Rowan McCandless, believes that every story has the power to transform. Whether it’s through the lens of fiction or the authenticity of creative nonfiction, our words aim to inspire and provoke thought. Dive into a world where imagination knows no bounds and every narrative is a journey waiting to unfold. Join us in exploring the rich tapestry of human experience through unique voices and innovative storytelling. Here, creativity flourishes and outlier forms take centre stage, inviting you to discover the art of expression in its many forms.

 Long Bio:

Rowan McCandless is the Black and biracial author of Persephone’s Children: A Life in Fragments (Dundurn Press 2021). Her book, structured as a mosaic memoir, is a series of inventive and creative essays dealing with subject matter such as personal and familial relationships, mental illness, perseverance, resilience, the social construct called “race,” motherhood, daughterhood and the important role writing has played in her life. A 2022 Governor General’s finalist in nonfiction, she also co-won Best First Book at the 2022 MB Book Awards (the Eileen McTavish Sykes Award) and was also a finalist in their nonfiction category. Her award-winning fiction and essays have appeared in many Canadian, American, and British literary journals: Prairie Fire, Room, Skin-Deep; Race and Culture Magazine, The Malahat Review and others.

Her work is anthologized in “Visualizing the Lyric” (essay)The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to the Lyric, Rose Metal Press (forthcoming, 2026), “Games People Play” (fiction), The Writers’ Union of Canada, Short Prose Competition for Emerging Writers (finalist), Homeward Bound” (fiction), Manitoba Writers’ Guild, Dave Williamson International Short Story Contest (2024) (honourable mention, TEOTWAWKI” (fiction), Manitoba Writers’ Guild, Dave Williamson International Short Story Contest (2023) (second place), Practical Magic” (essay), A Harp in the Stars, Randon Billings Noble, editor, University of Nebraska Press (2021), “What Are You? A Field Study” (essay), “Tongues; On Longing and Belonging Through Language, Eufemia Fantetti, Leonarda Carranza, Ayelet Tsabari, editors, Bookhug Press (2021), “Hunger Games: A Quiz” (essay), Black Writers Matter. Whitney French, editor, University of Regina Press (2020), winner of the 2020 Saskatchewan Book Award.“Castaways” (short story), The Journey Prize Stories:30, McClelland & Stewart (2018) (finalist).

McCandless is also the creative nonfiction editor of The Fiddlehead literary journal and first vice-chair with The Writers’ Union Of Canada. She provides in-person and online workshops on creative nonfiction, participates as a panelist and speaker, and is a teacher, mentor, and a facilitator with Spark Your Story Intensive, an online twelve-week program designed and co-taught with Nicole Breit that immerses writers in the various forms creative nonfiction can take.

Currently, she is revising a short story collection of literary fiction with speculative elements, and a novel about a young man who has the power to heal with his hands.

Short Bio:

Rowan McCandless is the Black and biracial author of Persephone’s Children: A Life in Fragments (Dundurn Press 2021). She writes from Winnipeg which is located on Treaty One territory. Her award-winning fiction and creative nonfiction appear in print and online journals. First vice-chair with The Writers’ Union of Canada, she is the creative nonfiction editor with The Fiddlehead and a Governor General’s finalist in nonfiction.