New Canadian Short Fiction Collection “Sticks and Stones” Explores Trauma, Healing, and Human Resilience
May 26, 2025 | For Immediate Release
Eight luminous stories showcase the depth and diversity of Canadian literary talent
A powerful new collection of short fiction, Sticks and Stones, brings together eight award-winning stories from some of Canada’s brightest literary voices. Published under the Chicken House Press imprint, this anthology features a foreword by E. Yvonne Pelletier and short fiction by Nikki Berreth, Rose Camara, Andrea Marcelino, Cornelia Mars, E. J. Nash, Katrine Raymond, Tara Ross, and K. R. Wilson, exploring the delicate intersection of trauma, healing, and the bonds that both break and save us.
The eight stories were selected as winners of the CHP joint contest with Blank Spaces magazine, chosen from a rigorous selection process that began with a curated longlist of twenty stories before a jury of five narrowed it down to these exceptional tales. Special judge E. Yvonne Pelletier selected K. R. Wilson's “Ovomancy”—a cleverly structured tale where a lawyer’s lunchtime ritual serves up karmic justice—as the top winner, with honourable mentions going to Tara Ross’s “Hatchling” and Katrine Raymond’s “Keepsakes.”
Sticks and Stones delves deep into the landscapes of loss and recovery, threading together themes of inheritance—both genetic and emotional. The collection offers stories that remind us that what breaks us can also reveal our true strength, and that sometimes, the heaviest stones we carry are the ones that build our path to healing.
“These stories transform ordinary moments into revelations, exploring the delicate terrain between what we’ve lost and what we might become,” notes Blank Spaces magazine. “With luminous prose and unflinching honesty, this collection maps the quiet resilience of the human heart—leaving readers changed in ways they never expected.”
E. Yvonne Pelletier, former Professor of Women’s Studies and Senior Lecturer on British and American Literature of the 19th Century, observes that the collection’s “words capture the variegated challenges of existence and draw us into eight different worlds made of words that linger. The image of ‘sticks and stones’ is at the core of all of them, with each becoming a meditation on how to navigate the awkward tensions between the mind and the body, between emotional pain and somatic suffering and, ultimately, between abstract representation and physical reality."
Each story in the collection stands as a testament to the power of confronting our deepest fears and finding connection in our shared human experience. From spectral visitors bearing uncomfortable truths to secret gardens hiding family secrets, from the profound excavation of memory to haunting explorations of grief, these works showcase the remarkable range and depth of contemporary Canadian short fiction.
Wilson, whose novel An Idea About my Dead Uncle won the 2018 Guernica Prize and whose Call Me Stan: A Tragedy in Three Millennia made the 2022 Leacock Medal longlist, exemplifies the calibre of talent featured in this collection. The selection process, curated by Blank Spaces Editor-in-Chief and CHP owner Alanna Rusnak, reflects the high standard of literary excellence readers can expect from these contemporary Canadian voices.
Sticks and Stones represents a significant contribution to Canadian literature, offering readers an unflinching yet ultimately hopeful exploration of the human condition. The collection demonstrates how skilled storytelling can illuminate the complex ways we navigate loss, seek healing, and discover unexpected sources of strength.
Sticks and Stones is available in trade paperback and ebook formats. Available to order wherever books are sold.
For media inquiries or to request a review copy, please contact Alanna Rusnak at Chicken House Press.
ISBN trade paperback edition: 978-1-990336-90-4
