Vivek Shraya (Toronto) “Brian Francis’ Fruit is one of best contemporary gay coming-of-age stories I’ve read. The protagonist Peter Paddington’s struggle to connect and understand his own body is painfully relatable for any teenager. “As an adult, I also found Peter’s self...
Congratulations to Sasha Boczkowski! Shani Mootoo read the stories from finalists Sasha Bczkowski, Lukas Bhandar and Llew Forestell. “This is one of those hard decisions,” she said. “Three very, very good works.” She finally selected “Birds,” by Sasha Boczkowski...
Nico Amador Seasons have changed, even if doubts haven’t. Up north we’re together in the final blue curl of daylight, watching each iteration of trees out the window, their latest bit, that wild dead orange. It’s cold and I feel calmer in my clothes. I’m answering the call of old books...
Thank you to everyone who submitted to the Emerging Writer Mentorship Award. We received many fantastic stories. The judge for this shortlist was Alex Leslie, and the winning piece will be selected by Shani Mootoo and announced next week. Congratulations to these three finalists! Lukas...
Proma Tagore (born in Kolkata; visitor on unceded Coast Salish Territories) “The first time I opened Lydia Kwa’s The Walking Boy it was a beautiful September afternoon in Vancouver, 2007. Redorangebrownyellow. Fallen leaves scattered on streets. Soft slant-wise sun, warm breeze, playing...
Monica Meneghetti Vancouver wears its October sky like a toque. I long to pull off that sodden wool to reveal the cascading golden curls I know are itching underneath. Back home in Banff, the first skiffs of snow are melting under blue sky while yellow leaves still cling to aspen and poplar. Here...
by Evelyn Deshane In October 2014, transgender novelist Elliott DeLine released his third work, Show Trans: A Nonfiction Novel. DeLine’s book is both confessional booth and road novel, both romance and tragedy, and both true and entirely made up. Interspersed with screenshots of his phone...
Interview by Matthew Walsh Plenitude Magazine has established a writing award for up and coming queer voices called the Emerging Writer Mentorship Award. The award alternates each year between poetry, fiction and creative non-fiction, and the recipient works with an established writer on a...
by Brett Josef Grubisic Howdy Barbara, greetings from the left coast, Such an outpouring of outraged sentiment today in your diatribe against the recognition of Raziel Reid’s so-called “values-void” novel. Most of your words struck me as angry and muddled in equal parts. I can’t help but reply...
