The Anthology Journey, Part 7: Out of the Woods and Into Your Hands

The books have arrived!! 

Donna, who is usually conservative and proper about not overusing exclamation marks, allowed the excitement (and relief) to shoot out over the ether to the team. We were ready for launch night.

Tuesday, June 3, 2025 arrived and Brenda, along with her sister and husband, arrived early to the Portuguese Club of London to set up balloons, banners, sparkly table décor and signs indicating where to pick up merchandise. Donna’s crew, including her husband and grandsons, got to work “tote stuffing” and organizing payment and book placement stations, while I worked on microphone checks and miscellaneous details. Anne, the final member of the ‘A-team’ as the anthology committee was known, was unable to attend the launch, but she remained engaged via email with the team, offering support and sharing her brilliant insights. 

With one last lipstick touch-up, the doors opened and the guests, finalists, sponsors, first reader judges and Emma Donoghue herself arrived. (To us, she seemed like royalty.) The buffet was laid out (exceeding our promise of “light refreshments”) with meat and cheese platters, sandwiches, fresh fruit, Portuguese tarts, and slices of chocolate and cheese cake—yummy! When the audience settled in, Donna opened the evening to greet our guests and then introduced me as the M.C. 

In that role, I had the wonderful task of thanking the London Arts Council, our sponsors, the first reader judges, editor Heather Godden, and the A-team. I also had the distinct pleasure of introducing Emma Donoghue who gave a thoughtful and inspiring speech. At one point she observed, “This is not just a book, it’s actually a community, and I want to congratulate not just those of you whose pieces made the final cut, but all those on the longlist, the wider pool of Londoners who submitted their writing, and the huge sea of Londoners who are writing.” 

Three of our finalists read excerpts of their work in the anthology: Jeff Orchard (nonfiction), Dominique Millette (fiction), and Brenda Martin (poetry). The crowd was hushed as these three writers read their varied pieces, clapping, laughing, and reflecting at all the right moments. 

The presentation portion of the evening concluded with an excerpt from Terry Fallis’s brilliant foreword. I then read each finalist’s name out to applause and cheers as we gathered at the front of the stage where Rebecca Hamilton, our photographer, took a group shot of the finalists with Emma Donoghue. Then, of course, it was time to party! How wonderful to finally put faces and personalities to the words on the page. We laughed, ate, made merry, ate some more, and shared literary tales until the time came to say goodnight.

In the days that followed, the A-team sent press releases with photos and quotes from the evening to various news outlets. (Oh, did you think I was going to say we took some time off to rest? Nope!) Anne, with her bookselling background, drafted a query letter and we wasted no time getting the anthology into as many local bookstores as possible. 

CBC London was incredibly supportive post-launch. They invited me to speak about the anthology on the morning show with Andrew Brown, bright and early the day after the launch. A few days later, they posted an excellent article about the anthology on their website.  

Tuckey Home Hardware in Wortley Village—also a sponsor of the anthology—was the first local store to carry the anthology in their “local author section” and I’m thrilled to report that they’ve already sold out five times!  

The full list of the more than a dozen independent bookstores is available on the LWS website. The anthology is also available online at Indigo, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and local libraries. Since the launch, we hit #1 in “most gifted book” in our category on Amazon, and the Globe and Mail selected the anthology as one of their “hot new reads” for more than six weeks in a row.  

To say that watching the positive reception of the anthology is “rewarding” would be a gross understatement. In the months after the launch, the anthology committee was busier than ever and we drew strength from our finalists and others who supported us by sending encouraging words, rallying to help sell books, reaching out to contacts, promoting the anthology, and sending those little social media hearts. 

For the members of the A-team, this project was a baptism of fire–none of us had ever produced an anthology before–and one in which the four of us were willing participants. We are fortunate to have such a collaborative team: we supported each other, complemented each other, happily worked together. Even when we disagreed, we were able to quickly resolve differences of opinion through compromise and the willingness to listen to each other’s point of view. 

In the anthology introduction, I mentioned that each A-team member is an astrological air sign, a fact that helped make communication seamless. Maybe it sounds ‘woo-woo,’ but the way the four of us worked together to create this anthology is enough to make even the most die-hard skeptic believe in Star Signs! 

For me, being chair of the anthology committee has been an honour and a privilege and I’m so grateful to each and every person who came together to make this project possible. London Writers Society, this is our book—ahem, our first book—and we should all be extremely proud. 

The End

  Martha Morrison is honoured to have served as Chair of the Anthology Committee for the London Writers Society’s inaugural anthology project Out of the Woods. She holds a BSc in Biochemistry and an MFA in Creative Nonfiction writing. Her work has been published in various literary anthologies and she was shortlisted for the International Amy MacRae Award for Memoir. Her previous careers include flight attendant and professional ballroom dance instructor. Martha lives on a farm outside London with her family, dogs, cats and chickens. Most days, she gets up before the rooster (and the kids) to write in the quiet early mornings.