WRITE THE MAGAZINE OF THE WRITERS’ UNION OF VOLUME 48 NUMBER 4 CANADA WINTER 2021 On Being a Black Canadian Writer 11 Creating Through Community 18 The Power of Industry Transparency 20 Lit Comp-Donate promo 2020_Geist ad 2020 21-01-12 1:22 PM Page 1 EXILE’S FICTION AND POETRY COMPETITIONS $15,000 Carter V. Cooper Short Fiction Award $10,000 for Best Story by an Emerging Writer $5,000 for Best Story by a Writer at Any Career Point $3,000 Gwendolyn MacEwen Poetry Award $1,500 for Best Suite by an Emerging Writer $1,500 for Best Suite by a Writer at Any Career Point OVER $100,000 AWARDED TO CANADIAN WRITERS THROUGH COMPETITIONS THAT SUPPORT EMERGING TALENT AND WRITERS WITH AN ESTABLISHED PUBLISHING HISTORY DEADLINE: MARCH 20, 2021 (due to Covid-19, the submission dates for this round of competitions were changed, and have been extended) Details at: ExileQuarterly.com – under “Competitions” 13 WINNING AND SHORTLISTED AUTHORS HAVE GONE ON TO FULL BOOK (OR FIRST BOOK) PUBLICATION WITH EXILE EDITIONS: Silvia Moreno-Garcia*1 Christine Miscione*2 Matthew Loney* Veronica Gaylie Linda Rogers Leon Rooke Martha Bátiz*3 Hugh Graham*4 Rafi Aaron Austin Clarke 5 George McWhirter 5 Jeff Bien Coming summer 2021: most recent emerging winner Katie Zdybel’s* collection, Equipoise *Author’s first collection of stories. 1 Aurora Short Fiction Award, finalist. 2 ReLit Short Fiction Award, winner. 3 International Latino Book Award for Best Popular Fiction, winner. 4 Danuta Gleed First Book Award, finalist. 5 ReLit Short Fiction Award, finalist. all books available at www.ExileEditions.com / free shipping within Canada Lit Comp-Donate promo 2020_Geist ad 2020 21-01-12 1:22 PM Page 1 EXILE’S FICTION AND POETRY COMPETITIONS COMING SOON $15,000 Carter V. Cooper Short Fiction Award 3 debut $10,000 for Best Story by an Emerging Writer Black $5,000 for Best Story by a Writer at Any Career Point writers $3,000 Gwendolyn MacEwen Poetry Award you need $1,500 for Best Suite by an Emerging Writer to follow $1,500 for Best Suite by a Writer at Any Career Point in 2021 Pulsing with vitality and Sifton Tracey Anipare’s Using inventive forms, Persephone’s OVER $100,000 AWARDED TO CANADIAN WRITERS intense human drama, Cheluchi contemporary fantasy is rich with Children chronicles Rowan Onyemelukwe-Onuobia’s debut imaginative storytelling about a McCandless’s odyssey as a Black, THROUGH COMPETITIONS THAT SUPPORT EMERGING TALENT is set against four decades of demon-fi lled dreamworld and a biracial woman after escaping the vibrant Nigeria and celebrates the young woman teaching English stranglehold of domestic abuse. AND WRITERS WITH AN ESTABLISHED PUBLISHING HISTORY resilience of women. in Japan. Available Oct. 2021 Available May 2021 Available Sept. 2021 DEADLINE: MARCH 20, 2021 Read with us. (due to Covid-19, the submission dates for this round of competitions were changed, and have been extended) These are your stories. @dundurnpress Details at: ExileQuarterly.com – under “Competitions” 13 WINNING AND SHORTLISTED AUTHORS HAVE GONE ON TO FULL BOOK (OR FIRST BOOK) PUBLICATION WITH EXILE EDITIONS: Photo: Red Works Photography Silvia Moreno-Garcia*1 Christine Miscione*2 Matthew Loney* Veronica Gaylie Linda Rogers Leon Rooke Martha Bátiz*3 Hugh Graham*4 Rafi Aaron Austin Clarke 5 George McWhirter 5 Jeff Bien TWUC WEBINARS Coming summer 2021: most recent emerging winner Katie Zdybel’s* collection, Equipoise Professional development — for writers, by writers. *Author’s first collection of stories. 1 Aurora Short Fiction Award, finalist. 2 ReLit Short Fiction Award, winner. Learn more at writersunion.ca/webinars 3 International Latino Book Award for Best Popular Fiction, winner. 4 Danuta Gleed First Book Award, finalist. 5 ReLit Short Fiction Award, finalist. all books available at www.ExileEditions.com / free shipping within Canada national council twuc national office Chair Executive Director Anita Daher John Degen, ext. 221 First Vice-Chair [email protected] Rhea Tregebov Contents WINTER 2021 Associate Director Second Vice-Chair Siobhan O’Connor, ext. 222 Heather Wood [email protected] Treasurer Fund Development & Richard King Projects Manager Gaeby Abrahams, ext. 223 BC/Yukon Representative [email protected] Caitlin Hicks Office Administrator Alberta/NWT/Nunavut 5 Editor’s Note Valerie Laws, ext. 224 Representative [email protected] Janice MacDonald WRITER’S BLOT Membership, Equity & Manitoba/Saskatchewan Engagement Coordinator 6 Industry Q & A Representative Jessica Kirk, ext. 226 Bruce Rice [email protected] FEATURES Ontario Representative 8 Writing to Build Community Kim Fahner BY LAWRENCE HILL Quebec Representative Tommy Schnurmacher 11 On Being a Black Canadian Woman Writer Atlantic Representative BY CHERYL THOMPSON Stephen Kimber Advocates DISPATCHES Kevin Chong 14 The Poetry of Possibility Cobra Collins Alejandro Saravia BY ELIZABETH MUDENYO 15 Playing with Form BY ROWAN MCCANDLESS Guest Editor Chelene Knight 16 Going Up on the Rough Side of Black Canadian Guest Editorial Board Valérie Bah, Lawrence Hill, Rhonda Kronyk, Dwayne Morgan Kidlit Copyeditor Nancy MacLeod BY NADIA L. HOHN Write Magazine Advertising Gaeby Abrahams [email protected] 18 Fieldnotes from Africville: Creating Through Design soapboxdesign.com Community Layout Gaeby Abrahams BY SHAUNTAY GRANT Cover Illustration Chelsea Charles chelseacharlesillustration.com 19 Writing from Within BY DIANAH SMITH Views expressed in Write do not necessarily reflect those of The Writers’ Union of Canada. As a member magazine, Write provides FEATURES space for writers’ individual opinions. We welcome a diversity of views and respectful debate in these pages. All submissions are welcome. 