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I write fiction primarily. My work has appeared in places including Catapult, Tin House, and Vol.1 Brooklyn. I've received a fellowship from the Tin House Winter Workshop. My debut novel is <a href="https://bookhugpress.ca/shop/author/marta-balcewicz/big-shadow-by-marta-balcewicz/">Big Shadow</a> (Book*hug Press, 2023).
I'm represented by Emma Patterson at Brandt & Hochman: epatterson [at] bromasite [dot] com
1501 Broadway #2310
New York, NY
10036
You can e-mail me here: martawriting [at] gmail [dot] com
Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/wiczcraft/?hl=en">@wiczcraft</a>
Twitter, if you must: <a href="https://twitter.com/MartaBalcewicz?lang=en">@MartaBalcewicz</a>
(This website was made in Twine, hence the need to use the "return to main page" link if you want to go "back.")
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<h1>One day I will move the comics from my published works list and also scan unpublished comics and put them all on this one page. That day is not today. But it is soon.</h1>
<div id="joey"><img src="JoeyRamone.jpg"/></div>
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<div id="work">creative things:
<a href="https://catapult.co/stories/marta-balcewicz-short-story-the-summer-of-bssz">fiction: "summer of bssz" (catapult)</a>
<a href="https://www.passagesnorth.com/passagesnorthcom/2020/3/27/ripe-bananas-by-marta-balcewicz">fiction: "ripe bananas" (passages north)</a>
<a href="https://www.washingtonsquarereview.com/">fiction: "burger bite" (washington square review - issue 44)</a>
<a href="http://greensbororeview.org/issue/fall-2019-issue-106/">fiction: "bark" (the greensboro review)</a>
<a href="http://monkeybicycle.net/x-names/">fiction: "x names" (monkeybicycle)</a>
<a href="http://www.hobartpulp.com/web_features/stephanie-loves-stephanie">fiction: "stephanie loves stephanie" (hobart)</a>
<a href="https://books.catapult.co/products/tiny-crimes-very-short-tales-of-mystery-and-murder-pre-order">fiction: "good hair" in <em>tiny crimes</em> (catapult)</a>
<a href="http://tinhouse.com/a-guided-tour-of-the-sistine-chapel-ceiling/">fiction: "a guided tour of the sistine chapel ceiling" (tin house online)</a>
<a href="http://therumpus.net/2018/05/enough-the-type-of-boy-you-were-taught-to-want/">comic: "salty dog" (the rumpus)</a>
<a href="https://theoffingmag.com/micro/mad/">poetry: "mad" (the offing)</a>
<a href="boulevard.jpg">poetry: "godzilla" (boulevard)</a>
<a href="malahatpoem.jpg">poetry: "fetus charles atlas" (malahat review)</a>
<a href="http://www.vol1brooklyn.com/2018/02/11/sunday-stories-cheers-for-drowning-girls/">fiction: "cheers for drowning girls" (vol.1 brooklyn)</a>
<a href="https://agnionline.bu.edu/poetry/natasha-writes-back">poetry: "natasha writes back"</a> and <a href="https://agnionline.bu.edu/poetry/bonnie-parkers-photoshoot">"bonnie parker's photoshoot" (AGNI online)</a>
<a href="prism.jpg">poetry: "this is east euro" (PRISM international) *pushcart nominee!</a>
<a href="https://www.thenormalschool.com/blog/2017/10/9/thanks-for-finally-joining-the-20th-century-since-its-already-over-by-marta-balcewicz">comic: "thanks for finally joining the 20th century since it's already over" (the normal school-online)</a>
<a href="https://catapult.co/stories/millo-my-american-armadillo">non-fic: "millo, my american armadillo" (catapult)</a>
<a href="https://pitheadchapel.com/common-weeds/">fiction: "common weeds" (pithead chapel)</a>
<a href="https://www.barrelhousemag.com/blogall/2017/8/24/le-tigre-amour-by-marta-balcewicz">comic: "le tigre amour" (barrelhouse)</a>
<a href="https://www.minolareview.com/marta-balcewicz">fiction: "women in space" (minola review)</a>
<a href="http://puritan-magazine.com/new-tenant/">poetry: "new tenant" (the puritan)</a>
<a href="http://www.hobartpulp.com/web_features/caveat-emptor-baby">comic: "caveat emptor, baby" (hobart)</a>
<a href="http://www.hobartpulp.com/web_features/autocorrect">comic: "autocorrect" (hobart)</a>
reviews and articles, etc.:
<a href="https://blog.pshares.org/bad-people-and-bad-dreams-in-a-door-behind-a-door/">review: "a door behind a door" by yelena moskovich (ploughshares)</a>
<a href="http://https://blog.pshares.org/the-hare-by-melanie-finn/">review: "the hare" by melanie finn (ploughshares)</a>
<a href="http://blog.pshares.org/index.php/many-people-die-like-you-by-lina-wolff/">review: "many people die like you" by lina wolff (ploughshares)</a>
<a href="http://blog.pshares.org/index.php/ha-seong-nans-bluebeards-first-wife/">review: "bluebeard's first wife" by ha seong-nan (ploughshares)</a>
<a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/travel/destinations/the-majestically-creepy-towns-at-the-heart-of-twinpeaks/article29660457/">photos: twin peaks (globe & mail)</a>
<a href="gmcovers.jpg">photos: pretty places on/in the globe (globe & mail)</a>
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<div id="bspic"><img class="cover" src="bscover.jpg"/></div>
My debut novel BIG SHADOW is out with <a href="https://bookhugpress.ca/shop/author/marta-balcewicz/big-shadow-by-marta-balcewicz/">Book*hug Press</a> May 16, 2023.
