OUR 2020 - 2021 AUTHORS
After an intensive selection, our team have chosen the following authors for publication in the fall of 2020 and early 2021. We are currently working on producing our first season of chapbooks, and hope to meet everyone soon. Please look forward to reading the poignant and essential works of our favourite writers!
EMILY RIDDLE
Emily Riddle is a nehiyaw iskwew and a member of the Alexander First Nation. She grew up in Edmonton, where she once again finds herself writing about women, governance, art and the romance of these all. Her writing has been published in the Teen Vogue, The Globe and Mail, Vice, Canadian Art, Prism International, among others. She is a library worker and researcher who is trying to spend more time writing both poetry and non-fiction in 2020, while remaining committed to reality tv viewing and kombucha brewing.
NAMITHA RATHINAPPILLAI
Namitha Rathinappillai (she/her) is a Tamil-Canadian spoken word poet, artist, and writer who has entered the poetry community in 2017. She has been involved with Urban Legends Poetry Collective (ULPC) ever since her engagement with the Ottawa arts community, and made ULPC history as the first female and youngest director. She is a two-time Canadian Festival of Spoken Word (CFSW) team member with Urban Legends Poetry Collective, and she published her first chapbook titled ‘Dirty Laundry’ with Battleaxe Press in November of 2018. She has been involved as a performer and a workshop facilitator within the Ottawa community at spaces such as Tell em Girl, Youth Ottawa, the Artistic Mentorship Program, Carleton Art Collective, The Fembassy, Youth Services Bureau, and more.
JENNIFER ALICIA
Jennifer Alicia (she/her, they/them) is a queer, mixed (Mi’kmaw/settler) storyteller originally from Ktaqmkuk (Newfoundland), now residing in Toronto. She is a two-time national poetry slam champion with the Toronto Poetry Slam team and member of Seeds & Stardust: an Indigenous women's poetry collective. Find out more about her work here: www.jenniferalicia.com
ANGELA Y. LAW
Angela Y. Law has lived in Beijing, Hong Kong, New Zealand, and New York. They have survived a household fire and a high-altitude monkey chase. Angela teaches special education in the Bronx and writes to reclaim white spaces. "REVIVAL" is Angela's debut chapbook. You may read more of Angela's writing at: https://yutongthepoet.wordpress.com/
OMAR RAMADAN
Omar (he/him) is a Lebanese Canadian poet, writer, and University of Calgary PhD student based in Edmonton Alberta. Omar’s work is centred on nostalgic memories of home, oppression, and trying to navigate living in a colonized place as the child of immigrant parents. Omar's work has recently been published conventionally in the first issue of Lida Literary Magazine
SULVA
Sulva (They/them) is a Pakistani, Muslim, queer, neurodivergent poet centred in Scarborough, Ontario. They were a semifinalist in the 2019 Canadian Festival if Spoken Word and that is the fanciest poetry thing they’ve done so far. Currently they’re trying not to die from Corona because they are a member of the Toronto poetry slam team and will be competing in Dallas, NPS in 2021 and it would be rude to the team to die. They are also easily overwhelmed by simple tasks like writing a bio. Also they really like dinosaurs.
LESLIE JOY AHENDA
Leslie Joy Ahenda is a queer Black poet living and working on unceded Lekwungen & W̱SÁNEĆ territory. She was educated at the University of Victoria, where she was an editorial intern for The Malahat Review. She is currently pursuing an MFA at the University of Guelph. In October 2019, she attended the Emerging Writers' Intensive with Canisia Lubrin at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Her work has appeared in CV2, filling Station, Plenitude, and more.
GABRIEL CASTILLOUX
Gabriel Castilloux (THEY/THEM) is nij-manidowag (two spirit) Mi'kmaq, Algonquin, Scottish and French Canadian. They currently thrive in Amiskwacîwâskahikan (ᐊᒥᐢᑿᒌᐚᐢᑲᐦᐃᑲᐣ) (Edmonton). Gabe is actively involved in several different forms of traditional Indigenous culture and ceremony, as a drummer, and a grass and buffalo dancer, and proudly celebrates a drug and alcohol free life. Gabe is a first-time author of, “Andwànikàdjigan” in Love After the End by Arsenal Pulp Press, 3rd place short story contest winner 2019 with “Ishkode” in Prairie Fire and 1st place short story contest winner 2019 with “Fire” in Historica Canada in conjunction with the Governor General’s Awards for Indigenous Arts and Stories. They are the 2nd place champion of the Canadian National Slam Poetry competition. Gabe has also been chosen to represent the two spirit community as: Mr Two Spirit International 2019-2020.
