Issue 33 Contributors

Sylvie Althoff (she/her) is a queer transgender woman who works as a writer, editor, elementary teacher, and jazz banjoist. Her writing has appeared on recommended reading lists by Locus and Reactor, and has been published in venues including Escape Pod, Small Wonders, Tales of the United States Space Force, Saros, Inner Worlds, Lesbians in Space, manywor(l)ds, Baubles from Bones, and the Trevor Project benefit anthology Punch a Nazi. She lives in Lawrence, Kansas with her wife and pets. She may be found at sylviealthoff.com or on Bluesky @sylvie-althoff.

Chukwuebuka Alu is a Nigerian writer and the founder of The Akachi Creative Writing Foundation. His poetry has either been selected as a finalist or shortlisted or nominated for The Best of Net (2021), the Stephen A. Dibiase Poetry Prize (2021 & 2024), The Jack Grapes Poetry Prize (2021), the Eriata Oribhabor Poetry Prize (2022) and the Brigette Poirson Literature Prize (2024).

Feyisayo Anjorin is the author of One Week In The Life of A Hypocrite, Another Week In The Life of A Hypocrite, and Love Lessons From The Life of A Hypocrite.

His writings have appeared in Afritondo, African Writer, Brittle Paper, Bella Naija, Agbowo, Lolwe, and Kalahari Review.

He writes from Akure North, Nigeria.

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 taught in Ontario after studying to become a teacher with a focus on First Nations Education: B.A./Laurentian U.; B.Ed/U of T; M.Ed/York U; and D.Ed/UBC. She received a Certificate in Magazine Journalism from Ryerson U and is an alumni of Humber College’s Writing Program. Sharon founded and operated the international literary E-Zine Big Pond Rumours (2006-2019) and its associated press, releasing chapbooks of Canadian poets as prizes for the magazine’s contests. Her poetry appears as full books with Borealis, Coach House, and Cyberwit, and she has four chapbooks with BPR Press. Sharon’s short fiction is with Porcupine’s Quill, and her nonfiction appears with BPR Press. Her writing appears across Canada, the USA, Mexico, Chile, England, Wales, Netherlands, Germany, Siberia, Romania, India, Persia, Singapore, and Australia. Her 3rd poetry collection Stars in the Junkyard was a Finalist in the 2022 International Book Awards, and her narrative history The Name Unspoken: Wandering Spirit Survival School 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.

Based in Montreal, Joe Bongiorno is a journalist, teacher and a writer of prose. He has written for places like Canadian Notes & Queries, Geist, CBC, Maisonneuve, Event, Exile, The Antigonish Review and Broken Pencil. He won Event’s 2019 Speculative Writing Contest. His work has also been shortlisted for contests, including the 2024 Jacob Zilber Prize for Short Fiction and the 2021 Carter V. Cooper Contest. In 2025 he was longlisted for The New Quarterly’s Peter Hinchcliffe Fiction Award.

Erin Conway-Smith lives in Johannesburg, South Africa. She was born and raised in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Her poems have been published in The Malahat Review, Grain, Tupelo Quarterly, New Contrast, Best Canadian Poetry 2024 and other places. Her debut chapbook is forthcoming from Anstruther Press in 2026.

Alex Deng is a writer based in Toronto. He has appeared or is forthcoming in Canadian Literature, Ricepaper Magazine, La Piccioletta Barca, Frozen Sea and Periodicities. He is the author of two chapbooks: Fuzzy Trace (solipCYST) and Terminal Velocity (forthcoming 2026 with Anstruther Press). Find him on instagram @allexdeng.

Sheri Doyle (she/her) is a writer and editor living on the treaty lands and territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. Her writing has appeared in Existere, The Antigonish Review, The Ekphrastic Review, untethered magazine, and other publications, including the anthology Bring Me Gold: 50 Poems for Palestine, published by Dahlia Publishing in 2025. Her debut poetry chapbook A Dress Made from Light was published by Vocamus Press in 2022.

Amanda Earl (she/her) writes, publishes, edits, reviews and mentors fellow writers on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg Peoples. Her current work-in-progress is “desire, a footnote,” a long poem in six parts about relationship anarchy, radical love and cherished friendships. Amanda and her husband, Charles, intend 2026 to be a year of creative collaborations offered as one-off limited editions of handmade books, hybrid work, and whimsical connections. More information is available at AngelHousePress.Square.Site.