You can order it from your <a href="https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781771668316">local indepedent bookstore</a>, the press's <a href="https://bookhugpress.ca/shop/author/marta-balcewicz/big-shadow-by-marta-balcewicz/">website</a>, <a href="https://bookshop.org/">bookshop.org</a>, and other places that support the book & lit community.
<strong>Praise for Big Shadow:</strong>
“Preternatural, radiating warmth and coldness and colour and light, Big Shadow brims with intelligence and wit. While one world flickers in the background, our narrator enters another, but by the end, we see that the flickering is, amazingly, reality too. I never quite knew where this novel was taking me, which is exactly where I wanted to be going.” —Amina Cain, author of Indelicacy
“Marta Balcewicz’s Big Shadow is a deft portrait of artistic ambition and the troubled pursuit of truth. This story of everyday grifters—the small town proselytizers and desperate musicians—captures how difficult it is to untangle oneself from the narratives that are imposed. Smart, ironic, and tender, with prose as sharp as a scam, Big Shadow is the first of many excellent Balcewicz novels to come.” —Isle McElroy, author of People Collide and The Atmospherians
“Big Shadow is a quietly radical novel, in which a strange woman in an absurd world disorients us, so the story can remind us that actually, it’s this life that is absurd, it is we who are strange. Marta Balcewicz’s unflagging focus on the beauty of the world’s lost and forgotten things beseeches us to stay still, just for a second, and pay attention. Funny, moving, and a pure delight.” —Thea Lim, Scotiabank Giller Prize shortlisted author of An Ocean of Minutes
<strong>Excerpt:</strong>
<a href="https://hazlitt.net/longreads/first-poet">"The First Poet"</a> in Hazlitt (May 10, 2023)
<strong>Press for Big Shadow:</strong>
<a href="https://chireviewofbooks.com/2023/05/17/no-shade-people-are-hard-in-big-shadow/">Chicago Review of Books review</a> by Arturo Vidich
<a href="https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/reviews/2023/05/16/sex-and-love-and-cloud-gazing-marta-balcewicz-debut-novel-big-shadow.html?utm_source=share-bar&utm_medium=user&utm_campaign=user-share">Toronto Star review</a> by Jean Marc Ah-Sen
<a href="https://vol1brooklyn.com/2023/05/04/may-2023-new-books/">Vol. 1 Brooklyn's "Books of the Month: May 2023"</a>
<a href="https://aquariumdrunkard.com/2023/05/08/aquarium-drunkard-book-club-chapter-23/">Aquarium Drunkdard's "Book Club: Chapter 23"</a>
<a href="https://chatelaine.com/living/books/summer-books-2023/">Chatelaine's "Your Official Summer 2023 Reading List"</a>
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<div id="unnamed yet">creative things:
<a href="https://www.passagesnorth.com/passagesnorthcom/2020/3/27/ripe-bananas-by-marta-balcewicz">fiction: "ripe bananas" (passages north)</a>
<a href="https://www.washingtonsquarereview.com/">fiction: "burger bite" (washington square review - issue 44)</a>
<a href="http://greensbororeview.org/issue/fall-2019-issue-106/">fiction: "bark" (the greensboro review)</a>
<a href="http://monkeybicycle.net/x-names/">fiction: "x names" (monkeybicycle)</a>
<a href="http://littlefiction.com/beta/2018Flash_MartaBalcewicz.html">fiction: "daddy rat king" (little fiction)</a>
<a href="http://www.hobartpulp.com/web_features/stephanie-loves-stephanie">fiction: "stephanie loves stephanie" (hobart)</a>
<a href="https://books.catapult.co/products/tiny-crimes-very-short-tales-of-mystery-and-murder-pre-order">fiction: "good hair" in <em>tiny crimes</em> (black balloon/catapult)</a>
<a href="http://tinhouse.com/a-guided-tour-of-the-sistine-chapel-ceiling/">fiction: "a guided tour of the sistine chapel ceiling" (tin house online)</a>
<a href="http://therumpus.net/2018/05/enough-the-type-of-boy-you-were-taught-to-want/">comic: "salty dog" (the rumpus)</a>
<a href="https://theoffingmag.com/micro/mad/">poetry: "mad" (the offing)</a>
<a href="boulevard.jpg">poetry: "godzilla" (boulevard)</a>
<a href="https://jellyfishreview.wordpress.com/2018/04/02/for-the-love-of-music-by-marta-balcewicz/">fiction: "for the love of music" (jellyfish review)</a>
<a href="malahatpoem.jpg">poetry: "fetus charles atlas" (malahat review)</a>
<a href="http://www.vol1brooklyn.com/2018/02/11/sunday-stories-cheers-for-drowning-girls/">fiction: "cheers for drowning girls" (vol.1 brooklyn)</a>
