Photo Credit: Jennifer Jacobson/City of Vancouver Book Award 2021
News
My short story ‘The Formula’ is in Best Canadian Stories 2026 (ed. Zsuzsi Gartner), out now with Biblioasis. You can purchase a copy here.
My short story ‘Izzy’ will be included in Best Canadian Stories 2027 (ed. David Bergen), to be released Fall 2026 by Biblioasis. ‘Izzy’ was published by Montreal journal Yolk and can be read online here.
About me
I am a writer born on unceded Musqueam territory in what’s now called Vancouver, British Columbia. My first novel, If I Don’t Go Now, is forthcoming from Freehand in Spring 2027. I’ve published four books and one chapbook: a chapbook 20 Objects for the New World (Nomados, out of print), the short story collection People Who Disappear (Freehand, 2012), shortlisted for a Lambda prize for LGBT fiction, the poetry collection The things I heard about you (Nightwood, 2014), the story collection We All Need to Eat (Book*hug, 2018), shortlisted for a BC Book Prize for fiction, and the poetry collection Vancouver for Beginners (Book*hug, 2019), shortlisted for the City of Vancouver Book Prize and winner of the Western Canada Jewish Book Prize for poetry. You can buy my books by clicking on their titles above. My books are available in many public libraries.
“Leslie’s writing blends patience and violence…We All Need to Eat is a work of precision. As the stories layer on top of each other, Alex Leslie opens many of urban life’s paradoxes… Leslie’s sometimes hallucinatory writing style teases out the murky threshold where the conscious self meets the body.”
-Canadian Notes and Queries
Recent short stories
“The Formula” in Plenitude (2024). “The Formula” has been selected for Best Canadian Stories 2026 (Biblioasis,). Read it here.
“Izzy” in Montreal journal Yolk (2025). You can read it online here. “Izzy” has been selected for Best Canadian Stories 2027.
“Propane, Propane” in Isele (2023). This story won Isele’s 2024 fiction prize and you can read it here.
“This Is All I Do Now” in Geist, Spring 2026.
“Net” in Event (2024)
“Pineapple” in Yolk (2023)
More about my writing
My writing has been recognized with a CBC Literary Award, the Dayne Ogilvie Award from the Writers Trust of Canada for LGBTQ2S+ emerging writers, and a Gold National Magazine Award. My short stories have been published in many literary journals in Canada, the US and the UK including Catapult, The Malahat Review, Brick, The Fiddlehead and Isele, and have been included in The Journey Prize anthology (Penguin/Random House), Best Canadian Stories (Biblioasis), and Granta‘s first spotlight issue on contemporary Canadian fiction. My stories have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and National Magazine Awards for fiction.
I’m particularly proud that my writing has been taught at many universities and colleges including Emily Carr, University of British Columbia, OISE, University of Victoria, University of the Fraser Valley, Kwantlen University and Capilano University. My books have been reviewed in publications such as The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, The National Post, Xtra West, Canadian Literature, and Autostraddle and featured on CBC radio’s North by Northwest program. I have taught fiction as a guest faculty at the Banff Centre for the Arts.
I’m a proud member of the Writers Union of Canada. I am a Queer writer of English and Eastern European Ashkenazi Jewish heritage.
Contact
You can contact me at al.leslie@gmail.com.
I read regularly in and around Vancouver – follow me on Instagram @thisalexleslie for event updates.
I am sometimes hired by writers for short fiction manuscript and individual short story consultations – if you are interested, please email me a description of your project. Please note that I am not your ideal reader for science fiction and fantasy.
Alex Leslie 