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.
"Readiness Quiz: Are You Ready to Start Writing About Past Trauma?" by Shirley Harshenin
PURPOSE
To assess your readiness to write about a traumatic past event. This selfassessment quiz requires you to revisit, in manageable increments, the scene/ event/memory and the associated emotional, psychological and/or physical responses of the past incident you wish to write about.
We're excited to announce that Anne Marie Todkill is the winner of our 2023 Creative Nonfiction Contest and $2000 prize! Her essay "Storm Damage" is featured in the upcoming autumn issue of The Fiddlehead (no.297).
Anne Marie Todkill’s story “The Makeweight Piece” won The Fiddlehead’s 2021 fiction contest and appeared in issue no. 291. Her book of poetry, Orion Sweeping (Brick Books), was shortlisted for the 2023 Gerald Lampert Memorial Award. “Storm Damage” is from a collection of essays in progress.
Jenny Hwang is a Korean-Canadian writer and mother. She has previously worked as an immigration lawyer and in refugee resettlement with Canada’s Private Sponsorship of Refugees program. She lives with her family in Mississauga, Ontario.
We're excited to announce that Jenny Hwang is the winner of our 2022 Creative Nonfiction Contest and $2000 prize! Her essay Silkworms is featured in the new Autumn issue of The Fiddlehead (no.293).
Jenny Hwang is a Korean-Canadian writer and mother. She has previously worked as an immigration lawyer and in refugee resettlement with Canada’s Private Sponsorship of Refugees program. She lives with her family in Mississauga, Ontario