A little while ago I got word from Nick Mount, acclaimed University of Toronto literature professor and former fiction editor of The Walrus, that he had been asked to curate a bunch of short stories for Internazionale, an Italian magazine that collects the best journalism in the world for each issue. They print a special issue every year dedicated to the art and press from a certain country, and it was Canada’s turn this time around. So, Nick contributed to the issue by selecting the best stories that he’d come by over the year to be included in the issue.

Luckily for me, my story Montana Border was one of those that Nick chose for Internazionale, and the issue was sent out to contributors this week. It should available at certain news stands and in digital form as of today.

There are some excellent authors in the issue, including fellow Biblioasis author and Giller Prize finalist Samuel Archibald. Otherwise, there are stories by: Mona Awad, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Sean Michaels, Zsuzsi Gartner, Deirdre Dore, Lisa Moore, Naomi Harris, and Dakota McFadzean. That is some good company right there.

The translation was done by Matteo Colombo, and those magical illustrations were done by Gipi. Editors Giulia Zoli and Monica Paolucci were the good folks that acquired the story for Internazionale and set it all up. They are all heroes…

The other thing that happened is that Debris ended up on a list on the CBC Books site, which included thirty award-winning titles from 2016. Debris was published in fall of 2015, but won the Trillium Book Award this past summer. It may or may not be the only time I end up on a list with the likes of Paul Beatty, Colson Whitehead, Viet Thanh Nguyen, and Han Kang, so that was not too shabby.

You can check out the full list by clicking this line. Giv’er…

That’s all I got today. So long for now.

KH