On Wednesday, September 23, join us for an evening of queer literature as Plenitude Magazine hosts its first Ottawa-based reading at Perfect Books!
Featuring four authors whose work has appeared in Plenitude over the years: Manahil Bandukwala, Adam Meisner, Pamela Mosher, and Kevin Shaw, with Plenitude’s managing editor, Patrick Grace. Hosted by Ben Ladouceur.
The event starts at 7pm at Perfect Books, located at 258A Elgin Street. Light refreshments and bottled water will be served, and author books will be available for purchase. For accessibility, the store entrance has the option of a concrete ramp or a small single step. The door does not have a push to open activation switch.
Manahil Bandukwala is the author of Heliotropia (Brick Books 2024; shortlisted for the Pat Lowther Award, the Raymond Souster Award, and the Ottawa Book Award, and winner of the Archibald Lampman Award) and MONUMENT (Brick Books 2022). She was selected as a Writer’s Trust of Canada Rising Star in 2023. See her work at manahilbandukwala.com.
Patrick Grace is a queer author and teacher who lives in rural British Columbia on a First Nations reserve of the Lil’wat People. His debut poetry collection, Deviant, was shortlisted for the 2025 Robert Kroetsch Award for Poetry. Recent poems appear in The Malahat Review and The Fiddlehead. He is the managing editor of Plenitude Magazine.
Ben Ladouceur is an author living in Ottawa. His first novel, I Remember Lights, was nominated for the Amazon First Novel Award. He is also the author of two poetry collections and a recipient of the Writers’ Trust Dayne Ogilvie Prize, the Gerald Lambert Memorial Award, the Archibald Lampman Prize, the National Magazine Award for Poetry, and a bpNichol Chapbook Award nomination. He has completed writer’s residencies at the Al Purdy A-Frame and the University of Ottawa, where he has also taught creative writing as an adjunct professor.
Adam Meisner is a Canadian playwright, fiction writer, poet, and arts and culture policy professional. His play For Both Resting and Breeding was published by Scirocco Drama in 2023 and has toured internationally, with performances in Australia, Chile, Argentina, and Japan. The play was a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award in Queer Drama and was named one of The Globe and Mail’s best theatre performances of 2025. His fiction, poetry, and essays have appeared in literary publications including Plenitude. Originally from Moncton, New Brunswick, he divides his time between Ottawa and Toronto.
Pamela Mosher is a technical writer by day, a poet by night, and a mom to 2 littles at all times. She was born and raised on the east coast, and has called Ottawa home for the last 15 years. Pam’s writing has most recently been published in Arc Poetry, The Ex-Puritan, flo., and Qwerty Magazine.
Kevin Shaw’s poems and essays have appeared in The New Quarterly, Event, The Malahat Review, The Literary Review of Canada, The Best Canadian Essays, and Plenitude. He’s the author of a poetry collection, Smaller Hours, from icehouse poetry (Goose Lane Editions). Originally from London, ON, he now lives in Ottawa.
