Issue 28 Contributors

Mona Angéline is an unapologetically vulnerable 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. Her work has been accepted for publication in a number of magazines - see more here.

Maung Htike Aung is a poet, literary translator and educator from Mandalay, Myanmar. His poems and translations have appeared in local university magazines, Portside Review, Wasafiri, and Volume Poetry.

Shahier Beirut is a Finance student at McGill University in Montreal. He was born and raised in Cairo, Egypt. When he's not reading up on capital markets or currency devaluations, he's writing poetry, fiction and nonfiction detailing queer love in oppressive environments. His personal essay, "Imposter Syndrome", has been published in The Dalhousie Review's 2024 Spring Issue.

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.

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.

Amanda Earl (she/her) is a writer, editor, visual poet, publisher, reviewer and literary events organizer, living on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg Peoples, colonially known as Ottawa, Ontario. Her latest book is Beast Body Epic, a long-poem collection about her near-death health crisis. For more information, please consult AmandaEarl.com.

Carolena Fernandez Brazfield is a queer Latina poet who calls many places home, though she admittedly feels most homesick for Albuquerque, New Mexico. She is an MFA candidate at Indiana University, where she writes about chronic illness, spiders killing their mates, the women she loves, and gossip.

Amber Burke is a graduate of Yale and the Writing Seminars MFA program at Johns Hopkins University. She teaches writing and leads the 200-hour yoga teacher training at the University of New Mexico in Taos. She wrote over 100 articles for Yoga International, and her creative work can be found in many literary journals including swamp pink, The Sun, Michigan Quarterly Review, Flyway, Okay Donkey, and Quarterly West, and on her website: https://amberburke3.wixsite.com/amberburkewriting.

MICHAEL CHANG (they/them) is the author of TOY SOLDIERS (Action, Spectacle, 2024) & THINGS A BRIGHT BOY CAN DO (Coach House Books, 2025). They edit poetry at Fence.

MLA Chernoff is a chronically ill, trans non-binary writer from Toronto. Their debut full-length poetry collection, [SQUELCH PROCEDURES], was released by Gordon Hill Press in 2021. MLA is also the author of several chapbooks, including TERSE THIRSTY (Gap Riot Press, 2019), I'M LIKE THE GREAT GRANDCHILD OF MARX & COCA-COLA (BUT NON-BINEY) (845 Press, 2022), and ESTRO FLUNKY (above/ground press, 2023). Get in touch at mlachernoff.com !!!!!!

Martins Deep (he/him) is a poet, photographer, digital artist, a graduate of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and currently a student pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Memphis, TN. His works have graced—or are forthcoming in--Magma Poetry, Strange Horizons, Palette Poetry, Frontier Poetry, Fiyah, december, Lolwe, Tahoma Literary Review, Augur Magazine, and elsewhere. Connect with him on X @martinsdeep1, Instagram: @martins.deep

Kim Fahner lives and writes in Sudbury, Ontario. Her first novel, The Donoghue Girl, is being published by Latitude 46 this fall, and her next book of poems, The Pollination Field, is being released by Turnstone Press in Spring 2025. One of Kim's poems was a finalist in the 2023 Ralph Gustafson Poetry Contest. She is the First Vice-Chair of The Writers' Union of Canada (2023-25), a member of The League of Canadian Poets, and an associate member of the Playwrights' Guild of Canada. She may be reached via her author website at www.kimfahner.com

Jennifer Fischer is a writer/creator whose films have been featured by NBC, ABC, Univision, Fusion, etc. Her writing has appeared in Ms. Magazine, Literary Mama, Barzakh Magazine and others. She has an essay in What is a Criminal? Answers from Inside the U.S. Justice System from Routledge Press and pieces in other anthologies, including Awakenings: Stories of Body & Consciousness, winner of the 2024 IndieReader Discovery Award. She lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico with her life partner, two children, and a teacup chihuahua.

Veronika Gorlova is a queer, autistic, Jewish poet and writer living on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh people, also known as Vancouver. Her family immigrated to Canada from Ukraine when she was five years old, and she has lived in many parts of the country. Second runner-up for the 2024 Magpie Award for Poetry, her writing appears or is up and coming in Arc Poetry Magazine, Cathexis Northwest Press and Pulp Literature, among others.

