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The Novella, a most undeservedly underrated literary form in English North America, has found a home at Quattro Books. The publishing vision of Quattro Books includes the development, production and promotion of the Literary Novella written in English as well the Literary Novella translated from other languages into English.

Among many pejorative descriptions, the novella in North America is as almost invariably deemed “unpublishable in nature, too long for a magazine and too short for book publishing.” We at Quattro Books believe, on the contrary, that the novella is the perfect literary form for book publishing for the following reasons:

It’s short, up to a 6-hour read, and fits in quite well with the lifestyle of the modern reader who wants compact literature of great quality.

A literary novella, thematically driven to explore serious and often dark and difficult issues, could become too depressing or lose its impact if produced as a long novel. If overlong, a humourous or satirical work also tends to wear thin.

Novellas in translations offer readers a bite-size introduction to a foreign author, a foreign culture and sensibility. It is a small investment for the potential discovery of hidden gems in cultures throughout the world.

It is cost effective for a publisher and can be priced accordingly. It is affordable for the reader.

It allows a publisher to produce more authors and to offer greater diversity of narratives.

It saves trees and reduces a publisher’s carbon footprint.

The history of literatures is filled with examples of masterful and influential writing that has come under the format of the novella. It is a genre that sustains literature.

It is the perfect length to use as a teaching tool for literature within the educational system, at both the undergraduate and post-graduate levels.

Filmmakers like to mine literary novellas in order to turn them into films.

The novella affords the author the opportunity to experiment with style and content without investing too much time on any one project. It takes much less time to finish and edit a novella.

As such, Quattro Books wants to encourage writers to write novellas, publishers to publish novellas, bookstores to stock novellas, and readers to read novellas.

Quattro books proposes a manifesto to define and create a unique literary movement, that of the Canadian Literary Novella (named Six). The six simple points in this manifesto must apply to every novella that is to be labelled Six.

It cannot be one word less than 15,000 words and not one word more than 42,000 words. It cannot be shorter than 60 pages or longer than 150 pages.

At least two-thirds of the narrative must take place within the shortest time frame possible, not to exceed two weeks, while up to a third may take place outside of this framework.

There should not be more than two principal characters.

The setting should have one primary location for 2/3 of the novella.

In Aristotelian terms, either a reversal of fortune or a revelation/realization must be the implied themes, whereby a twist (Peripeteia) or an epiphany (Anagnôrisis) occurs near the end of the narrative. It is a narrative that draws heavily on a geographical and cultural landscape, real or imagined, or on the concept of a journey, physical or metaphysical, to carry it. It must be of a form and content that excites and surprises while exploring the underbelly or fringe of civilisation where savage instincts and/or extreme otherness lie hidden.

It must be literary (not “genre”) fiction written by a Canadian and must include a Canadian reference within setting, plot or character.

If the novella, written in English or in French, follows the above 6 rules, it can be labelled Six, A Canadian Novella/ Une Nouvelle Canadienne, and stamped by its publishers with the following or a yet to be designed identifiable logo. A publisher will be free to decide if a title in their forthcoming publishing list is a Six and worthy of the Six label. We simply ask that you let Quattro know so that we can keep a list of all novellas labelled as Six. Quattro Books believes that the above manifesto will enhance the image of the novella in Canada, as well as give an identifiable personality and set of characteristics to a particular type of literary novella that is uniquely Canadian. Writers can use the manifesto to motivate themselves to write a novella, while publishers and bookstores can use the image as a marketing tool.

The Canadian Novella is called Six because six is the perfect number, and we at Quattro Books feel that the novella reflects this perfection. Six is the first perfect number equal to the sum of its aliquot (a proper quotient, such as 6 = 1 + 2 + 3) parts. There are only 39 known perfect numbers, the largest being 288. Although Euclid’s Elements, written around 300 BC, recorded perfect numbers, it was Nicomachus of Gerasa, around 100 AD, who declared that superabundant numbers (ones having the property that the sum of the aliquot parts are greater than the number) – are too much, producing excess, superfluity and abuse. If such a number were an animal it would have ten mouths, or nine lips, three lines of teeth or a hundred arms. Nicomachuscould just as well be referring to the long novel here. At the other extreme, of too little, he could have been referring to the short story as well when he wrote that deficient numbers (the sum of whose aliquot parts are less than the number) produce too little, wanting, defaults, privations and insufficiencies. If it were an animal,a deficient number would have a single eye, one hand or only five fingers or no tongue. In the case of perfect numbers like Six, however,–and this could be applied to the novella – Nicomachus found that between the too much and the too little, virtue, just measure, propriety, and beauty is produced.

Each year two prizes of $500 will be awarded for the best novella in the Six genre; one for a novella written in English and one for a novella written in French.

Summer Novella Challenge. Read 6 novellas between June 1st and October 1st, tell us what novellas you have read, and which you liked the most. As a reward, you can choose any novellas from Quattro’s publishing list and we will send you a free copy.

Winter Novella Challenge. Read 6 novellas between December 1st and March 1st, tell us what novellas you have read, and which you liked the most. As a reward, you can choose any novellas from Quattro’s publishing list and we will send you a free copy.