Leslie Vryenhoek
Writer & Editor
Reviews, Awards & Accolades
Reviews
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"Even once you’ve read the last page, you’re still enthralled ... hoping there’s more book to read because you’re not ready to say goodbye to the characters… "
~ The Minerva Reader's review of We All Will Be Received
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"Vryenhoek's prose is bright and accessible, the novel fast-paced and compelling,
and there is a startling originality to all of it."
~ Kerry Clare's review of Ledger of the Open Hand at Pickle Me This
"Leslie Vryenhoek's spare, elegant prose entertains, shocks and surprises."
~ Joan Clark, author of An Audience of Chairs
"Ledger of the Open Hand succeeds in its page-turning persuasiveness."
~ Carlyn Schellenberg, The Winnipeg Review
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Awards & Nominations
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Winner, best suspense novel 2019, Next Generation Indie Book Awards (international) We All Will Be Received
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Longlisted, International DUBLIN Literary Award (2017) for Ledger of the Open Hand
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Finalist, Winterset Award (2016) for Ledger of the Open Hand
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Silver medal from the Independent Publisher Book Awards for Ledger of the Open Hand
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Finalist, Gerald Lampert Award for Gulf, 2012
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Winner, Newfoundland and Labrador Arts and Letters award 2010, senior fiction
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Winner, Winston Collins/Descant Prize for Best Canadian Poem, February 2010
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Winner, Geist's Fortune Cookie contest, 2009
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Winner, 2007 Eden Mills Festival Literary Competition (fiction)
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Winner, Cahoots magazine first fiction competition, 2007
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Winner, Dalton Camp Award (national essay competition) 2003
"The writing ... is flowing and descriptive, with some images so beautiful you know they've come from the mind of a serious wordsmith."
Kerri Cull, The Overcast
"Some authors show you well-rounded lives in their stories; Leslie Vryenhoek takes you inside the skin."
Samuel Thomas Martin
"I stopped breathing. Shocked, without a trace of cheap thrill. Then I felt only gratitude for the creative leap."
Jim Bartley, Globe and Mail
"With Scrabble Lessons, Leslie Vryenhoek becomes a new literary voice that's helping to revitalize the Canadian short story."