Tove Black
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toveblack.bsky.social
Tove Black
@toveblack.bsky.social
95 followers 210 following 110 posts
Writer and sometimes musician based in Vancouver (Canada). Pen name. https://toveblack.ca/about/
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toveblack.bsky.social
I have been mostly working on novel revisions lately and not submitting much, so it’s been a while since I’ve got a rejection, but here we are — the first one since July, I think!

#writingrejection
#writing
#amwriting
November 7, 2025 at 3:19 AM
toveblack.bsky.social
In related news, this bookmark from Iron Dog Books is a big hit at my house 💜💜💜
A paperback copy of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, with a bookmark showing a flying dragon, a mounted knight carrying a banner reading “a dragon,” and a mountain, all placed atop an open book.
October 26, 2025 at 5:50 PM
toveblack.bsky.social
East Van, City of Books!

We are so lucky to have so many bookstores on the east side of Vancouver.
Screen capture of a google map showing bookstores in the city of Vancouver, BC. A large number of them are in East Vancouver. Screen capture of a google map zoomed in somewhat to show bookstores in East Vancouver. WIth the extra detail we can see 16, including two comics shops.
October 26, 2025 at 4:57 PM
toveblack.bsky.social
Reporting this delightful news a little late: the instant Canada Post switched to rotating job action, these treasures from @thisisannick.bsky.social arrived!

Good people are doing good things in this world 💜
Five slender poetry zines, each a different colour. The top one is called Neveralready, by A Light Zachary.
October 20, 2025 at 12:53 AM
toveblack.bsky.social
Yay! Today I picked up my special-ordered copy of this beautiful book by poet, scholar, publisher, and wonderful person @thisisannick.bsky.social
A slender volume, with a cover image of an engraving of flowers on a linen-textured paper. “Votive,” by Annick MacAskill.
October 14, 2025 at 5:06 AM
toveblack.bsky.social
I happened to be going through some of Aesop's Fables and perhaps unsurprisingly some of them are hitting the spot for me today.

Here's one for now, "The Frogs Who Asked for a King." (Source: Project Gutenberg.) I might post more later.
The Frogs Who Asked for a King There were once some Frogs who lived together in perfect security in a beautiful lake. They were a large company, and were very comfortable, but they came to think that they might be still happier if they had a King to rule over them. So they sent to Jupiter, their god, to ask him to give them a King. Jupiter laughed at their folly, for he knew that they were better off as they were; but he said to them, “Well, here is a King for you,” and into the water he threw a big Log. It fell with such a splash that the Frogs were terrified and hid themselves in the deep mud under the water. By and by, one braver than the rest peeped out to look at the King, and saw the Log, as it lay quietly on the top of the water. Soon, one after another they all came out of their hiding places and ventured to look at their great King. As the Log did not move, they swam round it, keeping a safe distance away, and at last one by one hopped upon it. “This is not a King,” said a wise old Frog; “it is nothing but a stupid Log. If we had a King, Jupiter would pay more attention to us.” Again they sent to Jupiter, and begged him to give them a King who could rule over them. Jupiter did not like to be disturbed again by the silly Frogs, and this time he sent them a Stork, saying, “You will have some one to rule over you now.” As they saw the Stork solemnly walking down to the lake, they were delighted. “Ah!” they said, “see how grand he looks! How he strides along! How he throws back his head! This is a King indeed. He shall rule over us,” and they went joyfully to meet him. As their new King came nearer, he paused, stretched out his long neck, picked up the head Frog, and swallowed him at one mouthful. And then the next—and the next! “What is this?” cried the Frogs, and they began to draw back in terror. But the Stork with his long legs easily followed them to the water, and kept on eating them as fast as he could. “Oh! if we had only been—” said the oldest Frog. He was going to add “content,” but was eaten up before he could finish the sentence. The remaining Frogs cried to Jupiter to help them, but he would not listen. And the Stork-King ate them for breakfast, dinner, and supper, every day, till in a short time there was not a Frog left in the lake. Poor, foolish Frogs, not to have known when they were well off. A line-drawing illustration showing a crane lifting one small frog out of a pond with its beak, while other frogs look on.
September 7, 2025 at 6:53 PM
toveblack.bsky.social
Yes, I’m doing the 3-Day Novel Contest again. The goddess help me!
3-day novel contest: “the world’s most notorious literary marathon!”
August 30, 2025 at 9:07 PM
toveblack.bsky.social
(happy screaming)

www.3daynovel.com/2025/08/07/2...
A graphic of a gold trophy with gold stars spilling out. The wording says, "Meet the Long List." The time has finally come to introduce you to the longlist from our 2024 3-Day Novel Contest! In alphabetical order (by title): Bethy, Darling by Katie Jordan Colony by Bradley Harris Debt of the Heart by Nathalie De Los Santos Everything Has Always Been Terrible by Tove Black How to Solve a Murder in Three Days by Heather Fledderus Ladybug Buttons by Katelin Ditner Me, playing musical saw alone in the graveyard, save for an oriole & sun & breezes by Karen Massey Sharp Teeth by Clara Nelson The Order and the Chaos of Ilse by Sherrie Bast The Unicorn by Alison McBain Congratulations to all our long-listed authors—you haven’t made our job narrowing down the shortlist easy. Registration for the 2025 contest is open—join us this Labour Day weekend for the world’s most notorious literary contest.
August 7, 2025 at 11:04 PM
toveblack.bsky.social
I know many people have said this before, but watching a wheat field can really be a lot like watching the ocean.
July 10, 2025 at 12:22 AM
toveblack.bsky.social
Big news for me: I updated my website with info about two recent publications. This has been quite a spring! Honestly, I should probably just lie down for a while.

toveblack.ca/about/
A magazine cover showing a painting of a pale-skinned woman with dark hair and dark-framed glasses, holding a drink, with the title “subTerrain: issue 100.”
June 12, 2025 at 5:19 AM
toveblack.bsky.social
Saturday afternoon at Vancouver Public Library!

