Editor’s Notes

Greetings Dear Readers,

This month’s issue features poems of memories: lavender, pears and memory, mothers and daughters, pirates and imagination, a visit to a museum, an urban scene of sprinklers and mist. I hope you enjoy the issue.

On the day the October issue goes online, I turn sixty. I am very grateful to be here. My heart is filled with gratitude for the part that Bywords.ca has played in my life for the last twenty years: introducing me to the poetry of current and former Ottawans, being able to learn about and participate in a thriving and caring literary community and witnessing the resilience of small press publishers and bookstores through challenging times, seeing them thrive. Thank you to all of you for your contributions to this rich and engaging community. We need connection through creative work more than ever.

One of the ways that we celebrate and thank the Bywords.ca team and the local literary community is through our annual John Newlove Poetry Award. This year it takes place on Friday, October 27, 2023, at 5:30pm, once more generously hosted by the Ottawa International Writers Festival. As always, we will have the pleasure of opening and closing the celebration with music. Our musician this year is Audrey Saparno, who I first encountered at an Art House Café Open Mic last spring. When I heard her beautiful voice, I knew right away that I wanted to invite her to be part of the Newlove Poetry Award celebration this year. Rachel Small, last year’s Newlove Award recipient will launch her chapbook, Joan of Media. Our editors have spent the last year working with Rachel on her manuscript. It is always a pleasure to be part of this collaborative and creative process. Finally, I will announce the winning poem and the honourable mentions for this year’s award, a well-kept secret for many months. Our judge this year was Manitoba poet and mudlarker, Ariel Gordon.

Please attend in person if you can or watch on the OIWF site. I will also share a link to the recording once it is online. If you are attending, please be advised that there’s a lot of construction going on near Christ Church Cathedral, and you’d be advised to park at the Supreme Court and walk over, making sure you give yourself a lot of time. There’s another event at 6:30pm, so we’re going to be on a tight schedule.

Thanks to our selection committee this month:

Jesse Aubin
Dan Boland
Chris Johnson
Sarah Kabamba
Andrew Lafleche
Margo Lapierre
Stephanie Mason
Kemisha Newman
Jade Riordan
Jagjeet Sharma
Marjorie Silverman

If you have comments, suggestions, questions or just want to say hello, please e-mail me at amanda@bywords.ca.

Amanda Earl
Managing Editor

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