A Thousand Tiny Awakenings is an Anthology That Carries the Hope and Resilence of a New Generation

Independent Ontario publishers continue to amplify the voices of young and marginalized writers, and one of our most interesting new publishing houses, out of mighty Sudbury, has played a significant role in this endeavour. 

Today we're featuring A Thousand Tiny Awakenings (Latitude 46 Publishing), a fantastic new anthology curated by co-editors Lindsay Mayhew & Connor Lafortune. These collected expressions all come from emerging authors who challenge oppression with their narratives, poems, and artworks. These are powerful pieces full with hope and resilience, all of which represent a new generation willing to challenge the status quo and inspire meaningful change. 

Check out this fascinating Collected Thoughts Anthology interview with both of the editors of the collection, right here on Open Book!

Open Book:

What drew you, personally, to this subject matter, and why was this the right time to gather pieces in book form? 

Lindsay Mayhew and Connor Lafortune:

The subject matter of A Thousand Tiny Awakenings is harmonious with our personal writing and who we are. We are both young poets, writers, academics, and activists who work to undermine oppressive structures and create a better world. 

Lindsay personally writes about sexism, patriarchy, and religious trauma, a theme that is also explored by other contributors in the anthology. While Connor focuses his writing towards the ongoing history of colonialism, overcoming anti-Indigenous racism, and unpacking the dominion of cisheteropatriarchy and compulsory monogamy. 

As young writers, we also understand how difficult it is to be taken seriously. We wanted to create a space where young artists and their emerging stories mattered. A Thousand Tiny Awakenings, although it listens to many different forms of oppression, is interested in mutual liberation and revolution. These pieces have always been and will always be needed. There is never a wrong time to unite young voices in creativity and resurgence. 

We are writing in a time where colonialism and cisheteropatriarchy are ever-present and history is repeating itself. We structured the anthology to bring attention to this fact. The violence that is happening in Canada is also happening to others across the globe.   

OB:

How did you select the pieces for this book? What were you looking for when assembling it?

LM & CL:

A Thousand Tiny Awakenings is an exploration of the new generation’s creative voices; it desires to dismantle the restrictive systems that continue to oppress. While selecting pieces for the anthology, we sought to find stories that had not yet been shared. The authors explore themes of overcoming through a contemporary lens. These writers were chosen due to their expansive thoughts, voices, and expressions. We aspired to piece together a single story told in segments. The collection offers a glimpse into how new generations of writers understand their experience and use their collective power to shape the future. 

OB:

How do you view the pieces in the book as speaking to each other? 

LM & CL:

We were pleasantly surprised at how interconnected many of the pieces were, even though the contributors wrote from a wide variety of perspectives. 

Some recurring themes were home and community. The writers balanced feelings of despair, anger, and frustration with brilliant glimmers of perseverance, determination, and belonging.  

The pieces center a wide array of experiences; anti-Black racism, religious sexism, and colonialism, to name a few, but these writers were unified in their methods of resurgence and reaching for hope. 

OB:

What do you hope readers will take away from these pieces, after having read them all? Is there a question you set out to address or delve into through these works?

LM & CL:

We hope our readers feel held and understood in their struggles, however vast or small. We hope that the stories they read in A Thousand Tiny Awakenings inspire them to write poetry, write creatively, write about their lives, and share their voice. We hope they walk away understanding that their voice is not only important but imperative. 

There is a beautiful community of young artists that is emerging, and we seek to use our talent to write against oppressive forces and make a better world. We hope that A Thousand Tiny Awakenings continues to start conversations, unify young voices, and create the same belonging that many of the anthology’s authors reach for. 

OB:

Did you get to work with any writers you already knew for this project? Tell us a bit about those pieces and how you worked with the writers you knew prior to this book? 

LM & CL:

We are blessed to be surrounded by a community of immensely talented writers, a few of whom we were excited to work with. 

Our close friend Grant Neegan designed the cover of the book. We sat down at a coffee shop together, ranted about our vision for the book, and read poems to Grant while he sketched ideas for the cover. It was a dream come true to work together on a project. 

