John Van Rys

John Van Rys lives on a hobby farm outside Dunnville, Ontario, with his wife April, dogs, cats, horses, Cayuga ducks, and free-run egg-laying hens, as well as two of his adult children, their partners, two granddaughters—and, just to keep things interesting, his mother-in-law. He’s had short stories published in The New Quarterly, The Dalhousie Review, Agnes and True, Blank Spaces, and Solum Literary Journal. His story “Excavations” won the 2022 Prairie Fire MRB Short Fiction Contest. His first book-length collection, the story cycle Moonshine Promises, was published in 2021 by Wipf and Stock—a collection of stories about Evan and Mae Mulder, comic tales with a dash of domestic drama thrown in. His debut novel, Milksop, will be published in spring 2026 by Chicken House Press.

With a Ph.D. from Dalhousie University and an M.A. and Honours B.A. from Western University, Van Rys taught composition, business writing, creative writing, and literature to university students for more than 35 years until his retirement in 2025. As part of a writing team, he's published writing handbooks for students from middle school to college. He has also has co-authored an award-winning business-writing handbook for workplace professionals, Write for Business, with UpWrite Press.