books

Gary Barwin is a writer and multidisciplinary artist and the author of twenty-four books including A Cemetery for Holes, with Tom Prime and For It is a Pleasure and a Surprise to Breathe: New and Selected Poems, ed. Alessandro Porco. A new novel, Nothing the Same, Everything Haunted: The Ballad of Motl the Cowboy will appear in 2021. Five of Barwin's poems can be found in The Fiddlehead Summer Poetry Issue 284. 

Click read more to see which books Barwin recommends!

Mary Gilliland hails from the northeast United States. Her poetry has also appeared in such publications as AGNI, Hotel Amerika, Notre Dame Review, Poetry, Stand, Vallum, and in Nuclear Impact: Broken Atoms In Our Hands. Her award-winning The Ruined Walled Castle Garden will be out in 2020 from Bright Hill Press. Two of Mary's poems will be featured in the soon to be published Autumn issue 285 of The Fiddlehead. Subscribe now for your copy! 

Keith Taylor retired a couple of years ago after teaching for many years at the University of Michigan. His most recent full length collection is The Bird-while (Wayne State University Press, 2017). His poetry will be featured in an upcoming issue of The Fiddlehead.

Click Read More for Keith's thoughts on Apollinaire’s Calligrammes! 

Lazarus Trubman is a college professor from the former USSR, who immigrated to the United States in 1990. In 2017, he retired from teaching to devote his time to writing. He’s been published in The Threepenny Review, Vestal Review, Lit Mag, Digging Press, Forge, Black Mountain Press and other publications. Keep an eye out for Lazar's story Toxic Susan in our upcoming Fall issue No. 285!

Kevin Heslop's poetry will be featured in the upcoming Summer issue of The Fiddlehead. He is the author of there is no minor violence just as there is no negligible cough during an aria (Frog Hollow, 2019) and the forthcoming collection the correct fury of your why is a mountain (Gordon Hill, 2021). Read more to find out what Kevin is reading! 
 

Elena Johnson is the author of Field Notes for the Alpine Tundra (Gaspereau, 2015), a collection of poetry written at a remote ecology research station in the Yukon. A finalist for the CBC Literary Awards and the Bailey Prize, she lives in Vancouver, where she works as an editor and writing mentor. Her poem Casa Museo Manuel de Falla was featured in the Winter 2020 issue of The Fiddlehead. 

Check out Elena's reading recommendation; a novel she describes as a restful, intriguing and escapist read.

Kevin Spenst is the author of Ignite, Jabbering with Bing Bong (both with Anvil Press), and over a dozen chapbooks including Pray Goodbye (the Alfred Gustav Press), Surrey Sonnets (JackPine Press), and most recently Upend (Frog Hollow Press: Dis/Ability series). Two of Spenst's poem were featured in The Fiddlehead issue 282 (Winter 2020). He lives on unceded Coast Salish territory with the love of his life Shauna Kaendo.  

Conor Kerr is a Metis writer living in Edmonton, Alberta. He was the winner of our 2019 poetry contest for his poem A Millenial Love Letter, which appeared in the Spring 2020 issue, and more of Conor's work will appear in our forthcoming summer poetry issue. 

One of the most eye-opening experiences I've had recently as a reader is the ability to share my books with my daughter.

It is important to me to elevate the voices of female writers from my city. Voices that are rich, diverse and often lost in the shadows of larger cities like Vancouver and Toronto. In light of everything happening in the USA and around the world right now, it feels even more imperative to make sure I use this space to showcase a book from a Black author. This Is How We Disappear by Edmonton poet Titilope Sonuga is a book of raw beauty and fierce joy.