Editor’s Notes

Greetings Dear Readers,

Welcome to 2022. In our first issue of the year, natalie hanna pays homage to the late, great bell hooks. Kathleen Klassen goes back. Liam Burke is loudest before touchdown. I hope you enjoy the issue.

On these cold, harrowing Omicron winter nights, poetry is necessary. You can attend several virtual readings, including the Tree Reading Series, Urban Legends, In Our Tongues Reading and Art Series, and Riverbed Reading Series. See the calendar for more information.

Did you make a new year’s resolution to submit more poetry to journals this year? Please put Bywords.ca on your list. Whether you are just recently starting to send out your work or a seasoned veteran, we welcome your poetry. When you submit your poems, you will receive an acknowledgement within forty-eight hours with a user id and password so that you can verify the formatting and revoke (withdraw) poems if they are accepted elsewhere. Within three months of submission, you will receive an acceptance or a rejection via e-mail for each poem. Accepted poems not only receive an honorarium, but also are considered for the 2022 John Newlove Poetry Award. This year’s judge is Toronto poet, Jacqueline Valencia. The Newlove Award comes with a plethora of lovely prizes including the chance to have your chapbook published with Bywords.ca, and to appear at the Ottawa International Writers Festival.

When we set up Bywords.ca way back in 2003, we did it from the point of view of poets because I am one and have suffered the frustrations of attempting to get my work published. You will not listen to the echo of silence in your in box after sending us your work. You will get a response when we promise, and you will get paid for publication. Gratitude to the City of Ottawa for making that possible. It might surprise you to learn that we need your poems to ensure we are viable and worthy of support from the City. So when you send us poems, you ensure we keep going. Since we publish a monthly poetry magazine, we have a voracious appetite. Tell your friends. Please read the guidelines and send us your unpublished poems, a current mailing address, a short bio and the name we should make the cheque out to.

I am grateful to our selection committee, which is made up of twelve diligent and hard-working readers who vote on the poems. You can read about the selection committee on the About page.

Thanks to our selection committee this month:

Jesse Aubin
Dan Boland
Chris Johnson
Sarah Kabamba
Margo Lapierre
Stephanie Mason
Kemisha Newman
Jade Riordan
Marjorie Silverman
Carol A. Stephen
JC Sulzenko

If you have comments, suggestions, questions or just need a friendly ear or shoulder, please feel free to e-mail me at amanda@bywords.ca.

Amanda Earl
Managing Editor

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