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Emily Austin (she/her) is a bestselling queer Canadian author of six books across fiction and poetry, including the instant bestsellers, Is This a Cry for Help? (2026) and We Could Be Rats (2025). Her next novel, Garbage Girl, is forthcoming in 2028. Previous books include Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead (2021), Interesting Facts About Space (2024), and the poetry collection, Gay Girl Prayers (2024), all of which have garnered her various accolades. Her writing centres lesbian and queer characters and explores themes of mental health and neurodivergence. She was born in St. Thomas, Ontario, and has a background in libraries and information architecture.
This Fall term, Emily will be teaching a “Writing the Novel” capstone undergraduate fiction workshop (ENG 4397, Thursdays at 7PM) and hosting office hours (at 324 Hamelin—hours below). Ahead of starting her tenure with the department, Emily joined the department’s Writers in Residence podcast and spoke with two of our newly minted Creative Writing graduate students, Grace Wildman and Katrina Wilcox.
Emily shared how she struggled with writing and dyslexia in grade school, and how being a writer seemed like an impossibility. “I always thought I was bad at writing, but I had a really nice English teacher in grade nine who was very encouraging. So, once I got into high school, I started to think, ‘Oh, I'd love to be a writer.’ But it always felt like a pipe dream.”
Looking ahead, Emily is excited to teach a novel writing course. “I have had a few opportunities now as a writer to work with younger people who are interested in being writers and I find that really fulfilling. I wrote my first novel, Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead, thinking no one else would ever read it, but it would be fun to try. It might be because of my own experience in that way, where I was not very confident in my own writing and I knew how helpful it was to have someone give confidence to me and to encourage me and help me, so I would love to do that in some small way for folks.”
When asked about her plan for the course, Emily shared that her previous experience teaching at Algonquin College and Carleton University had prepared her well for the administrative side of course development, but that this would be her first time teaching creative writing. “In my first class, I want to ask the students what they're hoping to get out of it, and to be very receptive to what people want to learn.”
Emily also discusses how she queried a literary agent, her approach to social media, and how she handles feedback.
Drop by 324 Hamelin today to talk to Emily about writing/reading poetry & fiction, submitting and getting published, getting an agent, working with editors & publishers, developing a writing practice, and other writing matters. Students may submit to Emily, for discussion, up to 20 pages of prose or poetry consisting of only personal work (i.e. cannot submit current classwork or writing being done for a grade; writing from previous classes are exempt).
Office hours: Tuesdays 4-5PM & Thursdays 5:30-6:30PM