<a href="https://agnionline.bu.edu/poetry/natasha-writes-back">poetry: "natasha writes back"</a> and <a href="https://agnionline.bu.edu/poetry/bonnie-parkers-photoshoot">"bonnie parker's photoshoot" (AGNI online)</a>
<a href="prism.jpg">poetry: "this is east euro" (PRISM international) *pushcart nominee!</a>
<a href="https://www.thenormalschool.com/blog/2017/10/9/thanks-for-finally-joining-the-20th-century-since-its-already-over-by-marta-balcewicz">comic: "thanks for finally joining the 20th century since it's already over" (the normal school-online)</a>
<a href="https://catapult.co/stories/millo-my-american-armadillo">non-fic: "millo, my american armadillo" (catapult)</a>
<a href="https://pitheadchapel.com/common-weeds/">fiction: "common weeds" (pithead chapel)</a>
<a href="https://www.barrelhousemag.com/blogall/2017/8/24/le-tigre-amour-by-marta-balcewicz">comic: "le tigre amour" (barrelhouse)</a>
<a href="https://www.minolareview.com/marta-balcewicz">fiction: "women in space" (minola review)</a>
<a href="http://cosmonautsavenue.com/marta-balcewicz-lies-gymnasium/">non-fic: "lies in the gymnasium" (cosmonauts avenue)</a>
<a href="http://puritan-magazine.com/new-tenant/">poetry: "new tenant" (the puritan)</a>
<a href="http://www.hobartpulp.com/web_features/caveat-emptor-baby">comic: "caveat emptor, baby" (hobart)</a>
<a href="http://www.hobartpulp.com/web_features/autocorrect">comic: "autocorrect" (hobart)</a>
reviews and articles, etc.:
<a href="https://blog.pshares.org/bad-people-and-bad-dreams-in-a-door-behind-a-door/">review: "a door behind a door" by yelena moskovich (ploughshares)</a>
<a href="http://https://blog.pshares.org/the-hare-by-melanie-finn/">review: "the hare" by melanie finn (ploughshares)</a>
<a href="http://blog.pshares.org/index.php/many-people-die-like-you-by-lina-wolff/">review: "many people die like you" by lina wolff (ploughshares)</a>
<a href="http://blog.pshares.org/index.php/ha-seong-nans-bluebeards-first-wife/">review: "bluebeard's first wife" by ha seong-nan (ploughshares)</a>
<a href="http://shamelessmag.com/blog/entry/chelsea-martins-caca-dolce-essays-for-a-shitty-era">review: "caca dolce" by chelsea martin (shameless)</a>
<a href="http://shamelessmag.com/issue/summer-2017">review: "difficult women" by roxane gay (shameless-print)</a>
<a href="http://shamelessmag.com/blog/entry/fanfic-talks-back-a-review-of-where-did-you-sleep-last-night-by-lynn-crosbi">review: "where did you sleep last night" by lynn crosbie (shameless)</a>
<a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/travel/destinations/the-majestically-creepy-towns-at-the-heart-of-twinpeaks/article29660457/">photos: twin peaks (globe & mail)</a>
<a href="http://shamelessmag.com/blog/entry/carrie-brownstein-hunger-makes-me-a-modern-girl">review: "hunger makes me a modern girl" by carrie brownstein (shameless)</a>
<a href="http://shamelessmag.com/blog/entry/q-a-with-sabrina-ramnanan">q & a: with author sabrina ramnanan (shameless)</a>
<a href="http://shamelessmag.com/blog/entry/girl-in-a-band-kim-gordon-and-memories-recalled">review: "girl in a band" by kim gordon (shameless)</a>
<a href="gmcovers.jpg">photos: pretty places on/in the globe (globe & mail)</a>
<a href="http://shamelessmag.com/blog/entry/well-worn-martas-favourite-band-t-shirt">profile: my favourite bikini kill t-shirt (shameless)</a>
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<div id="eventpic"><img src="balloonssmall.png" /></div>
May 16, 2023 - Big Shadow book launch @ TYPE Books (Queen), Toronto, in conversation with Thea Lim. <a href="https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/book-launch-for-big-shadow-by-marta-balcewicz-tickets-574696190777">Eventbrite link.</a>
June 8, 2023 - Big Shadow book launch @ De Stiil Bookstore, Montreal, in conversation with and with musical accompaniment from Laurel Sprengelmeyer (Little Scream).
June 12, 2023 - Reading (Book*hug authors group reading) @ Book*hug Press Spring Party @ The Baby G, Toronto. <a href="https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/bookhug-press-spring-2023-party-tickets-620862094237?aff=ebdsoporgprofile">Eventbrite link.</a>
June 14, 2023 - Book launch (Book*hug authors group reading) @ Jordan's Homeside Pub, Hamilton, hosted by The City & The City Books.
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