Go buy books at your local indie bookstore on Saturday - it's a giant party book buying day!!!!

I am very excited to have a copy of Endling by Maria Reva - just shortlisted for the Climate Fiction Prize (and has already won a bunch of prizes). Has anyone read it?? It sounds bonkers in the best way.

It's live! IT'S LIVE! The Kickstarter for Year’s Best Canadian F&SF: Volume Four is now LIVE! Award-winning series, best of 2025, and (with your help) the biggest volume yet. Can you back early enough to land The Canucklehead tier and get to choose the dedication for the book?? Pls SHARE WIDELY!

Yes, this is also my process, lol Did I read five non-fiction books about memory impairment for my speculative FICTION novel (Adrift) featuring memory wiping? 100% and it was super interesting! I even wrote a blog post about the rabbit hole I fell down: maryrobinettekowal.com/journal/my-f...

For #Hugo people who like little repair bots who are myopically focused on their one task while the world falls apart around them (not that this is relevant to our current moment at all)....

I don't know how this works since this is the first short story I ever sold(🥳), but for anyone voting for Hugo's - I have an eligible story if you want to back a dark horse, lol. Big thanks to Diabolical Plots for publishing! www.diabolicalplots.com/dp-fiction-1...

This @bcliving.bsky.social list of BC Books to Read in the Bathtub is amazing! Yes, I'm am 100% biased because they included Adrift, but also there are books by Chevy Stevens + Jen Sookfong Lee + more + very intriguing non-fiction titles, so you should check it out! bcliving.ca/entertainmen...

Susan Juby's Mindful of Murder series - murder mystery, but somehow also calming and amusing? Yes please. make all the books into seasons! www.cbc.ca/radio/thenex...

Lovely surprise to see my first published short story (in Diabolical Plots) recommended here! ❤️

I took photos of this adorable litter of kittens for a local rescue group (VOKRA) and they were all adopted within a week! I mean, how could you not adopt these cute nuggets? 🥰

As the year wraps up I'm highlighting a few of the books I read in 2025 that have stuck with me! Non-fiction -The True Cost of Wool by Anna Hunter! (Paired with a book I featured last year as the two are in such close conversation: Vanishing Fleece by Parkes). Why has this one stuck with me? 1/2

I paid to have a new battery installed in my writing laptop recently and it is claiming some pretty spectacular longevity lol

For folks who nominate short stories for awards in the sci-fi realms: I published my first ever short story in 2025 at Diabolical Plots! 🥳. So... I hope you'll... consider it? (I know not how these things work, clearly): diabolicalplots.com/dp-fiction-1... Happy award nominating!?

When this time of year rolls around I think a lot about the challenge of book discoverability, how a small number of books get noticed relative to the tens of thousands that will come each year. I think of the awards that nominate the same titles. The best-of lists with mostly the same titles. 1/?

I don't know what happened, but sales of the paperback version of my book spiked to surprising levels over the past few weeks (very high for a book that came out in 2023!) - so that is a lovely pre-holiday gift to me. Thank you mysterious universe and book-buyers!!! #Adrift

#bcbuylocal week kicks off today, and you can't go wrong with a book! Shop at indie bookstores because when you support local $63 out of every $100 goes back to BC compared to $14 from multinationals. Want to shop online? No problem, most local bookstores can accommodate: bit.ly/47BVJL1

Today's an excellent day to pre-order my poetry chap, CHILDLESS MILLENNIAL, for the cool uncle or auntie in your life, and support a small but mighty press @gameoverbooks.bsky.social www.gameoverbooks.com/store/p/chil...

For folks who nominate short stories for awards in the sci-fi realms: I published my first ever short story in 2025 at Diabolical Plots! 🥳. So... I hope you'll... consider it? (I know not how these things work, clearly): diabolicalplots.com/dp-fiction-1... Happy award nominating!?

I have to share this amazing plant I saw on my walk today. Google says it is a "harlequin glorybower (Clerodendrum trichotomum), also known as the peanut butter tree." Does anyone know about these???

November was supposed to be my all-free-time-is-spent-writing month but it started with a dinner with friends (long overdue, v hard to schedule), and I have 2 speaking gigs I'm excited about, & another big non-writing project has poked its head into life with some urgency. But I did write tonight!

Got my COVID and flu shots on Friday (free). Consider this a reminder in your timeline to go book yours before all the bugs start circulating for winter.

I just made some very exciting (to me) 2026 plans!!! I registered for the Level 1 Bookbinding course with the Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artist Guild. Hope to connect with other bookbinding nerds along the way - please wave if that's you!

I only feel capable of posting fall vibes photos right now.

On Tuesday, October 21st—Ursula's birthday—we'll announce the recipient of the 2025 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction! Join Theo Downes-Le Guin and guest host Ebon Moss-Bachrach on YouTube for a live announcement at 9 am PDT. The announcement will happen here: www.youtube.com/@ursula.k.le...

I'm visiting my hometown and just had a lovely time with a book club at the Cole Harbour Library talking about Adrift and climate change. I love book clubs so much, they have all been so thoughtful and kind in their discussions of Adrift. Love love love these conversations! (ALSO MY DAD CAME! )

Just a couple of seats left in my Saturday workshop at this Salt Spring Island festival. www.eventbrite.ca/e/paper-cove...?