20 Who is Your Audience: The Things I Learned Services advertised are not necessarily endorsed by the Union. from Both Sides of the Industry BY WANDA TAYLOR We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts. 23 A Pedagogy of Sincerity, Inquiry, and Courage BY BRANDON WINT 26 Artistic Growth Through Authentic Mentorship We acknowledge funding support from the Ontario Arts Council, an agency of the Government of Ontario. BY ZALIKA REID-BENTA 29 NEWS MEMBER NEWS & AWARDS Write is produced four times yearly by The Writers’ Union of Canada, Announcements 460 Richmond Street West, Suite 600, Toronto, Ontario, M5v 1Y1 30 T 416.703.8982, F 416.504.9090, [email protected], www.writersunion.ca. 31 Awards © The Writers’ Union of Canada, 2021. 32 New Members The text paper used for this issue contains 100 percent post-consumer fibre, is accredited EcoLogo and Processed Chlorine Free, and is processed in a mill that uses biogas. If you would like to help us save on paper, please contact [email protected] or 416-703-8982 ext. 223 to request future online editions of the magazine. Thank you. 4 write Editor’s Note By Chelene Knight When I was asked to edit this issue of Write knowing I would be working exclusively with Black writers, I desired the opportunity to In this issue, we as a group ask: Is there truly equitable space respond to their pieces; to go back and forth and at the table for more Black writers, agents, acquisitions editors, entrepreneurs, teachers, and CEOs to talk about the known converse with these writers. I wanted to slow nuances of publishing books, supporting authors, and creating down and tell them how their pieces affected stories that change the way we see the world? Is there time for us to learn about one another? All of the pieces in this issue offer me and how I saw them fitting together, as a me hope. They tell me it is possible and necessary. But how do community. we get there? I am the only writer in my family. My parents didn’t read to I take to heart the relationship that can form when a Black editor me as a child, and I was often discouraged from having my face and Black writer are encouraged to sit down together, even for a buried in a book, but I refused to let go of the worlds I was falling short time. Why is this relationship such a rare occurrence? into and the ones I was creating. I recall building stories that When I initially read through all of the pieces in this issue, I felt started at the end, and spiralling characters into unmentionable a common thread poking out from beneath the pages. Although predicaments, but not having any idea if this was how writing these stories and opinions are offered to us on the page through started. As a young girl I would write letters to my father telling different perspectives and various experiences, I couldn’t ignore him all the stories I was creating and what was happening in the cohesiveness. To me, this issue of Write began to feel as if we my day. My younger cousin and I would write humorous, far-off were all deep in conversation. tales about movies we’d seen and plop them into mailboxes I’ve always known that through community and collaboration addressed to no one in particular. What if we are encouraged we could indeed visit and at the very least explore a reimagining to explore storytelling through uniquely constructed containers of the Canadian publishing industry. We envision the necessity and structures as Rowan McCandless does in her piece on craft, of transparency in Wanda Taylor’s piece and how open “Playing With Form”? What if our entry point into the world communication with authors and publishers can empower us to of writing starts with writing a letter like Lawrence Hill speaks create and sustain diverse spaces. And it is that sustainability that about in his piece? What if we could show the decision-makers has been the missing link for so long. Even if Black voices make that there is a demand and desire for work that unfolds in ways it onto the page, and into the decision-making rooms, how do we we’ve not seen before? What about Dianah Smith’s exploration of ensure this space is equitable? Equity and equality are two very language to tell our stories in a way that is authentic to us? What different things.