Earl is managing editor of Bywords.ca and the editor of Judith: Women Making Visual Poetry. Visit AmandaEarl.com for more info or subscribe to Amanda Thru the Looking Glass for ukulele songs, cost-saving recipe tips, quotes of the week and other trips down the rabbit hole.

Andrew French is a queer poet from North Vancouver, BC. They are the author of four poetry chapbooks, including Buoyhood (Alfred Gustav Press, 2025) and Fists You've Called Home (Pinhole, forthcoming 2026). Their work has previously appeared in Event, PRISM International, long con, and a number of other journals across North America and the UK. Outside of their own writing, Andrew has hosted Page Fright: A Poetry Podcast since 2019. They are on Instagram at @andrewwfrench.

Ayesha Habib is a writer, journalist, and photographer currently living in Toronto. Her work has been published in The Walrus, The Narwhal, The Globe and Mail, Maisonneuve, and SAD magazine, as well as in the 2024 essay anthology Back Where I Came From (Book*hug Press). She has co-produced short documentaries for CBC and has self-published a prose and photography zine called papercut.

She can be found on Instagram and X under @ayeshajenna.

Matthew Heiti was born and lives still in a meteor crater in North Ontario. He is the author of The City Still Breathing (Coach House Books) and the playwright of Black Dog: 4 vs. the wrld (Playwrights Canada Press), and his latest novel, One Soft Infested Summer, is forthcoming with Latitude 46. His short stories have won the Carter V. Cooper Award and Grain Magazine’s short fiction prize. In his spare time, he is usually working.

Cristina Holman is a poet, librarian and ceramic artist living and working on the unceded territories of the xwməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwxw̱ ú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh). Their debut chapbook, published with Artspeak Gallery in 2018, is titled Stop Wincing/We’re Fine, and their second chapbook, Repeater, was published in 2021 by Zed Press. Their work can be found in Bad Nudes magazine, Poetry is Dead, The Capilano Review, and Scrivener Creative Review.

Salma Hussain writes poetry and prose. Her fiction has recently appeared in The Humber Literary Review, The Temz Review, Queen’s Quarterly, The Ex-Puritan and Prism International. 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. A chapbook of her poems from Baseline Press released this summer 2025. You can find her on Instagram: @salma_h_writes.

Benjamin Johnson (he/him) lives and writes on Treaty 6 Territory in the Canadian Prairies, his work focusing on queering space through magic and camp. He holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts and has had work published previously by the Ex-Puritan, Necessary Fiction, Hunger Mountain Review, and others.

Ryanne Kap is a Chinese Canadian writer from Strathroy, Ontario. Their most recent chapbook, failed (after)lives (The Blasted Tree, 2024), was shortlisted for the 2025 bpNichol Chapbook Award. Their work has appeared in Augur, Grain, Canthius, carte blanche, CV2, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. Ryanne is a PhD candidate in English and creative writing at the University of Calgary and the Editor-in-Chief of The Ex-Puritan. You can find them online at ryannekap.com and X/Instagram @ryannekap.

Jeremy Teddy Karn was born in Monrovia, Liberia. He received his MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. He writes and teaches creative writing for a living. More of his writing and publications can be found on his website: www.jeremyteddykarn.com

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.

Kathryn MacDonald’s poems have appeared in literary magazines and anthologies in Canada, the U.S., the U.K., Ireland and India. Her reviews have also been published in journals across Canada and on her website (https://kathrynmacdonald.com). Her newest poetry collection, The Blue Gate, will be published by Frontenac Press, Spring 2026. She is a co-author of Liminal Spaces (Glentula Press, 2025) and is the author of Far Side of the Shadow Moon (Glentula Press, 2024), A Breeze You Whisper: Poems (HBP, 2011), and Calla & Édourd (fiction, HBP, 2009).

Liam McLean lives in Brooklyn, New York and is pursuing his MFA in Creative Writing at the City College of New York. His poetry has also appeared in The Gravity of the Thing and dadakuku. You can find him on Instagram at @daydreamsforthepeople.

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 writer whose fiction has appeared in Old Moon Quarterly and Ahoy Comics, and has been longlisted for the CBC Short Story Prize. His book reviews and non-fiction have appeared or are forthcoming in Exacting Clam, minor literature[s], Temz Review, Necessary Fiction, Samuel Pepys Club Magazine, and elsewhere. He writes the Substack newsletter Adam’s Notes.