Hey everyone!! I am starting a chapbook press!!! rev your engines and write your pitch letters and send them off at paperbillpress.ca! We are as expansive as a chapbook press can be!! now taking fiction! poetry! non-fiction! criticism! hybrid! You write it? we want it!!

Are in planning to be in North Vancouver tomorrow night? So am I! I'll be giving a talk and showing off some photos from my new book Beneath Dark Waters: The Legacy of the Empress of Ireland Shipwreck. It's at Lynn Valley Library on Lynn Valley Road at 6:30 pm evelazarus.com/book/beneath...

I'm old. Us old people write blog posts. Here's one I posted recently about creativity, learning, and art residencies: www.lisabrideau.com/post/writing...

Potluck has been a regular caterer of events in my life in Vancouver - if you can support this amazing social enterprise, please do! And a friendly reminder that if you organize catering for your org/event, find a social enterprise or Indigenous company to direct your $$ to.

Oof, this article, so much truth about publishing challenges that exist today. This is a must read. thewalrus.ca/the-publishi...

Got on stage last night and read the opening of the novel I'm currently working on. And realized mid-read that it's kind of gory. (By "kind of", I mean "very".) Fortunately, there is a lot of crossover between sci-fi and horror so the audience wasn't traumatized (I don't think).

I'll be in Halifax/Dartmouth in Oct for the first time since my debut novel came out! -> I'd love to meet folks & talk about climate fiction, climate reality, writing, amnesia, all the things! Oct 8: Library book club, Oct 9: Halifax Gals & Pals book club, Oct 11: book signing at Indigo Dartmouth!

I'll be in Halifax/Dartmouth in October - my first time home since my book was published! I have 1 day left where I could fit in a book club meeting if anyone is part of a club that wants to read Adrift & have me pop by. Send me a message/email by Sept 25th if this might be your book club!

I'm relatively new to writing short stories, having always gone in for big novel projects. So when I sent my first story out on submission, it was mostly because seeking rejection is a hobby for me & it costs nothing to take a shot & you never know what might hit. Still, imagine my surprise...(1/?)

I'm VERY VERY excited to share that the first short story I ever sold is now available to read on Diabolical Plots: "The Glorious Pursuit of Nominal" www.diabolicalplots.com/dp-fiction-1... 🤖 Please read & enjoy! (Does Bluesky show posts with links? Comment with a robot emoji if you see this?)

I'm VERY VERY excited to share that the first short story I ever sold is now available to read on Diabolical Plots: "The Glorious Pursuit of Nominal" www.diabolicalplots.com/dp-fiction-1... 🤖 Please read & enjoy! (Does Bluesky show posts with links? Comment with a robot emoji if you see this?)

I was at this event, it was awesome! You may have missed the event but the book is apparently an instant NYT bestseller, so I think you'll be seeing it around! A novella about leftover robots starting a noodle restaurant, but really about so much more. Thanks to Iron Dog Books for hosting!

I backed this project and if you know any people who knit, crochet, weave, or spin, you should too because they will LOVE this book! (I love all the books this Vancouver publisher is putting out.)

This is a perfect advertisment. Just perfect. No notes.

Knitters, crocheters, weavers, spinners - this book will interest you!

Someone's (awesome) writing at a recent workshop reminded me SO MUCH of the 2004 show Wonderfalls and now I desperately need to rewatch it. Anyone else remember it?? I think Fox only aired 4 episodes before cancelling but released all 13 episodes on DVD. Now to find a copy...

oh, great, Meta is not "currently" scraping our phone's camera rolls (of non-uploaded photos, note) to train AI. That's super comforting, currently. We have to get off these platforms and find gathering places with boundaries and basic ethics.

I'm so excited to see this book on the Globe & Mail's bestseller list - fibre nerds are really hungry to learn about the wool industry in Canada (I know I am!)! ♥️♥️

Um. I was so excited to post this yesterday I forgot to mention there's a 10% EARLYBIRD DISCOUNT on pre-orders through Monday, July 7!

🧵✨ "Thanks, it has pockets!" ✨🧵 THE MAGIC OF POCKETS, by Canadian author Jess Driscoll, is coming to Canada! (Sorry 🇺🇸 we don't make the rules. J/k you already have the book.) PRE-ORDER: shop.ninetenpublications.ca/products/the...

Putting it out in the world that I LOVE to do panels. Have an event and want an author of climate fiction & speculative suspense who is also a climate policy specialist? A traditionally published author who jumped into the industry cold? EMAIL ME!!! Lisa (at) lisabrideau dot com

I received the most amazing email last week. I'm still stunned... I was offered a spot in a literary science fiction writing residency at the famous Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Even better - my mentor for the residency will be Premee Mohamed - who wrote... 1/2

Obviously as someone who wrote a speculative suspense novel, I am super excited for this list (my already long to-read list is less excited)!

Need help writing a query letter, finding an agent, figuring out the whole *how to get published* thing? I wrote a book about it! Pre-order now!