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What is our relationship to the land on which we live? What is our relationship to our family? I’ve reflected a lot about these questions in my writing. Many writers have and will continue to explore them, but one book in particular that left me dwelling on how I’ve lived with these questions is Blood Belies (Wolsack and Wynn, 2024) from poet Ellen Chiang-Richardson (who was also my mentor for the 2025 TWUC BIPOC Writers Connect conference).

I’ve been reading a lot of contemporary sonnets and am a bit in love with their surprising manifestations, their intricate weaves, their speed and motion.

Last year, we began the process of creating a digital version of The Fiddlehead with Exact Editions, and we are excited to now have that digital version of the magazine available! 

The Fiddlehead has joined Canadian literary magazines Brick and The Capilano Review on the platform!

Back issues of the magazine are also included going back to 2018 (with more to come). You can purchase a subscription for $22.99 annually or $6.99 quarterly. A subscription includes web, iOS and Android access via Exact Editions apps.

Excerpt from Issue 309 (Autumn 2026)
"close/d" by Angelic Goldsky
Content note: includes queer slurs

when the group chat asks/ if I would rather go to the sauna/ where they 
don’t separate by “sex”/ I pause/ want to say/ I am okay with either/ up 
to you/ I am used to shaving my forests down/ waxing my rainbows/ 
rounding my back/ wearing an old smile/ on top of an older sliver/ 

Excerpt from Issue 309 (Autumn 2026)
"Sundown" by Emma Gammans
Content note: contains depictions of cognitive decline.

Excerpt from Issue 309 (Autumn 2026)
"Clawed Back" by Patti-Kay Hamilton
Winner of the 2026 Creative Nonfiction Prize

The claw sticks up through the purple blooms. Sharp, black talons thrust out, stretched toward the sky. I peek beneath the flowers and find a raven curled around the base of the stems. Black feathers on black dirt, so it isn’t visible at first glance. The petunias cascade back over the body when I jerk my arm back. 

In alignment with my poem in the Summer Issue of The Fiddlehead, I recommend How I Bend into More by Tea Gerbeza. Her exploration of the changes in her body due to scoliosis and the experience of surgery were profound for me, the mother of a relatively nonverbal kid who could not express all that he has endured with his spine. We intuit so much. Thank you Tea.

We're excited to announce that the winner of our 2026 Creative Nonfiction Contest and $2000 prize is Patti-Kay Hamilton! Her essay "Clawed Back" is featured in the upcoming autumn issue of The Fiddlehead (no.309).