ArticlesIssue 83, Fall/Winter 2023/24
-
Non-FictionCharlotte Bellows hopes to help teens struggling with eating disorders through debut memoir
Calgary’s Charlotte Bellows just graduated from high school this past June. But she already has another milestone to celebrate: the publication of her memoir, The Definition of Beautiful. -
FictionFinal novel, omnibus collection conclude two series for Katherena Vermette
Métis novelist, poet, and filmmaker Katherena Vermette’s work shines a light on her hometown of Winnipeg, particularly its North End neighbourhood. Her searing and nuanced portrayals show what the city means to her. But she understands it can hold different meanings for others. -
FictionParallel narrative and playfulness mark Grayson’s return to adult fiction
With her new novel, The Twistical Nature of Spoons, Winnipeg author Patti Grayson returns to adult fiction after a brief foray into middle years/YA fiction. She appears to have kept a childlike sense of playfulness and wonder, though, in this story of magic and curses. -
FictionEntrepreneurial Igbo family drama contends with inner demons, societal forces
According to Nigerian writer Ifeoma Chinwuba, two areas of interest led her to write her new novel Sons of the East. “I wanted to chronicle a smidgen of the crosscurrents and issues churning inside us as a people,” she states. “As well, I’d interacted and interfaced with Igbo industrialists and entrepreneurs, whose lifestyle fascinated me and spurred me on to document the same for posterity.” -
FictionCampfire tales told in Indigenous horror genre blend classic and modern forms
Born and raised on the Swan River First Nation community in Northern Alberta, lifelong comics lover Christopher Twin noticed a lack in the type of stories out there – and decided to write those stories himself. -
FictionStories of revolution drew David Bergen to explore tumult of WWI-era Ukraine
David Bergen’s brilliant new novel, Away from the Dead, is set in Ukraine during the turbulent years of 1899 to the early 1920s, encompassing both the First World War and the Ukrainian civil war. -
PoetryPoetry collection grasps after communal ‘we,’ hostility inherent in the city
Nikki Reimer is a multimedia artist, a writer, and a chronically ill neurodivergent Prairie settler. She says that her new collection of poetry, No Town Called We, is for anyone who finds comfort in melancholy. -
PoetryNew translation of Tsangyang Gyatso’s poetry a reminder of appeal to modern readers
I Have Forsaken Heaven & Earth, but Never Forsaken You is the translation into English by Leilei Chen of the creative reworking by MA Hui of different Mandarin translations of the poetry of Tibet’s sixth Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso (1683–1706). -
DramaPlay set in Caribbean restaurant highlights broken immigration system
The play our place by Toronto-based playwright, librettist, and screenwriter Kanika Ambrose is set in the fictionalized Caribbean restaurant Jerk Pork Castle in Scarborough. Working there without documentation are Andrea and Niesha from the imagined Caribbean countries of Caviva and Fanon. Rounding out the cast are Malcolm and Eldrick, the potential love interests. -
FeaturesAnthology shares 40 accounts of learning from each other and the land
Across Indigenous territories, land-based activities provide the opportunity to practise community-based learning rooted in Indigenous perspectives. The amazing collection, Ndè Sı`ı` Wet’aɂà: Northern Indigenous Voices on Land, Life, and Art, edited by Kyla LeSage, Thumlee Drybones-Foliot, and Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, began as a document of land-based learning through the Dechinta Centre for Research and Learning, located in Yellowknife, N.W.T.
