VS. Books

An imprint of Arsenal Pulp Press

A mentorship and publishing opportunity
for an Indigenous or Black writer, or a writer of colour,
between the ages of 18–28 living in Canada

An imprint of Arsenal Pulp Press

We are happy to announce the 2018 open call for submissions to VS. Books!

VS. Books, a new imprint with Arsenal Pulp Press, was launched in June 2017. Created as an effort to foster more inter­gen­er­ational dia­logue and supports, the imprint offers both a men­tor­ship with myself and a pub­lishing contract to an unpub­lished youth who is Indi­genous, Black or a person of colour. Scar­bor­ough-based Téa Mutonji was selected as the first writer to be published by VS. Books, with her debut collection of short stories out in Spring 2019.

This year, after receiving your feedback, I am happy to share that we have widened the age require­ment, and now welcome sub­missions from writers between the ages of 18–28.

The mentorship will include:

If you are an unpublished writer who is Indi­genous, Black or a person of colour between the ages of 18 and 28 living in Canada, you are invited to email VS.Books@vivekshraya.com with the following:

Please note that if we have worked together before through previous men­tor­ship programs or in another capacity, or if you sub­mitted to the 2017 VS. Books open call, you are still welcome to apply. You may also apply if you have self-published before, but the manu­script you submit must be new and not previously published in full elsewhere, including online. Feel free to email me if you have any questions!

The application deadline is Sept­ember 1, 2018. All applicants will be notified about the selection by the end of October 2018. The selection process will be based primarily on my ability to support your work on your manuscript.

Look forward to working with you!

–VS

Press