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Best Canadian Stories 2019
Biblioasis, 2019
Edited by Caroline Adderson

Reviewed by Megan Kuklis:

"If a person had nothing but this collection of stories from which to judge the state of fiction in Canada, they would come away believing that Canadians are delightfully chaotic and completely insane...."

The Fiddlehead is pleased to announce the finalists of our 2019 Poetry Contest, judged by Ali Blythe, Kayla Geitzler, Souvankham Thammavongsa. Thanks to all who entered and congratulations to the following writers:

Editorial Assistant Melissa Spohr Weiss interviewed Barbara Pelman about her creative process—inspiration, poetic form, and the craft of writing. Barbara Pelman’s memoir will appear in the upcoming special 75th anniversary issue of The Fiddlehead.

Editorial Assistant Douglas Walbourne-Gough interviewed April White about her illustrations of garbage that accompany Anna Swanson's poetry in their collaborative project, The Garbage Poems. April White's illustration, "A hum at the edge," will be paired with Anna Swanson’s poem, “Portals,” in the upcoming special 75th anniversary issue of The Fiddlehead that will be published in the spring. 

Editorial Assistant Melissa Spohr Weiss interviewed Anna Swanson about swimming and writing, creating “found poetry” out of “garbage words,” and her mode of poetic creation that at once came out of and embodies the lived experience of physical and cognitive constraints following a serious concussion. Anna Swanson’s poem, “Portals,” will appear in the upcoming special 75th anniversary issue of The Fiddlehead that will be published in spring

Editorial Assistant Melissa Spohr interviewed Susan Musgrave about her creative process, the roles of emotion, dreams, unknowing, and the subconscious, and the poet’s relationship to the poem in its becoming and ongoing revision. Three of Susan Musgrave’s poems—"More Than Seeing," "What We Do,“ and "Life in the Uncontainable World"—will appear in the upcoming special 75th anniversary issue of The Fiddlehead that will be published in spring.

Photo credit: Regina Akhankina

Recently I learned a new term, “art-washing.” It means that a real estate developer offers a piece of public art to a city government in exchange for its approving a variance in the building code. That happened in Fredericton a few months ago. The city council approved a many-storied condo building bound to spoil a lovely streetscape in the downtown. This comes on the heels of the destruction in Officers’ Square with the removal of many trees, the historic wall and fence, and the green lawn. Those who opposed this demolition were derisively called “The Against Everything Crowd.”

Editorial Assistant Douglas Walbourne-Gough interviewed Sue Goyette about emergence, vulnerability, and engagement in the practices of writing and reading poetry. An excerpt from Sue Goyette's book-length poem, Anthesis, will appear in the upcoming special 75th anniversary issue of The Fiddlehead that will be published in spring.

Come out to the Tipsy Muse Café on February 2, 2020 for a special FROSTival version of Odd Sundays featuring The Fiddlehead.

Odd Sundays is Fredericton’s longest-running, semi-monthly, perpetually-hyphenated, poetry-and-more reading series!

Tim Fab-Eme shares his recent, current, and imminent reading recommendations. Tim Fab-Eme's poem "We Bury Our Names" appeared in The Fiddlehead no. 279 (Spring 2019).