Anna Julia Stainsby is a Honduran-Canadian writer from Toronto. She is a recent graduate of the University of Toronto’s MA in English in the Field of Creative Writing and currently lives in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Her work has appeared in publications such as The Literary Review of Canada, FreeFall Magazine, FLARE, Lake Effect 8, and has been supported by the Toronto Arts Council as well as the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.
Her debut novel, THE AFTERPAINS, is a female-driven literary fiction in the vein of The Mothers and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, with familial curses and speculative elements reminiscent of Marquez, told through the perspective of four women, one of whom is telling their story from the afterlife. The story follows two families, connected by a secret, as one of them gears up to commemorate a heartbreaking anniversary. Throughout a single week in August, the characters grapple with their understanding of family, motherhood, and grief. The braided narrative is a reflection of how we handle loss in isolation and how grief is metabolized when we are alone, in new countries, severed from familial ties, and bereft of deep and honest connection. Her novel is complete and will be on offer soon.
Anna is represented by Amanda Orozco and Samantha Haywood.