Jérôme Melançon writes and teaches and writes and lives in oskana kâ-asastêki / Regina, SK.
His fourth poetry collection, Prairial·es, is now out with Prise de parole. He has also published three chapbooks with above/ground press: Bridges Under the Water (2023), Tomorrow’s Going to Be Bright (2022) and Coup (2020), as well as one book of philosophy, La politique dans l’adversité (Metispresses, 2018). He has edited books and journal issues, and keeps publishing academic articles that have much to do with some of this. He sometimes translates poetry for periodicities as well as other text in other places, and is currently working on translations of books by Denise Desautels and by Phyllis Webb. He is on various social media under variations of @lethejerome.

Sreeja Naskar is a young poet based in India. Her first poetry collection, Sunflowers and Silhouettes, was published by BriBooks. Her work has appeared in Poems India, Lake Poetry, Cordite Poetry Review, ONE ART, Ink Sweat and Tears, Crowstep Journal, The Chakkar, Trace Fossils Review, and elsewhere.

Robin North is an emerging writer currently living in Toronto. Her debut short story Night Shift was published in FreeFall Magazine. She was a top three finalist in the CANSCAIP Writing Competition and is currently working on her first novel, Godfather Death. Her first screenplay, dead saints, which she co-directed and produced, appeared at several film festivals and won awards, including Best Drama and Best Lead Cast. Most recently her short story Night Shift was adapted for the screen with funding from The Canadian Council for the Arts, The Ontario Arts Council, and the Toronto Arts Council.

Lizzy Ke Polishan is a poet and author from Pennsylvania. Her recent poems appear in or are forthcoming from Gulf Coast, Southeast Review, Waxwing, Passages North, Black Warrior Review, and many others. The Managing Editor of River & South Review and a poetry reader for Psaltery & Lyre, Lizzy is the author of the poetry collection A Little Book of Blooms (2020). Find more of her work on her website https://www.lizzykepolishan.com or on Instagram @dizzymiss.lizzy.

Jeremy Qu is a writer and engineering student at the University of Toronto. His work has appeared in Mnerva, a University of Toronto campus literary journal, and he is excited to debut in The /tƐmz/ Review. He is also developing his skills in fiction editing, with a focus on developmental editing.

Dixa Ashariel Ramirez is back to writing fiction after a long sidequest as a literary scholar. Her first novel, Mist, will be released in March 2026.

John Saul grew up in Liverpool and now lives in London, UK. Widely published, his short fiction has appeared in the Stinging Fly, Dalkey Archive's Best European Fiction and (twice in) Best British Short Stories. Awaiting its first north American buyer, a fourth collection, The Book of Joys, came out in 2024. He has a website at www.johnsaul.co.uk

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.

Elena Sénéchal-Becker is a Montréal-based writer and PhD student at McGill University. She runs Groundwork, a creative workshop dedicated to supporting queer writers.

Instagram: @elena.online

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.

Fendy S. Tulodo stays in Malang, Indonesia. He makes art from words and sound, looking at how time moves slow for some, fast for others, and why certain bonds don’t break even when they should. By day he sells bikes. At night he writes songs, records them as Nep Kid. His work sits in the silent gap between what’s spoken and what’s really meant. Find him on Instagram at @fendysatria_

Jim Waters' story is a curious one. After he earned his MFA in Creative Writing from Arizona State University in 1986, life in its capriciousness (twists and turns, wounds and healing, the sublime and the ridiculous) saw fit to take him away from writing creatively, and now, in his 69th year, he has returned to this love. He is working on a novel and a collection of short stories, of which “The Invention of Waves” is one. It is his first published story. He lives in Chandler, Arizona, with his wife. They have three grown daughters.

His Instagram handle is writerjimwaters.

Nicole Yurcaba (Нікола Юрцаба) is a Ukrainian American of Hutsul/Lemko origin. Her poems and reviews have appeared in Appalachian Heritage, Atlanta Review, Seneca Review, New Eastern Europe, and Ukraine’s Euromaidan Press, Lit Gazeta, Chytomo, Bukvoid, and The New Voice of Ukraine. Nicole holds an MFA in Writing from Lindenwood University, teaches poetry workshops for Southern New Hampshire University, and is the Humanities Coordinator at Blue Ridge Community and Technical College. She also serves as a guest book reviewer for Sage Cigarettes, Tupelo Quarterly, Colorado Review, and Southern Review of Books. Her poetry collection, The Pale Goth, is available from Alien Buddha Press.