Théodora Armstrong

“This book reminds us that we are powerless, that life is fragile, and that it is a great pleasure to emerge from each moment alive.”

—David Huebert, Clear Skies, No Wind, 100% Visibility in Lemon Hound

Praise for Welcome to Sunny Town

“Welcome to Sunny Town brought back a flood of memories for me, both poignant and funny, of my own time as an ESL teacher in Japan a million years ago. The world has changed, but the human heart has not, and Théodora Armstrong perfectly captures that in-between existence of expats adrift: the lonely friendships and frenetic love affairs, the lives that intertwine like contrails in an empty sky. An exceptionally nuanced novel.”

—Will Ferguson, author the Japanese based mystery, Office Shimada and the Disappearing Girl

“Set in the unsettled days of the new millennium, Welcome to Sunny Town follows a group of young English teachers as they navigate each other amidst the dimly lit side streets and glowing neon nights of Japan. This is chronicle of a feeling: that formative loneliness of new freedom, of being forged from an alloy of life and fate, of being a stranger in a place of fellow strangers. Armstrong gives us a generous novel, a heartfelt guidebook for that foggy, liminal place where we struggle to find ourselves, rail against becoming some unwanted inevitable, and eventually find that place within, where we are. This is the best kind of fiction, honest and open, a gift to the reader.”

—Bradley Somer, award winning author of Fishbowl and We Are All of Us Left Behind.

Praise for Clear Skies, No Wind, 100% Visibility

“Théodora Armstrong’s debut collection launches House of Anansi Press’s new short-fiction imprint, Astoria in impressive fashion. This is a writer to watch, and a book not to be missed…These darkly intimate and subtly heartbreaking pieces are pure pleasure to read. Armstrong is an electrifying new voice on the short fiction scene.”

—Steve Madden, starred review in Quill and Quire

“Théodora Armstrong’s first collection of striking, realist stories, Clear Skies, No Wind, 100% Visibility, is an exceptional debut.”

—Zoe Whitall, The Globe and Mail

“Armstrong’s tales are indeed satisfying; the book is delicious from start to finish. In fact, when I ran out of books on a weeklong holiday recently, I was quite content to read some of Armstrong’s stories twice or three times…Her gritty realism and rich, crisp prose have been compared to that of Raymond Carver and Flannery O’Connor. High praise indeed. Clear Skies is the kind of collection that leaves you satisfied, but wanting more.”

—Michelle Lalonde, Montreal Gazette

“Armstrong’s themes of agency and inevitability are distilled to their essence and given another ironic twist, and her typically spare language is honed to a fine edge.”

—Steven Beattie, The National Post

“There isn’t a weak story in the bunch. Armstrong creates complex, multi-layered stories that vibrate with characters to whom you want to listen, or follow, or observe. You want to go along for the ride—right to the end. I do not know what more any reader can ask of a writer. Highly recommend.”

—Thomas Trofimuk, The Winnepeg Review

“A worthwhile, well-honed collection that’s probing and nuanced. Clear Skies, No Wind, 100% Visibility also highlights an author whose regional scope ought to be appreciated well past the borders of British Columbia.”

—Brett Josef Grubisic, The Vancouver Sun

“These fresh, edgy, unflinching stories about contemporary life on the urban and rural West Coast will resonate with readers at all stages of life: parents watching their children grow up too quickly, young couples starting families, brothers and sisters at crossroads in life coping with the fraying adulthood brings to childhood bonds.”

—Christine Mazur, Winnipeg Free Press