A short story a day to keep your inner Grinch at bay.

Spruce up your festive traditions this year and leave fighting over who gets the big Santa-shaped chocolate to the kids. That’s right: feed your brain and not your sweet tooth with this super smart advent calendar designed to fill you with good ideas instead of bad candy. Yes, the Short Story Advent Calendar, from Edmonton-based publisher Hingston and Olsen, is back with a literary feast to sharpen your word chops and make the dark days of December sparkle with imaginary worlds. 

How It Works

Each beautifully designed box contains 25 individually dated and wrapped tales, many of which have never been seen in print before. This year’s collection includes stories from eight different countries, and authors include Sara Levine (Treasure Island!!!), Etgar Keret (Suddenly, A Knock On The Door), and R.O. Kwon (The Incendiaries). H&O are keeping the full list firmly under wraps—no peeking.Now in its fourth year, the Short Story Advent Calendar is a firm favourite of comedian Patton Oswalt, who has not only trumpeted its existence loudly on social media, but has curated two editions of the publisher’s Halloween-themed Ghost Box, filled with terrifying tales.

Where To Get One

You can order your calendar direct from the publisher ($55, plus shipping), or find it at select independent bookstores.

Alyssa Hirose

Alyssa Hirose

Alyssa Hirose is a Vancouver-based writer, editor, illustrator and comic artist. Her work has been featured in Vancouver magazine, Western Living, BCBusiness, Avenue, Serviette, Geist, BCLiving, Nuvo, Montecristo, The Georgia Straight and more. Her beats are food, travel, arts and culture, style, interior design and anything dog-related. She publishes a daily autobiographical comic on Instagram at @hialyssacomics.