Columnists

On Middles

Recently I sat at the booksellers’ table during a poetry reading. This is best-case scenario seating. You might feel a little nervous that you’ll spill your drink on hundreds of dollars of merch, ...

What I Wish Every Aspiring Children’s Author Knew About Publishing

It seems like book publishing is a mysterious, captivating industry to many people. It barely gets represented in pop culture and when it does get featured (Elf and Fatal Attraction come to mind), ...

“A poem discloses something,” an Interview with AF Moritz

If there is such a thing as an eternal place, poetry of AF Moritz inhabits it. In his work, history, myth and nature provide scaffolding that holds epic-minded verse, at once in awe of beauty and trembling ...

On racialized motherhood, writing, and sleep deprivation

The day before my son’s due date, I sent what I thought was the final draft of The Better Mother to my editor. The baby’s bedroom was finished: yellow walls, penguin stencil, gingham curtains. My ...

An Interview with Jeff Latosik

“A poem is an acquaintance with the contradictory complete experience and hopefully affirms human life.” The tender, humanistic poetry of Jeff Latosik can feel deeply refreshing at this particular ...

On respectable narratives and why diversity on the page matters

Growing up, I was very particular kind of Chinese girl. I attended Chinese school on Saturdays. I took piano lessons. My report cards were always the best in my class. I played first clarinet in my school ...

“In my poetry, I make room for what escapes stories,” an interview with Bänoo Zan

Bänoo Zan is one of those incredible poets that give back to poetry and community more than they take. As well as being the author of two collections of poetry, she is also an educator, translator and ...

On writing politically, or how not to make your fiction sound like a lecture

When I started writing my most recent novel, The Conjoined, I began with the idea of subverting classic crime fiction, something that I thought would be a fun bookish game. What if I could write a literary ...

An Interview with Justin Million, host/star of KEYBOARDS!

For the last few years, Peterborough poet Justin Million has been hosting (starring in? living? breathing?) a weird interpretation of the poetry reading called KEYBOARDS! As with any reading, poems are ...

An interview with Stevie Howell

“All instruments, our own vocal chords, are just us messing around w/airwaves. So, magic." - Stevie HowellThe poetry of Stevie Howell works on the mind like memory recall. “Between all matter exists ...