Industry professionals Paige Sisley, a literary agent with Cook McDermid, and Janice Zawerbny, Senior Executive Editor at HarperCollins Canada, will be on campus to chat about their respective roles in publishing, and the UBC/HarperCollins Best New Fiction Prize. Moderated by Annabel Lyon, Professor and Director.
This event is open to currently enrolled students and recent graduates in the School of Creative Writing.
Date: October 21, 2026 (Monday)
Time: 12:00 – 1:00 pm
Format: in person
Venue: Pẽna Room , Irving K. Barber Learning Centre (Room 301)
The HarperCollins PublishersLtd/UBC Prize for Best New Fiction is a bi-annual award, offering literary representation by Cooke McDermid Literary Management and an advance and book publication with HarperCollins Canada. This is a great opportunity for anyone who is interested in learning about fiction publishing, and about the prize.
The next opportunity to submit to the prize will be 2028.
HarperCollinsPublishersLtd
Known worldwide for the quality of its list, HarperCollinsPublishersLtd is the proud home of many bestselling and award-winning authors, including Esi Edugyan, Heather O’Neill, Lawrence Hill, Kamal Al-Solaylee, Mark Sakamoto, Emily St. John Mandel, Tracey Lindberg, Tara Westover, Hilary Mantel, Rachel Cusk, Anthony Horowitz, Uzma Jalaluddin, Amanda Peters, Zoe Whittall, Carrianne Leung, Jael Richardson, Emma Donoghue, Helen Humphreys, and Thomas King, among many more found at www.harpercollins.ca. HarperCollins is committed to publishing the best books of our generation and to work with authors over the length and breadth of their careers. HarperCollinsPublishersLtd published the first books by UBC MFA graduates Michael Christie, Michelle Good, and Ellen Keith as well as debut short story writers and novelists Ayelet Tsabari, Janie Chang and Jasmine Sealy. HarperCollinsPublishersLtd publishes fiction, non-fiction, reference books and books for children.
CookeMcDermid Literary Management
CookeMcDermid Literary Management is one of Canada’s biggest and most successful literary agencies. It was founded in 2017 when two preeminent agencies, The Cooke Agency and The McDermid Agency, amalgamated, combining nearly 50 years of experience. It is a full-service literary agency representing authors in every genre, across Canada, the United States, and throughout the world. CookeMcDermid’s clients’ books have been national bestsellers, recipients of the most prestigious literary awards, adapted into major motion pictures, and translated into over 60 languages.
Access
The Dodson Room is on the second floor of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre. There is an elevator, the entrance and the room are wheelchair accessible, and IKBLC has accessible washrooms. (TBD)
The School of Creative Writing is committed to making our events as accessible as possible. If you have questions or requests about access, please reach out to Sheryda Warrener at s.warrener@ubc.ca.
More events from the Visiting Writers Series
Faculty & Alumni Showcase: Creative Research Across Genres and Modes | September 23 | Recent MFA grad Emily Chou celebrates the publication of her debut graphic novel On Your Way at our Faculty and Alumni showcase.
To Turn The Page In More Than Two Directions: Making & Remaking Dog Days, With Emily LaBarge | October 26 | Take a glimpse into the process of the literary experiment Emily LaBarge undertook in writing her acclaimed hybrid memoir Dog Days.
We: Layli Long Soldier in conversation with Billy-Ray Belcourt | November 23 | Oglala Lakota poet Layli Long Soldier talks with Billy-Ray Belcourt, writer and academic from the Driftpile Cree Nation, about the poems, essays and visual art in her long-awaited second collection, We.
