundurn has about 2500 books in print, and averages a ...

, 2010 * ''Radiant Shimmering Light.''

HarperCollins Canada HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the " Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette, Macmillan, and Simon & Schuster. HarperCollins is ...

, 2018 * ''Story is a State of Mind: Writing and the Art of Creative Curiosity.'' Assembly Press, 2025

References

External links

Sarah Selecky
1974 births Writers from Greater Sudbury Living people Canadian women short story writers 21st-century Canadian short story writers 21st-century Canadian women writers {{Canada-writer-stub