Penguin Book of Contemporary Canadian Women's Short Stories

"The short story seduces and provokes infidelity. You will be untrue to the four walls of your room, the weather outside, the city or field, supper bubbling on the stove. You will give up everything—the armchair, your lover, your children—and step through, briefly but absolutely gone."—from the Introduction by Lisa Moore

Master short story writer and novelist Lisa Moore brings her talents to The Penguin Book of Contemporary Canadian Women's Short Stories, an enthralling and irresistible collection of twenty-two established writers and talented new voices who attest to the richness and continued popularity of the short story.

Featuring writings that span the last two decades of the twentieth century and those of the present—described by Moore as capturing "the buzzing paranoia of post-9/11 … the white noise of the information age …dislocation, bomb scares, sexual freedom, aberration, fractured identities, nakedness, awakenings of every sort, redemption, and love"—this volume includes pieces by the best storytellers, among them "Wenlock Edge"by Alice Munro, "Spring Song of the Frogs"by Margaret Atwood, "Chemistry"by Carol Shields, "The Concert Party"by Mavis Gallant, and "Italian Postcards"by Jane Urquhart. The collection also presents wonderful stories by Jacqueline Baker, Bonnie Burnard, Lynn Coady, Camilla Gibb, Eden Robinson, and Madeleine Thien.

"Sometimes I found myself reading the stories here for a second, third, or fifth time, determined to discover how they worked, but at the very last minute, I always fell in. The stories were like swimming pools, and just when I leaned in close enough, I'd lose my balance, be fully submerged."—from the Introduction by Lisa Moore

Authors featured: Margaret Atwood
Jacqueline Baker
Bonnie Burnard
Lynn Coady
Libby Creelman
Ramona Dearing
Mavis Gallant
Zsuzsi Gartner
Camilla Gibb
Jessica Grant
Elisabeth Harvor
Francis Itani
Nancy Lee
Linda Little
Annabel Lyon
Alice Munro
Emma Richler
Eden Robinson
Carol Shields
Madeleine Thien
Jane Urquhart
Alissa York

I started collecting the stories in this anthology with the idea of representing all the geographic regions of Canada. I thought that having writers from regions as far apart as British Columbia and Newfoundland would ensure a diversity of voice. I also wanted a good mix of emerging and established writers. I wanted an anthology that would reflect Canadian experience and innovation in form, the way the prism that hangs in my kitchen window refracts light, sending shimmers of unexpected rainbows over the cupboards, walls, and appliances.

I gathered together the best short story collections and literary magazines I'd read over the last twenty years. I thought of the writers I'd heard read at literary festivals across the country, and writers who had come to Newfoundland to read through the Canada Council.

I was looking for the short fiction that had moved swiftly through me, over those twenty years, whipping me up into an altered state, changing me for good. I wanted the new stuff too, the stories that reflected the twenty-first century, the buzzing paranoia of post-9/11 and the white noise of the information age. I sought dislocation, bomb scares, sexual freedom, aberration, fractured identities, nakedness, awakenings of every sort, redemption, and love.

Sometimes I found myself reading the stories here for a second, third, or fifth time, determined to discover how they worked, but at the very last minute, I always fell in. The stories were like swimming pools, and just when I leaned in close enough, I'd lose my balance, be fully submerged.