(I’ll be one of the readers!)

vpl.bibliocommons.com/events/68094...
Off the Map Anthology Launch and Reading Jun. 7: Off the Map: Vancouver Writers with Lived Experience of Mental Health Issues offers fresh and fascinating perspectives, told with compelling honesty and inventiveness. The event will feature short readings by anthology contributors, who showcase unique storytelling styles and forms
June 5, 2025 at 1:23 PM
toveblack.bsky.social
Thank you, Bryn Robinson and @theseaboardreview.ca !
Review: "Some Techniques for Telling Your Story - When You Don’t Want to Talk About Your Story by Tove Black: An enlightening account of one’s experience in sharing trauma through narrative, written under the veil of instructional manual, Black illustrates different trauma story structures with doodles (e.g., “circle around the things you can’t say”, starbursts that “establish a safe centre and stay there for most of the story, only occasionally and very briefly referring to something outside of it”).
May 31, 2025 at 8:56 PM
toveblack.bsky.social
Possible inspiration here? rebeccachaperon.com/products/sti...
A painting by Rebecca Chaperon showing a disembodied and ghostly hand balancing three books, a skull, candle, and a small cut-glass bottle with a stopper on its fingertips.
May 17, 2025 at 9:28 PM
toveblack.bsky.social
Hey, it's probably always a good time to talk about mental health, right? Even or especially after an intense election?

I have a short piece in this upcoming anthology and will be part of this reading at the Vancouver Public Library June 7th -- I hope to see you there!
Anthology launch and reading: Off the Map anthology, launch at Vancouver Public Library 350 West Georgia Sreet, Saturday June 7, 1 pm - 4 pm, Alice MacKay Room, Lower Level.
April 29, 2025 at 3:57 PM
toveblack.bsky.social
I’ve had a couple of acceptances lately, but today got another rejection note. So I’m keeping up my practice of celebrating every time!

The important thing is to keep submitting work.
A hand holding up a coupe glass of champagne.
April 22, 2025 at 2:31 AM
toveblack.bsky.social
Exciting announcement!

I have a short piece coming out in the Off the Map anthology, where authors write about mental health.

You can preorder now: bellpressbooks.com/product/off-...
Book cover with the title “Off the Map.” The art work is a collage of including photos of faces and a hand holding a pen, and the edges of each photo are torn.
April 16, 2025 at 7:53 PM
toveblack.bsky.social
Thank you to the wonderful people at Grain Magazine!

grainmagazine.ca
[ID: On a sage-coloured background, a headshot of Tove Black, who is wearing a black beret and black sunglasses. Text above reads, "Contributor Spotlight." Text below reads, "Tove Black is a pen name for a writer, librarian, zine-maker, occasional singer-songwriter, and former radio host and music columnist. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia, and lives in East Vancouver, on the unceded lands of the xwməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səli̓lwə̓taʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. You can hear one of her recent stories at Tahoma Literary Review’s SoundCloud." Grain 52.3, Spring 2025. End.]
April 10, 2025 at 7:13 PM
toveblack.bsky.social
I am very excited about this! The wonderful literary magazine Grain has published one of my bleak little stories 🖤
Cover of Grain literary magazine List of contributors including To e Black (prose category).
April 3, 2025 at 2:23 AM
toveblack.bsky.social
I am very excited to have a couple of pieces coming out this spring -- more details on that soon!

Meanwhile, with the news so full of intense and bad things, I'm especially grateful for small gestures of kindness -- like getting this confirmation message after submitting a story.
Thank you for submitting your work to Room. We will treat it with care.
March 6, 2025 at 4:17 PM
toveblack.bsky.social
I write literary and sometimes weird little tales. Here are my two latest story zines! Folks can contact me here or via toveblack.ca
Two zines, one called The Invisible Girlfriend, the other Dance Dance Revolution.
March 5, 2025 at 2:57 PM
toveblack.bsky.social
One of the things I did on my winter vacation: writing, illustrating, and printing up this weird little story.
A booklet or zine with the title “The Invisible Girlfriend” and a drawing of a fireplace with a breeze emerging from it.
January 7, 2025 at 4:19 AM
toveblack.bsky.social
I’ve been working on this very short story for a while, “The Invisible Girlfriend.” I’m not sure I’ll ever try to illustrate it for real but it’s always fun to play around with ideas…
“No one at the office believes that William’s girlfriend was real.” Rough sketch of two women talking behind the back of a young man at his computer in an office.
December 18, 2024 at 11:24 PM
toveblack.bsky.social
I guess this is a good thing to post about to get started here: I’m honoured to be part of this very awesome reading next week at Container Brewing in Vancouver! (I’m not a TWS student or alum but they have allowed me to join anyway — yay! ❤️)

Monday November 18th at 7 pm.
November 13, 2024 at 5:47 PM