Zak Jones

Zak Jones is a writer, teacher, labor organizer, and United States Army veteran. A dual citizen living in Toronto, his writing has appeared in Vallum Magazine, PRISM international, The Ex-Puritan, and elsewhere. His short story, “So Much More to Say,” won the Writers’ Trust of Canada’s 2023 Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers, and his story, “Love Handles” won the 2023 Norma Epstein National Award.

Zak is the author of the forthcoming novels FANCY GAP (Penguin 2025) and A KIND OF TEMPERED GLORY (Penguin 2027)

Jones holds an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Toronto and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of English. His SSHRC-funded doctoral research examines “bad veteran” narratives and their outsized role in American cultural and psychic faultlines post-WWII.

List of Publications

• FANCY GAP: a Novel - Forthcoming Fall 2025, Penguin Canada
• A KIND OF TEMPERED GLORY - Forthcoming Spring 2027, Penguin Canada
• Vallum Contemporary Poetry (Online) – “Mutations” 2023
• Vallum Contemporary Poetry (Print) – “No Photos of Ralph” 2022
• tba (Western University’s Grad Journal) – “Sweet Return” and “Navel-Gazing” 2022
• Bad Nudes Anthology – “Grandfather Dying” 2019
• Hart House Review: Centennial Edition – “Coming to Christ” and “Saw the Mama” 2019
• Half a Grapefruit Magazine – “Three Poems,” 2019
• The Ex-Puritan Magazine – “Signpost” 2019
• TRANSverse Journal: (Comp. Lit., UofT) – “Knocking Weather” 2019
• The Lamp (Queens U) – “Screens: The World is Worse off Without National Geographic” 2019
• Palimpsest: Yale University’s Graduate Literary Arts Journal – “Colt” 2019
• Bad Nudes Issue 3.4 – “Three Poems” 2019
• PRISM International (University of British Columbia) – “Tidal” 2019
• Fieldstone Review (U. Saskatchewan) – “Kiremit Çaddesi, Balat, Istanbul: June 2015” 2019
• Echolocation (UofT Graduate English) – “Janey’s Boy Comes Home After a Stint in the Army” 2018
• DRAFT Toronto Reading Series Podcast – “Two Poems” (Available: Apple Podcasts) 2018
• Milkweed Zine, Issue IV – “Opening Up” 2018
• Hart House Review (University of Toronto), Winter Supplement – “Chagall’s Lovers” 2018
• Acta Victoriana (University of Toronto), Issue 142.1 – “Just Saw the Truck” 2018
• Half a Grapefruit Magazine – “Ruly: Talking to Somebody, Un” 2018