Issue 27 Contributors

Mona Angéline is an unapologetically vulnerable writer, reader, book reviewer, artist, athlete, and scientist. She honors the creatively unconventional, the authentically "other". She shares her emotions because the world tends to hide theirs. She is a new writer, but her work was recently accepted in Flash Fiction Magazine, Grand Dame Literary, Down in the Dirt Magazine, The Viridian Door, The Machine, Whisky Blot Magazine, and The Academy of Mind and Heart. She's a regular guest editor for scientific journals. She lives bicoastally in Santa Cruz, California, and in New York and savors life despite, or maybe because of, her significant struggles with chronic illness and mild disability. Learn about her musings at creativerunnings.com. Follow her on Instagram under @creativerunnings and on Twitter at @creativerunning.

Manahil Bandukwala is a writer & visual artist. She is currently Coordinating Editor for Arc Poetry Magazine, & Digital Content Editor for Canthius. She is a member of Ottawa-based writing collective VII. Her collaborative chapbook with Conyer Clayton, Sprawl | the time it took us to forget (Collusion, 2020), was shortlisted for the bpNichol Award. Her debut collection, MON̶U̶MENT, was published with Brick Books in 2022. Her second poetry collection, Heliotropia, is forthcoming with Brick Books in 2024.

Sharon Berg attended the Banff School of Fine Arts Writing Studio in 1982 and was accepted to Banff’s Leighton Artist Colony in 1987. She is also an alumni of Humber College’s Writing Program. She did her B.A. in Indigenous Studies at Laurentian U, followed by her B.Ed for Primary Education at U of T. Her M.Ed focused on First Nations Education at York U, and her D.Ed focused on Indigenous Education at UBC. She also received a Certificate in Magazine Journalism from Ryerson U. Sharon founded and operated the international literary E-Zine Big Pond Rumours (2006-2019) and its associated press, which released chapbooks of Canadian poets as prizes for the magazine’s contests. She's published five full books and three chapbooks, working in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. Her work appears in periodicals across Canada, the USA, Mexico, the UK, the Netherlands, India, Germany, Singapore, and Australia. Her 3rd poetry collection Stars in the Junkyard (Cyberwit 2020) was a Finalist in the 2022 International Book Awards, and her narrative history The Name Unspoken: Wandering Spirit Survival School (Big Pond Rumours Press 2019) won a 2020 IPPY Award for Regional Nonfiction. When she retired from teaching, she opened Oceanview Writers Retreat in Charlottetown (Terra Nova National Park) Newfoundland.

Fraser Calderwood (he/him) is a writer and teacher who has lived in Vancouver and Calgary. He currently lives in Toronto with his wife and several unruly houseplants. His work has appeared in The New Quarterly, EVENT, and subTerrain.

Kevin Canfield's work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Cineaste, Film Comment and other publications. He lives in New York City.

Alex Carrigan (he/him) is a Pushcart-nominated editor, poet, and critic from Alexandria, VA. He is the author of Now Let’s Get Brunch: A Collection of RuPaul’s Drag Race Twitter Poetry (Querencia Press, 2023) and May All Our Pain Be Champagne: A Collection of Real Housewives Twitter Poetry (Alien Buddha Press, 2022). He has appeared in The Broadkill Review, Sage Cigarettes, Barrelhouse, Fifth Wheel Press, Cutbow Quarterly, and more. Visit carriganak.wordpress.com or follow him on Twitter @carriganak for more info.

Conyer Clayton is an Ottawa-based writer and editor from Kentucky. Their latest book is But the sun, and the ships, and the fish, and the waves (Winner of the Archibald Lampman Award, Anvil Press). They are a Senior Editor at Augur, Nonfiction Editor for untethered magazine, and a member of VII. You can catch their newest (and 7th solo) chapbook, Kneeling in Our Name (Gap Riot Press), in summer 2024.

