October Updates
The VMI Betsy Warland Between Genres Award was announced at the Blending Genres Event at the Vancouver Writers Fest a few days ago. VMI director Elee Kraljii Gardiner hosted a panel with Helen Cova (Autosarcophagy), Jason Guriel (The Full Moon Whaling Chronicles) and Denison Avenue author Christina Wong and illustrator Daniel Innes. The conversation about these hybrid books (autofictitious memoir, a polymorphic novel-in-verse about fan fiction, an illustrated hybrid novel) examined the possibilities of what a book can do. Thank you to the fantastic crew, volunteers, and organizers of the Festival. In particular, VMI would like to extend our deep appreciation to director Leslie Hurtig for her support of authors who write hard-to-classify work. This was our third year hosting this panel and we learn something every time.
Immediately after the discussion, Elee Kraljii Gardiner introduced the Award, calling Betsy Warland to the mic to say a few words. Betsy spoke extemporaneously, and brilliantly, about the creeping commodification of story and the need for books that do their own thing, finding their own ‘inbetweenness’. Chantal Gibson, our judge, then spoke about the finalists and shared her thoughts on the difficult selection process. She celebrated all three books: Tree Abraham’s Cyclettes from Book*hug Press, Christina Sharpe’s Ordinary Notes from Knopf Canada, and the ultimate winner, Nicholas Dawson’s House within A House, translated by D.M. Bradford from Brick Books. It was a wonderful ceremony and an exciting moment for Canadian literature.
Congratulations to Daniel and Darby and their beautiful book!
In other news, one of last year’s Fellows, Olajide Salawu has a poem from his manuscript coming out in Best Canadian Poetry from Biblioasis. Congratulations, Jídé! 
And we’re holding a ZOOM Q&A…
Our November 9, 2023 deadline is looming for applications to work in the Six-Month Intensive beginning January 2024. Our Yosef Wosk VMI Fellowship is also accepting applications. Do you have questions about the process, the application, the program, or mentor matching? Directors Rachel Rose and Elee Kraljii Gardiner are holding a friendly Zoom Q&A on November 2, 2023 at 5pm PTS/8pm EST. Please email us for the link. We’d love to see you and chat about how the program can best support your work!