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, Ex-Puritan 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. It was selected for ALA’s Rise: A Feminist Book Project List and shortlisted for the Geoffrey Wilson Historical Fiction prize.

Ani King (they/them) is a queer, gender non-compliant writer, artist, and activist from Michigan. Ani is the first-place winner of the 2024 Blue Frog Annual Flash Fiction Contest, a SmokeLong Grand Micro Competition 2023 Finalist, and has had work featured in Split Lip Magazine. They can be found at aniking.net, or trying to find somewhere to quietly finish a book without any more interruptions.

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.

Zama Madinana is a South African poet, based in Johannesburg. His work has appeared in The Shallow Tales Review, Kalahari Review, Efiko, Libretto, Brittle Paper, Olney, and other literary publications. Zama’s work focuses mainly on love, politics and social issues. In 2021, he won the third prize of the Sol Plaatje EU Poetry Award. He was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2022. His full-length poetry collection, ’94, was published in June 2023. In addition to regular performances and readings in Johannesburg and across South Africa, he has performed his poetry in various countries, including Botswana, Mozambique, and Lesotho.

Julie Mannell is an author of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction, recently named a Rising Star (2023) by the Writers' Trust of Canada and one of the Niagara Region's Top 40 Under 40. She has been shortlisted for the CBC Poetry Prize, and awarded the Mona Adilman Poetry Prize and Lionel Shapiro Award for Excellency in Creative Writing. Mannell taught creative writing at George Brown College, and was an acquisitions editor at Dundurn Press, where she spearheaded their literary imprint Rare Machines. She holds an MFA from the University of Guelph where she received the HarperCollins Scholarship and the Constance Rooke Scholarship. In the past, she was named as one of Canada’s Top 30 Poets Under 30. Additionally, she was the 2020 Visiting Writer at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. She is currently a PhD student in Creative Writing at the University of New Brunswick.

Melanie Marttila (she/her) is an #ActuallyAutistic author of poetry and speculative tales of hope in the face of adversity, who is a settler in Sudbury ('N'Swakamok), Ontario. Her most recent poetry was published in Polar Starlight, her most recent short fiction in Pulp Literature, and her debut poetry collection, The Art of Floating, was published in 2024 by Latitude 46.

Sumaiya Matin is a writer, social worker/psychotherapist, and public policy professional. She has a Master of Social Work and a graduate certificate in creative writing from the Humber School for Writers. She is currently working toward her Master of Fine Arts (in Creative Writing) at the University of British Columbia.

Sumaiya is passionate about exploring the intersection of literature and mental health. In 2021, she released a literary memoir titled The Shaytan Bride: A Bangladeshi Canadian Memoir of Desire and Faith (Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2021) which speaks to themes such as migration, identity, mental health, and honour-based violence. Her other non-fiction work can be found in magazines such as Poetry is Dead and Living Hyphen. Find her online at @sumaiya.matin on Instagram or www.sumaiyamatin.com

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.

Adam McPhee is a Canadian author. His non-fiction writing has appeared in Heavy Feather Review and his fiction has been longlisted for the CBC Short Story Prize. He writes the Substack newsletter Adam's Notes. He lives in Alberta.

Jérôme Melançon writes and teaches and writes and lives in oskana kâ-asastêki / Regina, SK. His third chapbook, Bridges Under the Water, was published by above/ground press in August 2023. It follows Tomorrow’s Going to Be Bright (2022) and Coup (2020), as well as his most recent poetry collection, En d’sous d’la langue (Prise de parole, 2021). He has edited books and journal issues, and keeps publishing academic articles that have nothing to do with any of this. He’s on various social media, with handles resembling @lethejerome.

Adam Nadir Mohamed (he/him) is a PhD candidate in the English Literature department at the University of Western Ontario. His current research concerns the interdisciplinary nature of poetry and philosophy in British and German Romantic literature. He is also interested in the relationship between Deleuze and Guattari’s philosophy and Romanticism.