Tara Costello is a writer and library worker based in the GTA. She holds an Honours BA from the University of Toronto and an MA in English from Toronto Metropolitan University. Tara collaborated with Contemporary Verse 2 in 2023 to create an educational poetry resource for high school students. Her writing has been featured in The Strand, Pivot Journal, White Wall Review, and PHWOAR! Magazine.

Jordan Dilley lives and writes in Idaho. She has an MA in literature from the University of Utah. Her work has appeared in the Vassar Review, Heavy Feather Review, Anti-Heroin Chic, and Loch Raven Review as well as other publications. Her short fiction piece “Lani in the River” was nominated by JMWW for a Pushcart Prize.

Puneet Dutt’s The Better Monsters was a finalist for the Trillium Book Award for Poetry and was shortlisted for the Raymond Souster Award. Her most recent chapbook was longlisted for the 2020 Frontier Digital Chapbook Contest, selected by Carl Phillips. Dutt lives in Markham with her partner and two kids. puneetdutt.com

Alison Frost writes in an old Toronto house with lovely windows, many children and a handful of pets. Her work has appeared in Room, Joyland, Prairie Fire, The Capilano Review and The Fieldstone Review. She once won Room’s Creative Non-Fiction Contest.

Mari Angelica Galangco is from Oshawa, Ontario and recently graduated from Trent University. She enjoys drinking matcha lattes, writing in her journal, and spending time with her loved ones. what is love? is her first published poem.

Blossom Hibbert has a pamphlet, suddenly, it’s now, published by Leafe Press. Her work has appeared in places such as Litter, International Times and Buttonhook Press. She currently resides in Albania, changing hostel bed sheets and hiding the lost and found items under her pillow.

Salma Hussain writes poetry and prose. Her writing has recently appeared or is forthcoming in Fiddlehead, The Humber Literary Review, Temz Review, Queens Quarterly, CV2, The Antigonish Review, The Hong Kong Review and Pleiades: Literature in Context. Her young adult novel, The Secret Diary of Mona Hasan, about a young girl’s immigration and menstruation journey, was published by Penguin Random House in 2022.

Isabel James is a Scottish-Canadian freelance writer currently dividing her time between Toronto and Edmonton while finishing her first non-fiction book, My library for mice.

Anson Leung is a graduate of the University of Alberta’s Bachelor of Commerce program. He is an Alberta-based writer who loves all forms of writing, including poetry and article writing. In his spare time, he loves playing tennis and board games.

Christian Hanz Lozada (he/him) aspires to be like a cat, a creature that doesn’t care about the subtleties of others and who will, given time and circumstance, eat its owner. He authored the poetry collection He’s a Color, Until He’s Not and co-authored Leave with More Than You Came With. His poems have appeared in journals from California to Australia with stops in Hawaii, Korea, and the United Kingdom. Christian has featured at the Autry Museum and Beyond Baroque. He lives in San Pedro, CA and uses his MFA to teach his neighbors and their kids at Los Angeles Harbor College.

Gerald Lynch was born on a farm at Lough Egish in Co. Monaghan Ireland and grew up in Canada. He has published 10 books, 8 of them fiction, as well as numerous short stories, essays, and reviews. His new novel, Plaguing Jake, is forthcoming in June from At Bay Press and available to order wherever books are sold: https://atbaypress.com/books/detail/plaguing-jake

Marcie McCauley's work has appeared in Room, Other Voices, Mslexia, Tears in the Fence and Orbis, and has been anthologized by Sumac Press. She writes about writing at marciemccauley.com and about reading at buriedinprint.com. A descendant of Irish and English settlers, she lives in the city currently called Toronto, which was built on the homelands of Indigenous peoples - Haudenosaunee, Anishnaabeg, Huron-Wendat and Mississaugas of New Credit - land still inhabited by their descendants.

