Wednesday, November 6, 2019 4-6:50PM

Path to Publication: Query Letters, Agents, Rejection, and Success

Laura Scudder Conference Room, Roosevelt Hall 121

Often it feels as though there’s a strong but invisible barrier between the unpublished and published author. For this workshop, we’ll discuss the many paths to and kinds of publication. Drawing on my own story and the stories of other successful writers, we’ll talk about both the emotional and practical consequences of becoming a published author, from serious dedication to craft, to first publications of short pieces, to querying agents, and beyond. I’ll talk about the ways you might be intentional about researching publishers and agents, as well as setting goals and achieving them in a field that often feels precarious and out of one’s own control. Students will be encouraged to bring their questions and ideas. 

Liz Harmer, Chapman University MFA Creative Writing Alumna, 2019; Author of The Amateurs (Penguin Random House, April 2, 2019)

My debut novel The Amateurs was published by Knopf Canada in 2018 as part of the Knopf New Face of Fiction program. It's being released with Vintage Canada in the US in 2019. It received starred reviews from The Quill & Quire and Publishers Weekly. 

I also write essays and short stories. My story "Never Prosper" was a finalist for the 30th Journey Prize & is also published in Best Canadian Stories 2018. My short story collection was a finalist for the 2014 Flannery O’Connor Short Fiction Award. I've been nominated for National Magazine Awards three times. In 2014, I won Gold in Personal Journalism for my essay "Blip". I've been longlisted for the CBC short story award and a finalist for a Glimmer Train prize. My book reviews have been published all over. 

I'm currently a Fellow in the MFA program at Chapman University. In 2015 I finished my MA in Creative Writing at the University of Toronto, where my mentor is Charles Foran. I’ve also taken workshops with David Bezmozgis, Richard Greene, Robert McGill, and Richard Bausch. 

In 2014, I moved with my academic family from our hometown of Hamilton, Ontario to Southern California for my husband’s work. I'm a college teacher, a freelance editor, and I've worked at libraries on and off since I was a teenager. I have three daughters, who have the names, my friend tells me, of a trio of trapeze artists. The youngest of these is now six.

A warm, dynamic speaker, I am available for interviews, book chats, and lectures. Please get in touch with me at ec.harmer [at] gmail.com.