Lisa Shen, renowned spoken word artist and Youth poet laureate of Mississauga, travelled with Lindsay to the international Womxn of the World poetry slam in 2024. Her piece “i am living by the minute” is a wistful and refreshing exploration of survival and perseverance; we collaborated on the form of her piece. Her name was not on her submission, so publishing her work was a delightful surprise!

There were others that we were honoured to work alongside again, such as Jesse June-Jack, Ra’anaa Yaminah Ekundayo, and Brennan Gregoire. 

OB:

How do you view the role of an editor in relation to an anthology or collection? 

LM & CL:

We viewed our role as storytellers stitching pieces together to create a tapestry that spoke to overcoming the obstacles in our wake. A Thousand Tiny Awakenings represents a story that builds with each page. Combining the voices of 15 young authors, we aspired to find a throughline described by each piece: Resistance, Abolition, Revolution. We sought to push the boundaries of acceptability by calling out to the readers to listen, engage, and activate their sense of responsibility. This collection subverts the expectations of passive metaphors by using them to draw comparisons to bodies, violence, and genocide. As curators, we aspire to create a revolution. 

OB:

How did you approach incorporating your own work in the overall project? 

LM & CL:

We saw our pieces as a bridge between the stories. We ensured our work allowed for a seamless transition between themes. Having incorporated our work after having chosen the pieces for the overall project, we understood the story the anthology was telling and added our voices to facilitate their passage. 

During our collaboration for the final poem, we sought to encompass the spirit of the anthology itself by utilizing metaphors already discussed by other authors. It represented a coalescence of voice and thought which spoke back to the reader. We imagined the piece as a final call to action. 

OB: 

What are you working on next?

LM & CL:

The collection has inspired us to write collaboratively on pieces in the future. Our collective voices embody a singular mind that shares stories from multiple points of view. Our unique experiences allow for an expansive understanding of the world we occupy and the ways in which we can bridle the foundation. We hope to explore this further in poetry and spoken word, and we are excited to see what creations are to come. 

Connor is currently working on a collection of his own, Exploring Existence: An Everlasting Life instead examines the intersection between existential dread and radiance. Relying on both extremes, it explores an honest reckoning with the human experience. The poetry in this collection speaks to the complexities of Queer Indigenous identity, the tension between traditional knowledge in colonial institutions, and the profound ways in which writing can compel us to ponder our place in the world.  

Lindsay is currently offering workshops on spoken word, written poetry, and publishing. She hopes to encourage emerging writers to participate in the literary scene and have the confidence to share their stories. She is also working on a poetry collection, Things That Keep Us, which explores how social media and “archives” can be a form of feminist agency. Lindsay will be competing in the Canadian Individual Poetry Slam in Vancouver, 2025. 

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Connor Lafortune is from Dokis First Nation on Robinson Huron Treaty territory of 1850 in Northeastern Ontario. He works primarily in Life Promotion, harm-reduction, mental health, and Indigenous education. He completed his Bachelor’s Degree at Nipissing University with a Double Honors Major in Indigenous Studies and Gender Equality and Social Justice. He is currently in the Masters in Indigenous Relations at Laurentian University. Connor is Anishinaabek, Queer, and Francophone; he uses his understanding of the world to shape his creations as a writer, spoken word poet, and musician. Connor often combines the written word with traditional Indigenous beadwork and sewing to recreate the stories of colonization, showcase resilience, and imagine a new future. He recently released a single in collaboration with Juno Award winner G.R. Gritt titled “Qui crie au loup? ft. Connor Lafortune.” Above all else, Connor is an activist, a shkaabewis (helper), and a compassionate human being.

Lindsay Mayhew (she/her) is a spoken word poet and author from Sudbury, Ontario. She is a recent English Literature Master’s graduate from the University of Guelph. Lindsay is the multi-year champion of Wordstock Sudbury’s poetry slam, a runner up in the 2024 Womxn of the World poetry slam, and she has featured in events across Ontario, including the YWCA, JAYU Canada, Nuit Blanche, and Wordstock Literary Festival. Lindsay’s written work can be found in the Literary Review of Canada, Moria, and multiple editions of Sulphur. Her work combines art and theory to voice feminist futures and human rights advocacy.