Editor’s Notes

Dear Readers,

In a serendipitous situation that sometimes happens with poetry published on Bywords.ca, both poems this time around have a connection to benches. I hope you enjoy the issue and get a chance to read poetry outside sitting on a park bench sometime soon.

Dawn Steiner is a poet whose work I have admired for many years. Joyce Liu, a poet new to Bywords, describes herself as a teenage poet. One of the qualities of Bywords.ca that I enjoy is its ability to attract submissions from both established and emerging poets. I want the space to be welcoming to all.

If you're looking for great virtual literary events, check out the Bywords.ca calendar. The Ottawa International Writers Festival has several podcast episodes and live events that will also be available on their site after if you miss them. On March 16, the Festival is featuring Jasmin Kaur, "a Sikh Punjabi poet (from Vancouver) who amplifies the voices of other BIPOC creators + to discuss social justice, feminism, and healing from trauma." This will be a live online event hosted jointly with the Ottawa Public Library.

It's also a good time to revisit last November's VERSeFest. Many of the events are still available online.

I want to take a moment to share news of the forthcoming publication of Towers, a collaborative chapbook to be published by Halifax's Collusion Books and written by several members of Ottawa's literary community who have formed a collective entitled VII: Manahil Bandukwala, Ellen Chang-Richardson, Conyer Clayton, nina jane drystek, Chris Johnson, Margo LaPierre, and Helen Robertson.

Ellen, Margo and Helen are members of our selection committee and Manahil, Conyer, nina jane and Chris have been published by Bywords.ca. The chapbook will be available in May and you can pre-order it at Collusion Books.

Ellen and Nina Jane are also the founders and organizers of Riverbed Reading Series, and Helen recently curated an event for the series. Helen is on the board of directors of Canthius and has been part of the Tree Reading Series. Chris is the managing editor of Arc Poetry Magazine and a former editor of In/Words Magazine, Margo is an editor with Guernica Editions. Manahil is an editor at Canthius and a former In/Words editor. Chris, nina jane and Conyer have been part of the Quatuor Gualuor, an Ottawaän repertoire sound poetry ensemble. I offer congratulations to the authors and thank them for continuing to help make Ottawa a thriving and caring literary community. This is why Ottawa is such a great place to live.

Thanks to our selection committee this month:

Jesse Aubin
Ellen Chang-Richardson
Dan Boland
Stephanie Mason
Kemisha Newman
Jade Riordan
Helen Robertson
Marjorie Silverman
Carol A. Stephen
JC Sulzenko

If you have comments, questions, suggestions or a bouquet of freshly picked crocuses to offer, please e-mail me at amanda@bywords.ca.

Amanda Earl
Managing Editor

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