Meet Peter Vronsky, Writer in Residence

August 17, 2017 | TPL Staff

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Peter Vronsky

Meet Peter Vronsky, investigative historian, Toronto Public Library's Fall 2017 Writer in Residence

He is the author of Ridgeway: The American Fenian Invasion and the 1866 Battle That Made Canada; Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters; Female Serial Killers: How and Why Women Become Monsters; Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka: The Ken & Barbie Killers, and Times Square Torso Ripper: True Story of Serial Killer Richard Cottingham.

 

RidgewayCover 2

    Serial Killers

    Female Serial Killers

The third volume in his history of serial homicide, Sons of Cain: A History of Serial Killers from the Stone Age to the Present, is scheduled to be released by Penguin Random House – Berkley Books in August 2018.

Peter Vronsky worked as an investigative documentary television producer in Canada and overseas for twenty-five years and recently earned a Ph.d. in history at University of Toronto in the fields of criminal justice history and the history of espionage in international relations. He teaches the history of espionage and international relations at Ryerson University.

During his residency at the library, Peter will be working on two new books, Toronto Blue: Power and Community and the History of the Toronto Police, 1834-2017 and an illustrated album, Toronto Notorious: Historical Crime Scene Photos From the Files of the Toronto Police.  

Toronto Notorius and Toronto Blue Book Covers

Meet Peter Vronsky on Thursday, October 12 at 7pm in the Atrium of Toronto Reference Library.

Attend one or both of his workshops in the Hinton Learning Theatre at the Toronto Reference Library: Writing Local History: Between Fact and Fiction, on Saturday, October 21 at 2pm in the Hinton Learning Theatre and From Author to Indie Publisher: Navigating the New World of Writing and Selling [Books], on Saturday, November 25 at 2pm in the Hinton Learning Theatre. Finally, join us on Thursday, November 23 at 6pm in the Atrium of Toronto Reference Library, for Toronto Crime as Local History: Writing Historical Crime Books, a panel discussion bringing together several Canadian authors (Nate Hendley, Robert J. Hoshowsky, and Lee Mellor) who have written or are working on local criminal history in Toronto to discuss the challenges of writing in this genre. 

Nate Hendley

Nate Hendley is a Toronto-based author who has written a series of true crime books. These include a book about Edwin Alonzo Boyd, leader of the bank-robbing Boyd Gang that terrorized Toronto in the 1950s and an upcoming book about a murder on the CNE grounds that led to the wrongful conviction of a Toronto teenager. His other works include The Big Con: Great Hoaxes, Frauds, Grifts and Swindles in American History, The Mafia: A Guide to an American Subculture and Steven Truscott: Decades of Injustice. Nate’s website offers more details about his professional and personal background.

Robert J. Hoshowsky

Robert J. Hoshowsky is the author of the controversial True Crime books The Last to Die: Ronald Turpin, Arthur Lucas, and the End of Capital Punishment in Canada, and Unsolved: True Canadian Cold Cases. Published in over 100 magazines and newspapers worldwide, Hoshowsky has profiled serial killers including Jeffrey Dahmer, John Christie, Leonard Lake and Charles Ng, Sheila Labarre, and Andrei Chikatilo. A former Researcher-Reporter at Maclean’s,  Hoshowsky regularly appears on television discussing unsolved murders and disappearances. Presently working as an on-camera expert for a True Crime series in production, his latest book – on the infamous murder of Shoeshine Boy Emanuel Jaques – will be published this fall.

Lee Mellor 1

Lee Mellor, Ph.D (abd) is an Anglo-Canadian writer, investigative criminologist, and chair of the academic committee for the American Investigative Society of Cold Cases (AISOCC).  As a criminal profiler, he has consulted with police on unsolved homicides in London, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Missouri. Lee is the author of Cold North Killers , the authoritative work on Canadian serial murder, and is an expert on the topic of necrophilia. His other writings include Rampage: Canadian Mass Murder and Spree Killing, Homicide: A Forensic Psychology Casebook, Understanding Necrophilia, and The Crime Book: Big Ideas, Simply Explained.

Call for Manuscript Submissions

Manuscripts will be accepted from Tuesday, September 5, 2017 to Thursday, October 5, 2017.

Writers of non-fiction history or true crime are invited to submit manuscripts for review and feedback.

The Writer in Residence will meet with the first 20 authors whose manuscript submissions satisfy the requirements below.

We regret that the Writer in Residence may not be able to meet with everyone who submits a manuscript.

Meetings with the Writer in Residence are by appointment only.

Manuscripts submission requirements:

For non-fiction history or true crime submit only one piece, up to 4,000 words or 16 typed pages, double-spaced, 12 pt Times New Roman, single-sided. Include a cover page with your name, address, email, and telephone number.

Material submitted will not be returned so please do not submit originals.

Mail or bring to:

Writer in Residence – c/o Toronto Reference Library
Languages & Literature Department, (4th Floor)
789 Yonge Street
Toronto, ON
M4W 2G8

Or email your submission to: [email protected]

For more information, please call 416-393-7085

Authors and writers working on projects are encouraged to apply for access to the The Writer’s Room at Toronto Reference Library. Equipped with four desks, lots of outlets, Wi-Fi and a lounge, this creative space offers a quiet and convenient place to work with ready access to the Reference Library collections and to librarians for research support.

Download WIR Peter Vronsky Brochure Fall 2017.

Download WIR Peter Vronsky flyers.

Find out more on our Writer in Residence page.

Revised October 4, 2017.

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