News and Events

May,  2025:  Groundwork,  my  final  project  for  the  University  of  Toronto  School  of  Continuing  Studies  Creative  Writing  Certificate,  is  shortlisted  for  the  new  Pal  Saqi  Award  for  Creative  Fiction  Writing.  This  prize  replaces  the  Marina  Nemat  Award  for  Creative  Writing  as  the  prize  for  outstanding  final  project  of  a  Creative  Writing  certificate  student.  Huge  thanks  to  my advisor,  Amy  Jones. Here’s  a  link  to  an  article  on  the  SCS  website:  ttps://learn.utoronto.ca/curiousu-blog/whats-new/pal-saqi-creative-writing-award-finalists-announced 

April,  2025:  Intimates  is  part  of   Volume  42/43  of   The  Nashwaak  Review.

September 2023: The Fountain was a runner-up in the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies Creative Writing Program's Penguin Random House Canada Student Award for Fiction. A presentation was held at TIFA. Thanks to U of T SCS, PRH and the judges and congratulations to the other winners. 

July  2023:  I  completed  the  Certificate  in  Creative  Writing  at  U  of  T  School  of  Continuing  Studies.  Huge  thanks  to  Amy  Jones,  who  mentored  me  on  my  final  project,  Groundwork,  which  I  hope  will  form  the  core  of  a  short  story  collection.

April 2023: Foam is in Issue 38 (Spring 2023) of Pulp Literature magazine.

November 2022: Foam was named first runner-up in Pulp Literature's Raven Short Story Contest! Many thanks to the wonderful folks at Pulp Literature and judge Leo X Robertson, and congratulations to the longlisted, shortlisted and winning writers.

November 2022: This Will Only Take a Minute: 100 Canadian Flashes (Guernica Editions), including three of my stories – Showing, Vantage and Moonlight Serenade – is out! Thanks to editors Bruce Meyer and Michael Mirolla. The launch was  a  wonderful  evening!

September 2022: University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies Creative Writing Program held the awards presentation and reception for its creative writing prizes, including the Penguin Random House Canada Student Award for Fiction, as part of the Toronto International Festival of Authors. A Mouthful of Sunshine received an Honourable Mention. Congratulations to the winner and the other honourable mention story. All three stories appear in a beautiful chapbook called "Three, Volume XX". Thank you PRH, U of T SCS and the judges! https://learn.utoronto.ca/curiousu-blog/whats-new/penguin-random-house-2022

August 2022: Issue 60.4 of PRISM international included In the Garden. The issue is available through PRISM's website. Thank you to Prose Editor Vivian Li.

April 2022: My blog piece on my writing space is on The New Quarterly's website at https://tnq.ca/alison-stevensons-writing-space/. Thank you again NQ!

March, 2022: My piece on "Finding the Form" of my story Mud Angels is now up on The New Quarterly's website at 

https://tnq.ca/finding-the-form-with-alison-stevenson/. Thank you NQ for the opportunity to share this backgound to the story.

Fall 2021:  Mud Angels  is out in issue 160 of The New Quarterly. Thank you TNQ and editor Pamela Mulloy.

Sept. 16, 2021: Very happy to see In the Garden on the longlist for The New Quarterly's Peter Hinchcliffe Short Fiction Award. Here's the longlist: https://tnq.ca/the-2021-peter-hinchcliffe-short-fiction-award-longlist/. Congratulations to the winning writers!

Fall 2020: Enormous thanks to Alice Munro Festival of the Short Story for nominating Foraging for the PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers.

Summer 2020: Thank you Prairie Fire magazine and Fiction Editor Lindsey Childs! Graceland appeared in Volume 41 No. 2.

June 6, 2020: Thrilled that Foraging was chosen by judge Jane Urquhart as the third place story in the Alice Munro Festival of the Short Story contest. A video of the announcement including her remarks is posted on the AMFSS facebook page. Congratulations to the other finalists.

September 8, 2019: Honoured to be one of the Eden Mills Writers' Festival Read at the Fringe winners and to read Sleeping Giant at the festival. Thank you to the organizers and the other winners for making it such a great experience.

September 3, 2019: Pleased that my writing tip was featured as the first of CBC's daily writing tips for the CBC Short Story Contest this year. "Find an idea that intrigues you, and use it as a magnet to gather together concepts and images from your memory and the world." 

May, 2019: I had the opportunity to attend the Iowa Writers' Workshop three-week summer fiction workshop. Thank you to Charles D'Ambrosio and a wonderful group of workshop members. It was an amazing experience!

Jan-Apr, 2019: The Short Story Masterclass at U of T School of Continuing Studies was a great learning experience thanks to instructor Dennis Bock and my workshop-mates.

May-December, 2018: I had the opportunity to work with generous mentor John Metcalf in The Humber School for Writers Graduate Certificate program.

April, 2017: So happy that Cabot Trail was longlisted for the CBC Short Story Contest. https://www.cbc.ca/books/28-writers-make-the-2017-cbc-short-story-prize-longlist-1.4115190