Khashayar “Kess” Mohammadi (They/Them) is a queer Iranian-born, Toronto-based Poet, Writer and Translator. They were shortlisted for the 2021 Austin Clarke poetry prize, 2022’s Arc Poem of the year award, The Malahat Review’s 2023 Open Season awards for poetry, and they are the winner of the 2021 Vallum Poetry Prize. They are the author of four poetry chapbooks and three translated poetry chapbooks. They have released two full-length collections of poetry with Gordon Hill Press. Their full-length collaborative poetry manuscript G is out with Palimpsest Press Fall 2023, and their full-length collection of experimental dream-poems Daffod*ls is forthcoming from Pamenar Press.

Laura Leigh Morris is the author of The Stone Catchers: A Novel (2024) and Jaws of Life: Stories (2018). She's previously published short fiction in STORY Magazine, North American Review, Redivider, and other journals. She teaches creative writing and literature at Furman University in Greenville, SC, USA. To learn more, visit www.lauraleighmorris.com.

Shane Neilson (mad; autistic) is a poet, physician, and critic from New Brunswick. His poetry has appeared in Poetry Magazine, Literature and Medicine, Prairie Schooner, and Verse Daily. In 2023, he published The Suspect We (Palimpsest Press), a book of poetry concerning disabled lived experience during the pandemic, with fellow disabled poet Roxanna Bennett. Also in 2023, he published Canadian Literature and Medicine: Carelanding with Routledge.

Stan Rogal lives and writes in the always-under-construction metropolis known as Toronto. Work has appeared in numerous publications in Canada, the US, Europe, and, most recently, Asia. The author of several books, including 12 poetry and a handful of chapbooks. A new collection of poems to appear in 2025 with ECW. An autodidactic intellectual classicist [reformed]. Speaks semi-fluent English and controversial French.

Aaron Schneider is a queer settler living in London, Ontario. He is the founding Editor at The /tƐmz/ Review, the publisher at the chapbook press 845 Press, and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Writing Studies at Western University. His stories have appeared in The Danforth Review, Filling Station, The Ex-Puritan, Hamilton Arts and Letters, Pro-Lit, The Chattahoochee Review, BULL, Long Con, The Malahat Review and The Windsor Review. His stories have been nominated for The Journey Prize and The Pushcart Prize. His novella, Grass-Fed (Quattro Books), was published in Fall 2018. His collection of experimental short fiction, What We Think We Know (Gordon Hill Press), was published in Fall 2021. The Supply Chain (Crowsnest Books, 2023) is his first novel.

Smitha Sehgal is a legal professional and the author of the book of poetry How Women Become Poems in Malabar. A Best of the Net nominee, her poems have been featured by Ink Sweat & Tears, Osiris Poetry, The Indianapolis Review, Marrow Magazine and elsewhere.

Rowan Siah (she/her) is a writer from Singapore. She has a degree in English Literature and Creative Writing and is currently working on a short story collection and a novel. Her work has appeared in Room Magazine.

Etim Singkem is a writer from Nigeria. An alumnus of the Purple Hibiscus Creative Writing Workshop, his works have appeared in Praxis Magazine and agbowo, among others, and have been nominated for awards such as the Angya Poetry Prize and the Punocracy Prize.

Peter Szuban is a writer living in Toronto, Ontario—a city built on Haudenosaunee, Anishnaabeg, Huron-Wendat, and Mississaugas of New Credit land. He works in archives and has an MA degree in English from Western University and an MI degree from the University of Toronto. His work has previously appeared in The Ex-Puritan and PRISM international.

Matt Thomas is a smallholder farmer, engineer, and poet. His recent work can be read in Pinhole Poetry, Halfway Down the Stairs, Susurrus, and engine(idling lit. Disappearing by the Math, a full-length collection, was published by Silver Bow in 2024. He lives with his family in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.

Carl Watts holds a PhD in English from Queen’s University and currently teaches at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, in mainland China. He has published two poetry chapbooks, Reissue (Frog Hollow, 2016) and Originals (Anstruther, 2020); a short monograph, Oblique Identity (Frog Hollow, 2019); and a book of essays, I Just Wrote This Five Minutes Ago (Gordon Hill, 2022).