At the end of January, a much younger friend told me how much she enjoyed Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert. My friend loves to paint and found inspiration to keep painting even if her life feels overwhelmed with grad school and a full-time job. It doesn’t matter how good she is, or what may come of it. All that matters is that she paints.
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.
Listening: Explosions in the Sky – The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place
Reading: Becky Chambers – A Psalm for the Wild-Built
There isn't enough Jim Harrison in this world. One of the few truly original writers of the last 20 years, he belongs to no school, and sits in a category and style uniquely his own. While he is sometimes compared, favourably and unfavourably, to Ernest Hemingway because they both write about Michigan and, sometimes, fishing, the comparison makes as much sense as linking Hemingway with Cervantes because they both write about Spain.
A book I find myself returning to is Maggie Burton’s poetry collection, Chores. Captivating from the opening lines, with uncomplicated language and vivid, visceral images, Burton revisits the day-to-day events of domestic life and women’s labour that are often overlooked. Bringing tenderness to the struggles of survival, these poems stir up nostalgia for home and beloved grandmothers.
