Issue 36 Contributors

​Testimony Akinkunmi is a writer, holding an LL.B from the University of Abuja. He naturally writes using narrative storytelling, grounding emotional arcs in the meticulous exploration of consequence, personal duty, and hidden liabilities.  

​Eain Arinze is a Nigerian-American author, born and raised in Washington, D.C. Her work often deals with grief, shame, and the body as an archive. She now lives in San Francisco, where she also enjoys singing opera and cuddling with her cat, Toni Meowison. She was a 2026 finalist for the Iowa Review award in fiction.

​Mei Backof is an Isabel Sparks President's Award winner, grant-funded horror freak, and lit mag enthusiast. She has been published or is forthcoming in F(r)iction, Kitchen Table Quarterly, and Blood+Honey, among others. She currently guest-edits for and has been featured in Fish Girl Collective. Find her on Substack (@meibackof)!

​Jane Berger Herschlag’s full-length poetry collection and photographs, When the Mouth Can’t Speak the Body Will, is published by Finishing Line Press.  Her docu-poetry chapbook Bully in The Spotlight is published by Pudding House Publications.  An award-winning writer, her poems and prose are included in anthologies, university presses, and online.  She seeks publication of her memoir A Failed Analysis Redeemed.  Here again, readers are taken on her arduous journey from victim to victor, traveling through her pain of discovery and her joy of gaining selfhood.  Going public in writing and at readings frees one from the captivity of abuse.  Ivo Review just nominated her for Best of the Net.

​Elwen Bernard-Kostadinov is a writer, artist, translator, and former library clerk from Cliff Island, Maine, Eastern Abenaki territory. His work has most recently appeared in Seedlings. He can be found sporadically at @easternspicywintergreen on Instagram.

​Originally from India, Sharvaree Bhalerao is a senior at the University of Cincinnati studying International Affairs & Creative Writing. She is a poet who mostly resides in fantastical worlds, and her talents include philosophizing, soliloquizing and, of course, writing. Oftentimes, she wants to discover the meaning of life between the single-lined pages of her worn-out notebook.  She wants to pursue her MFA in Poetry. Her work has appeared in the Short Vine Journal. You will always find her in a coffee shop either reading or writing.

​bonnyCD lives and works in rural Alberta (Treaty 7 territory). They are a proud founder of the reading series Feud Court (@feudcourt), alongside Jimmy T. Cahill and MLA Chernoff. Their recent books include The Repoetic: After Saint-Pol-Roux (Gordon Hill), GLADDENER (Anstruther), and Banazir Galbasi Doubtfiring with the Farmerettes (solipCYST). They are the most recent winner of the Grain Hybrid Experimental contest, and a previous winner of Geist’s Short Long-Distance Writing contest. They are currently at work on a short pamphlet advocating for wage transparency amongst writers, plus evil, purple short fictions.

​Sophia Bosma is a writer of fiction and fantasy based in Texas. Her work often centers themes of disability, identity, and grief, and she has been previously published in LookDeeper Zine. She enjoys experimenting with and exploring different forms and genres. She is currently pursuing an English degree and hopes to one day pull herself together long enough to write a book.

​Joyce Bou Charaa is a Lebanese freelance writer and book editor, with a keen interest in writing about literature, culture, and history.

​delilah Brae is an interdisciplinary artist and community worker based in Tkaronto. Her works draw from lived experience to explore the self, identity and being-in-community, with an eye to bad taste and camp. As well as producing complex, medium-transcending works in theatre, film and the written word, Brae is a front-line harm reduction worker engaged with homeless and street-involved communities in the downtown East. She most recently completed a theatre mentorship at The Bus Stop Theatre Co-Op in Halifax, Nova Scotia and has been published in Troublemaker Firestarter, Untethered and Pizza Goth. She hopes these words find you entangled in life’s glorious mess.

​D.B. is a poet living in the Republic of Georgia and the author of three self-published collections of poetry. Her most recent book, Alter Our Borders, explores ideas of belonging, memory, distance, and the shifting boundaries between people and places. A lifelong and avid reader of poetry, she has been particularly drawn to writers who combine intimate experience with larger questions of history and identity. She began writing poetry in her early twenties and has continued to develop her work independently. When not writing, she can usually be found reading poetry, discovering new writers, or returning to the collections that first inspired her.

