Whether you’re a new or established writer or journalist, this panel discussion will help you refine the art of your pitch or learn how to make your submission standout in the slushpile. Join local editors and writers for their best tips and tricks on pitching and submitting your work — including to general interest, news, literary magazines, and niche publications.
Panelists will discuss how to approach editors, how to structure your pitch, what makes a pitch or submission stand out, and more. There will also be the opportunity for a Q&A, so feel free to come prepared with the burning questions you’ve always wanted to ask an editor!
Location: Room C420, UBC Robson Square
Sponsored by: Mags BC
Moderator: Jessica Key, subTerrain
Readers: Shashi Bhat, EVENT Magazine | Michelle Cyca, The Narwhal | Stephen Smysnuik
About The Moderator
Jessica Key
Jessica Key is the Managing Editor of subTerrain Magazine, Publishing Associate at Anvil Press, and Senior Editor of the 3-Day Novel Contest. She has been with subTerrain for eight years, and before that worked with a variety of BC-based literary magazines and small presses, as well as serving as the Marketing Coordinator for the Iceland Writers Retreat. She is a graduate from Simon Fraser University’s Masters of Publishing Program, and has a BFA in Creative Writing from VIU.
About The Readers
Shashi Bhat
Shashi Bhat is the author of the story collection Death by a Thousand Cuts (McClelland & Stewart), and the novels The Most Precious Substance on Earth (M&S, Grand Central), and The Family Took Shape (Cormorant). Her fiction received the Writers’ Trust/McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize and has been a finalist for the Governor General's Award for fiction, the Danuta Gleed Award, the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, the National Magazine Award for fiction, and the RBC Bronwen Wallace Award, and was longlisted for the Giller Prize. She is the editor-in-chief of EVENT magazine and teaches creative writing at Douglas College.
Michelle Cyca
Michelle Cyca is an award-winning journalist and editor from Vancouver, and a member of the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation in Treaty 6. Her reporting, essays and literary criticism can be found in The Globe and Mail, Chatelaine, IndigiNews and The Tyee, among other publications. She is a contributing writer to The Walrus, and received a National Magazine Award in 2024 for her columns. Her Maclean's cover story "The Curious Case of Gina Adams" also received a National Magazine Award in 2023 for investigative journalism. Michelle teaches reporting in Indigenous communities at the University of British Columbia, and serves as the board chair of tapwêwin media, an Indigenous-led nonprofit organization. Previously, she was the co-publisher of SAD Mag, a National Magazine Award-winning biannual print publication focused on art, design and storytelling from Vancouver.
Stephen Smysnuik
Stephen is the co-founder and editor of the Level, a new media outlet designed to see any news or culture story from two sides. He was a publisher of the Georgia Straight, responsible for rebooting the paper in 2022, and the founder of The Growler Craft Beer Handbook. He is also a freelance writer with work appearing in BC Business, RANGE Magazine, The Lookout, Toronto Star, among others.
