Ten writers have made our 2020 Poetry Contest Shortlist.
Reading Room
Thoughts on Community
I think of all the times as a child my mother has sent me over to the neighbour’s with a bag of garlic, when they asked for just a clove. These acts of care, mercy, and consideration have been happening under society’s collective radar.
Poetry Contest 2020: The Longlist
Here they are: the sixteen longlisted poems from our 2020 Poetry Contest!
Sense of Touch
Chia buồn is how one expresses condolences in Vietnamese. Instead of my thoughts are with you or sorry for your loss, the term literally means to divide (chia) sadness (buồn). If only I could have invited others to hold pieces of my shattered heart when Ông Nội died...
I Can’t Get You Out of My Mind
Marianne Apostolides Book*hug Press, 363 pages, $23.00, 2020 Marianne Apostolides delves into the philosophical writings of J.L. Austin and Jacques Derrida in the first few pages of her ambitious novel on what it means to say “I love you”—a universal utterance that is...
A Hundred Unions
For their tenth wedding anniversary, Robin and Yu’en planned a small gathering at The Peony, the Chinese restaurant at the Imperial Club. Nothing extravagant. The first of October fell on mid-autumn, the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, an auspicious day for...
I Overcame My Autism and All I Got Was This Lousy Anxiety Disorder: A Memoir
Douglas & McIntyre, 223 pages, $24.95 2020 In her memoir, I Overcame My Autism and All I Got Was This Lousy Anxiety Disorder, Sarah Kurchak takes us through her step-by-step process for navigating an autistic life. Raised in the Niagara Region, school posed a...
Breathe In Your Surroundings
Someone has cut the brakes on modern life. Car doors slam and trolleys scramble. The lips and nose of strangers are covered by a blue screen. Behind closed doors the bombardment of news stories causes the heart to panic. It feels as though the ground has been pulled...
I didn’t want to be read / I wanted / to be believed in
I didn’t want to be read / I wanted / to be believed in, by Steffi Tad-y, Frog Hollow Press, 25 pages, $15.00, 2020 The thirteenth chapbook published as part of Frog Hollow Press’s Dis/Ability Series, Steffi Tad-y’s I didn’t want to be read / I wanted / to be believed...
Fesenjoon
Traditional Iranian dishes take hours to make. Each family has their own recipes and preferences passed down from previous generations experimenting in the kitchen, but I did not grow up in a culture that allowed for time to be spent making food, unless you were...
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