interviews

By Rachel Rose

Three writers: Birgül Oğuz, Karen Villeda, and Betsy Warland. Three different countries: Turkey, Mexico, Canada. Each writer grapples with gender and identity, with loss, with the limits of language, with persistence against the conspiracies of silence, with responding to violence as part of the quotidian, as part of civilian life. On the surface these writers appear to have little in common, and yet their answers, though written separately and thousands of miles apart, seem part of the same conversation.

By Robert Norsworthy

The Fiddlehead editorial assistant Robert Norsworthy interviews fiction editor Gerard Beirne about his new book of stories In a Time of Drought and Hunger.

Gerard Beirne is an Irish writer living in Canada since 1997. He has published three novels, two collections of poetry and a collection of short stories. He is a past recipient of The Sunday Tribune/Hennessy New Irish Writer of the Year Award. His novel The Eskimo in the Net (Marion Boyars Publishers, London) was shortlisted for The Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award 2004 and selected as Book of the Year by The Daily Express Literary Editor (UK). His collection of poetry Digging My Own Grave (Dedalus Press) was runner-up in The Patrick Kavanagh Award. His short story Sightings of Bono was adapted for film featuring Bono (U2).

By Alex Carey

Brent van Staalduinen has won our 25th annual Short Fiction Prize for his story "Skinks." Brent van Staalduinen lives, works, and finds his voice in Hamilton. Saints, Unexpected, his novel of urban magical realism, will be published by Invisible Publishing in April 2016. His work appears or is forthcoming in The Sycamore Review, Prairie Fire Magazine, The Bristol Short Story Prize Anthology 8, The Prairie Journal, EVENT Magazine, The Dalhousie Review, The New Quarterly, Litro Magazine, The Nottingham Review, Urban Graffiti, and elsewhere. He is a graduate of the Humber School for Writers and holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of British Columbia, and teaches creative writing at Redeemer University College.

By Robert Norsworthy

Michael Eden Reynolds has won our 25th annual Ralph Gustafson Prize for Best Poem for "False Dichotomy or Monocot." Michael Eden Reynolds’ first book, Slant Room, was published by PQL in 2009. His second manuscript, Elsewhere Thought Known, has already been published in a parallel universe. Michael lives in Whitehorse where he works as a mental health/addictions counsellor.

By Rebecca Salazar

Sean Howard has won our 24th annual Ralph Gustafson Prize for Best Poem for "Cases (Unbound Poems, from Nova Scotia Reports)." Sean Howard is the author of Local Calls (Cape Breton University Press, 2009) and Incitements (Gaspereau Press, 2011). His poetry has been published in numerous Canadian and international magazines, nominated for a Pushcart Prize in the US, and anthologized in The Best Canadian Poetry in English (Tightrope Books, 2011 & 2014). Sean lives in the lobster-fishing village of Main-à-Dieu, Nova Scotia, and is adjunct professor of political science at Cape Breton University.