Maria Meindl is the author of a novel, The Work, and a memoir, Outside the Box, along with short stories and essays in many anthologies and literary magazines (including The Temz Review). In 2005, she founded the Draft Reading Series, offering a venue for emerging and established writers to share work-in-progress with a sympathetic audience. She teaches movement classes, and offers a series of public discussions called The Work: Straight Talk on Craft and Method, about the history of today’s wellness, fitness and performance-training techniques.

Alysha Mohamed is a passionate poet, playwright, and journalist. She graduated from Queen's University in 2022 with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in English and Political Studies. Her poems are published or forthcoming in Arc Poetry Magazine, untethered magazine, and The Capilano Review, and her articles have been published in outlets including CBC and Maclean's. She loves poems that burn, heal, and subvert all at once.

Denisha Naidoo is a South African born BIPOC Canadian physician, psychotherapist, poet and writer living in Ontario, Canada with her dog Maverick. Her work has appeared in Amazing Stories, Gramarye, PRISM International, Passager Books, Prairie Fire, Open Minds Quarterly, Braided Way Magazine, and Ladies Briefs: A Short Anthology. She also published a podcast of her novella The Amazing Adventures of Wig Girl.

Temidayo Okun (he/him): is a Nigerian poet who prefers to be referred to as 19. he writes poems. say hi to him on instagram: @mr_number_19

Patrick O’Reilly is an archivist and writer from Renews, NL, currently living in Montréal/Tiohtià:ke. His first chapbook, A Collapsible Newfoundland, was published by Frog Hollow Press in 2020. A follow-up, Demographic Report, November 2023, is forthcoming this fall with Cactus Press.

Instagram: @lunar_maria_rilke

Robert G. Penner lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He is the author of Strange Labour, one of Publishers Weekly's Best Science Fiction Books of 2020. He has published numerous short stories in a wide range of speculative and literary journals under both his name and various pseudonyms. His second novel The Dark King Swallows the World is forthcoming with Radiant Press. He can be found on twitter at @billsquirrell and on Instagram at @robertgpenner.

Anne Louise Pepper is a writer and former educator who lives in the Pacific Northwest. Her work can be found in failbetter and The Citron Review.

Susan Robertson grew up outside Washington, D.C. but has made her home in Canada for years. Her poems have appeared in journals in Canada and the United States, most recently in Prairie Fire, Parentheses, the Offing, Grain, and EcoTheo Review. Baseline Press will publish her first chapbook in 2025.

Stan Rogal lives and writes in Toronto. Work has appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies. The author of 27 books, including 12 poetry, with lucky number 13 set to appear in the spring of 2025. He is left-handed and has never owned a smart phone, placing him squarely among the elite 8% of North Americans.

Camden Rose is a queer author who loves seeking out magic beneath the everyday world. She can often be found at the ocean's edge taking notes on the local mermaid population. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her partner, black cat, and collection of books and board games. You can find her online at www.camdenscorner.com.

E.S. Taillon (she/they) is a queer, neurodivergent writer based in Tkaronto. Their French-to-English translation of Scenes from the Underground was shortlisted for the Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ2S+ Emerging Writers.

Pushcart Prize nominee, researcher & farmer Terry Trowbridge’s poems are in Pennsylvania Literary Journal, Carousel, Lascaux Review, Kolkata Arts, Leere Mitte, untethered, Snakeskin Poetry, Progenitor, Miracle Monocle, Orbis, Pinhole, Big Windows, Muleskinner, Brittle Star, Mathematical Intelligencer, Journal of Humanistic Mathematics, New Note, Hearth and Coffin, Synchronized Chaos, Indian Periodical, Delta Poetry Review, Literary Veganism and ~100 more. His lit crit is in BeZine, Erato, Amsterdam Review, Ariel, British Columbia Review, Hamilton Arts & Letters, Episteme, Studies in Social Justice, Rampike, Seeds, and The /t3mz/ Review. His Erdös number is 5. Terry is grateful to the Ontario Arts Council for his first 2 writing grants.