Editor’s Notes

Greetings dear readers,

As I am writing this note, there are only 33 days, 18 hours, 3 minutes and 57 seconds until Spring. At least until it arrives officially. Let's use the time to read some good poetry, such as the poems in this month's issue. Jean Van Loom gives us a vivid painting of the Ottawa Experimental Farm in autumn and winter; Krysta Jean Brennan gives us autumn on Monday; Jeff Blackman provides parenting memories, including the trauma of birth, and Kathleen Klassen gives us Everywoman.

In addition to the poems, we have a fine review of Laurie D. Graham's collection, Settler Education (McClelland and Stewart, 2016) by Evan J. We publish reviews of recent Canadian poetry books and chapbooks at a rate of $75 for 500-1000 words. Please send me a pitch at amanda@bywords.ca.

One of Bywords' missions is to make sure that no one misses an event because they didn't know about it. For that reason we include a calendar. Along those same lines, we'd like to ensure that no one misses an event because the event is held at an inaccessible venue. We've begun creation of an accessible guide to literary, spoken word, storytelling and nonfiction venues. It's called Access Word Ottawa. Here's the link to the FaceBook Page: Access Word Ottawa . The idea is to offer organizers who care about accessibility the opportunity to hold events that accommodate everyone who wants to go. Disabilities refer to both visible and nonvisible disabilities. For more information, please visit Access Word Ontario.

Already I can tell you that all of the branches of the Ottawa Public Library, except for the Richmond Branch, are fully accessible. There's a small fee for non profit organizations.

I am in communication with disabled writers and activists who will tell us what they need in terms of accessibility, including sign language for deaf and hearing impaired people, service dogs and other requirements. By the end of 2018 I hope to have a guide with several options for accessible venues. If you have any contacts for me to work with, please let me know.

Finally I'd like to welcome the newest member of our selection committee, Margo Lapierre, a former and future Ottawa resident whose first book of poetry, Washing Off the Raccoon Eyes, came out with Guernica Editions last year.

Thanks to our selection committee this month:

Wes Babcock
Robert Martin Evans
Jason Lamantia
Margo Lapierre
Tanya Mead
Fiona Mitchell
Kemisha Newman
Jade Riordan
Carol A. Stephen
JC Sulzenko
Rob Thomas

If you have comments, questions, suggestions or a warm sunny day to offer, please e-mail me at amanda@bywords.ca

Amanda Earl

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