Our 47th Annual 3-Day novel competition was fierce—so-much-so that we needed time for some additional consideration and debate! But we are finally ready to announce our top three finalists and winner.
Anvil Press and the 3-Day Novel Contest are delighted to announce the winner of the 47th annual 3-Day Novel Contest: Debt of the Heart by Nathalie De Los Santos!
Inspired by personal histories, Debt of the Heart is literary fiction that explores themes of friendship, cultural exchange, and the passage of time through the lens of a young man who shares a common love for cooking with his roommates.
Nathalie De Los Santos (NAT-uh-lee dee lohs SAHN-tohs) (she/they) is a writer and creative. She created PilipinxPages, a platform that features Filipinx authors. She was a fellow of the 2025 Lambda Literary Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices, where she workshopped her YA fantasy novel Diyosa Mata under the tutelage of Aiden Thomas. She is one of the key organizers of the Filipino-Canadian Book Festival. Her publications appear in Magdaragat: An Anthology of Filipino-Canadian Writing, The Globe and Mail, SAD Magazine, and more. She also hosts the Filipino Fairy Tales, Mythology, and Folklore podcast. Her current novel in progress, Bakunawa and the Seven Sisters, is being supported by the Canada Council of the Arts & BC Arts Council, and was shortlisted in Fractured Lit’s Ghost, Fable, and Fairy Tales Prize.
Runner-up: Everything Has Always Been Terrible by Tove Black!
Tove Black is a pen name for a writer, librarian, zine-maker, occasional singer-songwriter and mediocre guitar player, and former radio host, garage-punk band member, and music columnist. She is a previous 3rd-place finisher in the 3-Day Novel Contest, and has recently published short stories and creative non-fiction in subTerrain, Grain, the Off the Map anthology, and the Tahoma Review. Tove has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia, and lives in East Vancouver, on the unceded lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
In third place, Bethy, Darling by Katie Jordan!
When Katie isn’t reading or writing thrillers, she’s devouring crab puffs, hunting for the lobster truck, or snuggling in for family movie night. Her work has been featured in The No Sleep Podcast, The Fairy Tale Magazine, and Ghost Parachute, among others. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her outdoor enthusiast husband and three children. Find her online at authorkatiejordan.com.
We are so pleased to be publishing Nathalie’s’s novel in Winter 2027! Congratulations to all the finalists, and to everyone who completed a novel in 2024.
Judging is continuing on our 2025 contest, and we will be endeavouring to be announcing the winners ahead of the 2026 contest—the 2026 International 3-Day Novel Contest will happen Saturday, September 5 to Monday, September 5. Early Bird Registration closes July 31st!