About
Ottawa · Trinidad · French Canada
Sacha Bissonnette is an Afro-Trinidadian, French Canadian short story writer from Ottawa, Canada.
His work has been nominated three times for Best Small Fictions and twice for the Pushcart Prize. His story “How We Were Fiction” placed third in the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Competition, and his stories “The House Across the Street” and “Katie Says” were selected for the Wigleaf Top 50 in 2023 and 2024.
His fiction has appeared in Witness Magazine, The Baltimore Review, Wigleaf, SmokeLong Quarterly, Lunch Ticket, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Trampset, Terrain, Ghost Parachute and others.
He was selected for the 2024 Sundress Publications Residency and, chosen by Pam Houston, won the 2024 Faulkner Gulf Coast Residency. He will be an artist in residence at the Napoule Art Foundation in November 2026 and at the La Baldi Residency in Montegiovi, Italy, in April 2027. He is a reader for the Wigleaf Top 50.
He is working on his first novel, set mostly in Ottawa, alongside a short fiction collection and a comic book adaptation of one of his stories. His projects are supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council and the City of Ottawa. He loves film, travel and comfort food.
Honours & Residencies
[ Prizes ]
- 2024Wigleaf Top 50 — “Katie Says”
- 2023Wigleaf Top 50 — “The House Across the Street”
- 2023Pushcart Prize nomination — “How We Were Fiction”
- 2023Best Small Fictions nomination — “The House Across the Street”
- 2022Pushcart Prize nomination — “Glass Birds”
- 2022Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Competition, third place — “How We Were Fiction”
- Wigleaf Top 50 longlist — “Glass Birds”
- Mythic Picnic Short Fiction Prize, finalist — “Glass Birds”
- Best Small Fictions nomination — “Breath Play”
- Carleton University Poetry Competition, honourable mention — “Acheron”
[ Residencies ]
- 2027La Baldi Residency, Montegiovi, Italy (April) Upcoming
- 2026Napoule Art Foundation, artist in residence (November) Upcoming
- 2024Faulkner Gulf Coast Residency — winner, selected by Pam Houston
- 2024Sundress Publications Residency
[ Grants ]
- 2022Career Catalyst Grant, New Generation Artist
- 2021Canada Council for the Arts — research and creation grant for a short fiction collection
- 2021Ontario Arts Council grant
- 2021City of Ottawa Youth and Culture Grant
[ Mentorships ]
- Writers’ Union of Canada BIPOC Mentorship Program
- Arc Poetry Magazine Mentorship Program
- Diaspora Dialogue Short Form Mentorship Program
[ Roles ]
- Reader, Wigleaf Top 50
Press Kit
For editors, festivals and event hosts. Copy the bio that fits.
[ Medium bio ]
Sacha Bissonnette is a writer from Ottawa, Canada. His fiction has appeared in Witness, The Baltimore Review, Wigleaf, SmokeLong Quarterly, EQMM and Terrain. He has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best Small Fictions, twice selected for the Wigleaf Top 50, and is a reader for Wigleaf Top 50. In 2024 he was selected for the Sundress Publications Residency and won the Faulkner Gulf Coast Residency. He will join the Napoule Art Foundation as an artist in residence in November 2026.
[ Long bio ]
Sacha Bissonnette is an Afro-Trinidadian, French Canadian short story writer from Ottawa, Canada. His work has been nominated three times for Best Small Fictions and twice for the Pushcart Prize. His story “How We Were Fiction” placed third in the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Competition, and his stories “The House Across the Street” and “Katie Says” were selected for the Wigleaf Top 50 in 2023 and 2024. His fiction has appeared in Witness Magazine, The Baltimore Review, Wigleaf, SmokeLong Quarterly, Lunch Ticket, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Trampset, Terrain, Ghost Parachute and others. He was selected for the 2024 Sundress Publications Residency and, chosen by Pam Houston, won the 2024 Faulkner Gulf Coast Residency. He will be an artist in residence at the Napoule Art Foundation in November 2026 and at the La Baldi Residency in Montegiovi, Italy, in April 2027. He is a reader for the Wigleaf Top 50. He is working on his first novel, set mostly in Ottawa, alongside a short fiction collection and a comic book adaptation of one of his stories. His projects are supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council and the City of Ottawa. He loves film, travel and comfort food.
[ Author photos ]
- Headshot, black & white 802 × 1030 px, JPG
- Headshot, colour 1557 × 2000 px, JPG
Free to use with his bio, interviews and event listings.
Interviews
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“Just sit down and write, the rest will figure itself out.”
Q&A: Sacha Bissonnette on finding fiction in everyday Ottawa (opens in a new tab)