HENRY HEAVYSHIELD is a Blackfoot reader and writer from Kainai (Blood Tribe First Nation) living at home on Treaty #7 territory. His work has appeared in Canadian literary magazines and journals, including Riddle Fence (2023 poetry contest winner) and The Capilano Review (2023 contest winner). He was also a 2024 Bronwen Wallace Award and Indigenous Voices Award finalist in the short fiction categories. Read more of Heavyshield’s work in EVENT 52/3 . The post Poetry: “kainai ndn days pow-wow 2023” by Henry Heavyshield appeared first on EVENT ..read more

Kate Kennedy Reviews: Marta Balcewicz, Big Shadow, Book*hug Press, 2023 Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette, Trans. Rhonda Mullins, To the Forest, Coach House Books, 2023 We meet Judy, the protagonist of Marta Balcewicz’s debut novel, Big Shadow, in the summer between high school and her first year at the local university, where her mother works. Judy’s time has been commandeered by her cousin Christopher and his friend Alex, who assign her to watch the clouds overhead at the country house they’re looking after in Alex’s mother’s absence. They are waiting on the arrival of something they call the Big Sha ..read more

CASSIDY McFADZEAN is the author of three books of poetry including Crying Dress (House of Anansi, 2024). Her fiction has appeared in Joyland, Maisonneuve, The Malahat Review and PRISM international. She won Silver at the 2020 National Magazine Awards for her poems published in EVENT 48.1. Read the full story in EVENT 52/3 and read an interview with McFadzean here. The post Preview: “Fracture” by Cassidy McFadzean appeared first on EVENT ..read more

Connor Harrison Reviews: Deborah Dundas, On Class, Biblioasis, 2023 Tree Abraham, Cyclettes, Book*hug Press, 2022 There is an incredible amount you simply do not know when you’re raised in the ‘lower class.’ You know of those who have more money than your parents, but you don’t quite understand the true scale of it. You are sure that the best and quickest way out of poverty is, of course, sudden fame or the lottery, but you don’t see the bait for what it is yet. You know that university education exists, is even within reach, but you have no idea where to look, whom to ask, what to read or ho ..read more

Eleanor Hoskins Reviews: Chelsea Vowel, Buffalo Is the New Buffalo, Arsenal Pulp Press, 2022 Corinna Chong, The Whole Animal, Arsenal Pulp Press, 2023 From the outset, Buffalo Is the New Buffalo is a boldly ambitious collection that both represents and accomplishes a lot of work. There is the work of developing a new tradition: it is explicitly a text ‘not interested in being overly specific with genre’ beyond its development of the literary and political project of Métis futurism, which ‘envision[s] a number of potential futures rooted in [the author’s] history, community, and worldview,’ an ..read more

Marcie McCauley Reviews: Marie Hélène Poitras, Trans. Rhonda Mullins, Sing, Nightingale, Coach House Books, 2023 Barbara Joan Scott, The Taste of Hunger, Freehand Books, 2022 Marie Hélène Poitras’s Sing, Nightingale and Barbara Joan Scott’s The Taste of Hunger contemplate familial and literary inheritance, as descendants of Anne Hébert and Jane Rule on desire and self-determination, and of M. NourbeSe Philip and Lee Maracle on womanhood and survival. Characters question the gap between their experiences and the stories they’ve been told, with all the expectations, frustrations and, sometimes ..read more

Our biggest fundraiser of the year is back! Join us at the Douglas College concourse in New Westminster between March 18th and 22nd for five days of bookselling madness! Throughout the year, we gather books from local authors, educators, and publishers to offer a diverse range of fiction, non-fiction, children’s books, textbooks, and more. Discover affordable prices and an extensive collection of fresh reading material. Plus, check back daily as we’ll be adding new books as they come in. The post EVENT’S Annual Used Book Sale is Back! appeared first on EVENT ..read more

Thank you to everyone who entered our 2023 Non-Fiction Contest. And the winners are… FIRST PLACE ($1,500): ‘Flowering,’ Austen Lee, Edmonton, AB SECOND PLACE ($1000): ‘Hungry Daughter,’ Britt Gillman, Deep River, ON THIRD PLACE ($500): ‘Where to Look,’ Suzanne Galante, San Carlos, CA The winning entries, along with judge Omar Mouallem’s essay, will appear in EVENT 53/1 (Spring/Summer 2024). Congratulations to all the other short-listed entrants: ‘Every Possible Way,’ Adèle Barclay, Vancouver, BC ‘Torpor,’ Adrienne Gruber, Bowen Island, BC ‘The Weight of the World,’ Teya Hollier, Ea ..read more

KAREEM TAYYAR’s most recent book, Keats in San Francisco & Other Poems, was published by Lily Poetry Review Books in 2022, and his work has appeared in a variety of literary journals, including Poetry Magazine, Prairie Schooner and Alaska Quarterly Review. His poem, “Two Poets,” received the 2022 Atlanta Review International Poetry Prize, and his novel, The Prince of Orange County, received the 2020 Eric Hoffer Prize for Young Adult Fiction. In 2020 he was awarded a Glenna Luschei Poetry Prize, and in 2019 he was a recipient of a Wurlitzer Poetry Fellowship. Elena Johnson: Congratulations ..read more

Lara El Mekaui Reviews: Mariam Pirbhai, Isolated Incident, Mawenzi House, 2022 Saeed Teebi, Her First Palestinian, House of Anansi Press, 2022 How many incidents does it take before a state admits to a systematic problem within society? Mariam Pirbhai’s debut novel Isolated Incident probes this question through a thrilling tale of angst and apprehension within a Muslim community in Ontario, concluding with the Quebec City mosque shooting on January 29, 2017.  Following the vandalism of a mosque on the outskirts of Toronto, university student Kashif Siddiqui and his fellow members of the ..read more