Category: Features

(Re)framing a Fragmented Biography

Precedented Parroting, Barbara Tran. Palimpsest Press, 2024.

How does one write one’s history when facts run fleet? How does one frame a biography when names and languages exist as disparate fragments, and community acceptance is seemingly conditional? These are the questions that populate Barbara Tran’s remarkable poetry debut, Precedented Parroting.

Alive through the Ghosts of the Past 

Building a Nest from the Bones of My People, Cara-Lyn Morgan. Invisible Publishing, 2023. 

Editorial Assistant Jamie Kitt's Interview with Clea Young whose story "In Loco Parentis" was published in Issue 299 (Spring 2024)

— Clea Young’s stories have appeared in three volumes of The Journey Prize Stories, and she has twice been shortlisted for the award. Her first collection, Teardown, was published in 2016 with Freehand Books. Her second collection, Welcome to the Neighbourhood, is forthcoming with House of Anansi Press in 2025.

Editorial Assistant Anastasios Mihalopoulos' Interview with Adèle Barclay, previous winner of The Fiddlehead 2022 Fiction Contest, whose Creative Nonfiction Story "Cobra Blue Mustang Strat" was published in Issue 298 (Winter 2024) on art as a way to survive, fallibility of human memory, and how her poetry has served in her creative nonfiction practice. 

Editorial Assistant Jamie Kitts' Interview with Jaeyun Yoo whose poem "have you seen my father" won our 2023 Ralph Gustafson Poetry Prize and was published in Issue 299 (Spring 2024)

Jaeyun Yoo is a Korean-Canadian poet, psychiatrist, and graduate of Simon Fraser University’s The Writer’s Studio. A Best of the Net nominee, her poems have appeared in Room, Canthius, CV2, and elsewhere. She published a collaborative chapbook, Brine, with Harbour Centre 5, a collective of emerging poets.

Love as a Driving Force by Manahil Bandukwala

A Dream Wants Waking, Lydia Kwa. Wolsak & Wynn, 2023

Lydia Kwa’s A Dream Wants Waking promises a dreamlike narrative through its title and cover, and the short novel certainly delivers. The book opens with a list of characters from the past timeline in Tang China from 644-904 CE and the present timeline of Luoyang in 2219 CE. Told through short chapters that switch back and forth at a rapid pace, Kwa immediately immerses the reader into both timelines of the story.

Editorial Assistant Rosie Leggott's Interview with Blair Trewartha whose poems "Sifto" and "Equal Temperament" were published in Issue 298 (Winter 2024)

Blair Trewartha’s first collection of poetry, Easy Fix (Palimpsest, 2014) was shortlisted for the Relit Award. He is the author of three chapbooks: Break In (Cactus Press, 2010), Porcupine Burning (Baseline Press, 2012), and human energy (Anstruther Press, 2022). His poetry has appeared in several journals.

Nestle In Words Like An Animal: The Poetic G/Rasp of Tongue, Throat, and Mouth in G by Kirby

G, Klara du Plessis & Khashayar “Kess” Mohammadi. Palimpsest Press, 2023.

First, let’s talk about the design/packaging of this book.

Lyrical Authenticity by Klara du Plessis

The King of Terrors, Jim Johnstone. Coach House Books, 2023.

Cautious Praise by Lynn Davies

Lent, Kate Cayley, Book*hug Press, 2023.

In Lent, Kate Cayley’s voice is driven by doubt and occasional bouts of confidence. In “Falling,” she says matter-of-factly,

         I can’t find time to repair.