For five years, we supported and encouraged one another while we wrote our debut novels, found agents, and attracted publishers. All three of our novels have now been published, Jen's The End of East (Knopf), Mary's Conceit (Doubleday), and June's Underground (Cormorant). As Quill & Quire said, "If sports analogies have a place in the literary world, this month's publication of June Hutton's debut novel, Underground, represents a hat trick of sorts. Hutton is the third member of an informal Vancouver writing group to release a novel over the past two years--and since the group has only three members, it's now batting a thousand."

Now, we have more reason than ever to celebrate. June's Underground was nominated for the Ontario Library Association Evergreen Award and June has a second novel well underway. Jen has two works of fiction coming out in 2011: the young adult novel, Shelter (Annick Press, January), and the adult novel The Better Mother (Knopf, June). Mary's Conceit has just been voted one of Canada Reads' Top 40 Essential Canadian Novels of the Decade; her new novel, Muse, will be published by Doubleday in 2012.

We are still together after eight years, meeting regularly and supporting one another as we work on a variety of new projects. We love to appear in festivals and events and welcome the opportunity to meet readers and talk to emerging writers.

For more about each of us and links to our individual websites, where you'll find blogs, reviews, and other information, click on June Hutton, Jen Sookfong Lee, or Mary Novik.

For our events, activities, and recent news, click on News & Events. For articles about SPiN in Quill & Quire, The Globe and Mail, and other publications, see Highlights.

We hope that you'll enjoy reading our novels and come out to meet us at events!

Sincerely,
June, Jen, and Mary