​Ryan Di Francesco (he/him) is a neurodivergent Canadian poet, writer, educator, and Editor-in-Chief of Shadow & Sax Press. His journalism has appeared in The Toronto Star, and his poetry and fiction have appeared or are forthcoming in PRISM international, Poetry Pause (League of Canadian Poets), Luna Luna Magazine, Acta Victoriana, ExPat Press, Pinhole Poetry, Pacific Review, and elsewhere. He is the author of several chapbooks, and his collection Along Tongues Full of Time is forthcoming from Ethel Press.

Photo credit: Jim Johnstone

Amanda Earl (she/her) reads and reviews on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg Peoples. Earl is a resident reviewer for The Temz Review. Her most recent work is Slutflowers, a collaborative poetry chapbook with Matthew Walsh (Knife|Fork|Book, 2026). Earl is managing editor of Bywords.ca and the editor of Judith: Women Making Visual Poetry (Timglaset Editions, 2021). Earl creates so that kindred misfits don’t feel alone. Subscribe to her Substack: Amanda Thru the Looking Glass here. Earl loves e-mails that are not AI or spam: [email protected].

Hannah Gardiner is a writer and cultural organizer from Kitchener, Ontario. She has a master’s degree in literary studies from the University of Waterloo, where she was thrice awarded the Beltz Essay Prize. Her writing and translation projects have been supported by Canada Council for the Arts, the Region of Waterloo Arts Fund, the Brubacher House Museum, and the Mennonite Historical Society of Ontario. Find her online: http://www.hannahgardiner.ca/

​Foster Gareau is a queer French-Canadian poet, editor, teacher and researcher in Montréal. Formerly unhoused and in recovery from alcoholism, his work has been supported by the Canada Council for the Arts and appears in Arc Poetry, The Malahat Review, PRISM international, and elsewhere. His poetry was longlisted for Ploughshares’ 2026 Emerging Writers’ Contest, and he is one of seven poets selected for the League of Canadian Poets’ 2026–27 P.K. Page Mentorship. He went to Sir Frederick Banting Secondary School.

​Jim Genia—a proud Dakota Sioux—mostly writes nonfiction about cagefighting, but occasionally takes a break from the hurt and pain to write fiction about hurt and pain. He has an MFA in creative writing from the New School, and his short fiction dealing with Indigenous themes has appeared in MAYDAY, Sage Cigarettes Magazine, ANMLY, Roi Faineant, the Indiana Review, the Baltimore Review, and more. The Community of Literary Magazines and Presses included one of his stories on their reading list for Native American Heritage Month 2024.

Benjamin Haupt’s fiction and poetry have appeared in places like Absynthe and Literary Heist. He has an MFA in Fiction from the University of King’s College, and he currently lives in Victoria, BC, where he mostly spends his time writing, reading, and running.

​Salma Hussain writes poetry and prose, and her writing has appeared in various literary magazines. Her debut chapbook of poetry, What If Maybe & Other Poems, was published by Baseline Press last summer. Her upcoming young adult novel, It's Not Over Yet, will be published by Penguin Random House Canada later this year. She lives in Toronto.

​Hannan Khan—a nefelibata, poet, fiction writer, editor, and scholar of literature & linguistics from Pakistan. He combs through moments of love, death, delirium, identity, and relational complexities. He is the winner of the Native Voices Award 2025 for his poetry collection Isn’t Cooked Is Cursed, and a finalist for the Rhysling Award 2026. He is longlisted for the erbacce-prize for Poetry 2026. His work has appeared in Evergreen Review, Fahmidan Journal, Strange Horizons, Gutter Magazine, IHRAM Literary Magazine, Liminal Lit, Twenty-two Twenty-eight, Abyss & Apex, Winds Of Asia, 4LPH4NUM3R1C, Uncanny Magazine, Native Voices II: The Cry of Creation, Full Bleed, and Cahava Literary Journal, and is forthcoming in Variety Pack, Spoon Knife, and Broad Ripple Review. Instagram: @hannan.khan.official

​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.

​Andrés López is an undergraduate writer studying English and Women & Gender Studies in Lincoln, NE. Andrés’s work covers queerness, Latinidad, familial grief, and survival in Midwest America. He is nominated for Best of the Net 2027 and has been published in Tough Poets Review, &Change, dreamboybookclub, Queer Poem-a-day, and more. His forthcoming work will be seen in GUTMAG and WREATH, among others.

​Christian Hanz Lozada’s (he/him) near-accolades include two Pushcart and Best of the Net nominations, runner up in the Blossom Contest for BIPOC writers, and almost having dated Super Bowl halftime star Jessica Alba (if an initiated conversation counts). He wrote the poetry collection He’s a Color, Until He’s Not. His poetry has been published worldwide, including in Zocalo Public Square, Bamboo Ridge, and Emerson Review. 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.

