Galloway success disappeared ‘almost overnight’ following assault claims: publisher

Galloway, the former chair of creative writing at the university in Vancouver, denies the allegations, which emerged in late 2015.

He is suing his accuser, known as A.B., whose assault claims were found unsubstantiated by a former judge, and other defendants, alleging they defamed him by publishing the unproven allegations online and elsewhere.

The court has previously heard from Galloway’s literary agent, Henry Dunow, who testified the allegations resulted in the cancellation of a $100,000 contract for a three-novel series Galloway pitched about a ventriloquist detective.

Dennys said Tuesday the publisher had signed the contract after Mary Ellen Boyd, the retired judged hired by the university to look into the allegations against Galloway, completed her probe and found the assault claims unsubstantiated.

Boyd’s report, which wasn’t made public, gave the publisher “the hope that the thing would die away completely now, because (Boyd) had indicated that there were no grounds for substantiating a rape,” Dennys said.

But the allegations didn’t cease, she said.

“We held in for two years waiting for things to pass, but in 2018, we eventually put it on hold, the (detective) series, because Steven indicated to us that he simply did not, trauma had been so great, that he certainly didn’t have the ability to write.”

Dennys said it was “one of the most heartbreaking things” she’d heard as a publisher.

Under cross-examination, Sydney Gomez, counsel for A.B., showed Dennys a chart that she said showed declining sales of “The Cellist of Sarajevo” predating the allegations.

But there was confusion over the way the figures were laid out, and Dennys said they didn’t match her recollection of the book that sold more than 130,000 copies in Canada.

Dennys also disagreed with the assertion from Gomez that the publisher expected “The Confabulist” to perform as well as its predecessor, saying it was common for successful authors to explore new creative possibilities.

Several people originally named as defendants in the lawsuit filed in 2018 have settled with Galloway and offered public apologies.

The court learned earlier this month that A.B. was no longer asserting in her defence that Galloway assaulted her, rather that she reported he had done so.

The woman, whose name is under a publication ban, is not testifying in the case, citing mental health struggles.

Galloway was fired by the university and has said the claims destroyed his career.

His lawyer, Dan Burnett, has sought to establish Galloway as a young author who was just getting started on the heels of the success of “The Cellist of Sarajevo,” when the allegations derailed that trajectory and destroyed his earning potential.

The case has drawn intense attention in the Canadian literary scene.

A group of authors, including Margaret Atwood, signed an open letter in November 2016 calling for an investigation into how the university handled Galloway’s case.

The court has previously heard A.B. was a former student who was older than Galloway and they had a two-year affair, which he has said ended in 2013.

A.B.’s former husband testified last week, called as a witness by Galloway’s lawyers.

Atwood has recently penned opinion articles supporting Galloway, writing in The Globe and Mail that testimony from A.B.’s ex-husband saying he was exchanging text messages with A.B. about a hockey game at the time of her alleged 2011 rape in Galloway’s office, was like the “Aha!” moment in a Sherlock Holmes novel.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 27, 2026.

Brenna Owen, The Canadian Press

by The Canadian Press

Galloway success disappeared ‘almost overnight’ following assault claims: publisher

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