​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’s fiction has appeared in Old Moon Quarterly, Ahoy Comics, and has twice been longlisted for the CBC Short Story Prize. His book reviews have appeared in minor literature[s], The Temz Review, Necessary Fiction, and elsewhere. He writes the Substack newsletter Adam’s Notes. Originally from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, he now lives in Alberta.

​Maria Meindl is the author of a memoir, Outside the Box, a novel, The Work, and many short fiction and non-fiction pieces, including in The Temz Review. In 2005, she founded the Draft Reading Series, which is still going strong after 20 years. She teaches Feldenkrais movement classes, and runs a webinar series called The Work, Straight Talk on Craft and Method, about the history of wellness, fitness and performer-training methods.

​Breeze Navarro is a speculative writer from Florida. Their work has appeared in Five on the Fifth, Twin Bird Review, and Thimble Literary Magazine. If they aren’t reading or writing, they’re hiking in search of birds, mushrooms, and stars.

​James Owens's poems and translations appear widely in literary journals, including recent or upcoming publications in Event, FreeFall, Dalhousie Review, Poetry Ireland Review, Arc, and The Classical Outlook. He lives in a small town in northern Ontario and teaches writing at Laurentian University.

​Violet Pitsker holds a Bachelor of Arts from Oberlin College and a Master of Social Work from Portland State University. She grew up in Los Angeles and enjoys playing the piano and performing comedy. She was a 2026 McCormack Writing Center Summer Scholar and is currently at work on her debut novel.

​Jessica Popeski is a queer, dis/abled opera singer, professor, and intersectional ecofeminist poet. Named one of Tkaronto’s “exceptional up and coming writers” by Open Book, she authored Oratorio and The Wrong Place with Anstruther Press, and the problem with having a body and grenoside with Gordon Hill Press. She was raised in Moscow and Sheffield by her mother and grandmother, and lives with her pit bull-poodle on land which is covered by Treaty 13 and the Williams Treaties, the traditional territories of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples.

​Ben Robinson is a poet, musician and librarian. His first book, The Book of Benjamin, an essay on naming, birth, and grief was published by Palimpsest Press in 2023. His poetry collection, As Is, was published by ARP Books in September 2024. He has only ever lived in Hamilton, Ontario on the traditional territories of the Erie, Neutral, Huron-Wendat, Haudenosaunee, and Mississaugas. You can find him online at benrobinson.work.

Stan Rogal was born in Vancouver and now lives and writes in Toronto along with his artist partner, Jacquie Jacobs. Work has appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies in Canada, the US, Europe and Asia. The author of 28 books, including 8 novels, 7 story and 13 poetry collections. A produced playwright and former coordinator of the popular (now defunct) Idler Pub Reading Series in Toronto. Retired from the UofT Standardized Program where he worked with Health students and professionals on improving technical and communication skills. No other distinguishing marks or scars that show.  

​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.

Michelle Sinclair worked as a human and labour rights policy analyst for many years. Her work appears in Literary Review of Canada, The Antigonish Review, CRAFT Literary and other journals. Her short story was longlisted for the 2025 CBC short story prize. Her first novel, Almost Visible, was published in 2022. She lives in Ottawa. 

Joshua St. Claire is an accountant from a small town in Pennsylvania. His poetry has been published or is forthcoming in the /tƐmz/ Review, The Tampa Review, Osiris Poetry, Modern Haiku, and Lana Turner. His haiku have received several rewards, including Rattle: Poets Respond.

​Aaliya Sylvia is a writer from Winnipeg, Manitoba. She holds a BA from the University of Winnipeg, where she studied English and Creative Writing. Alongside writing reviews and curating book listicles, Aaliya has also been working on her dark academia psychological horror novel.

Ontario resident Lisa Timpf writes poetry, book reviews, short stories, and creative nonfiction. Her speculative poetry collections Cats and Dogs in Space (2025) and In Days to Come (2022) are available from Hiraeth Publishing in print and electronic formats. Lisa is a member of SF Canada and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association. You can find out more about her writing projects at http://lisatimpf.blogspot.com/. Lisa is also on Bluesky, @lisatimpf.bsky.social 

​Alba Zalli is a Computer Science student at the University of Waterloo. He loves to write about being transgender, about technology, and all sorts of other intersections. Alba’s writing has appeared in the Wellington Advertiser and the University of Waterloo’s MathNews publication. In his free time, Alba enjoys playing classical guitar, bouldering, and going to concerts. You can find his other projects online at albas.world.