Join us on Thursday May 28 2026 7:00 pm in Winnipeg, Grant Park in the Atrium at McNally Robinson for Unforgettable Characters: Three Canadian Authors in Conversation, hosted by the resplendent Lindsay Wong!
More details below and you can RSVP to the event by clicking the link in my Linktree bio.
Streaming on YouTube
Join acclaimed author Lindsay Wong, with Zilla Jones, Alison Gadsby, and Hollay Ghadery for an evocative conversation. Their books travel the world and into the minds of unforgettable characters. Find out where they came from, and where they’ll take you.
This event will be hosted live in the Atrium of McNally Robinson Booksellers, Grant Park and also available as a YouTube stream. Presented with support from the Writers’ Union of Canada and Canada Council for the Arts.
🫶🏼 Zilla Jones is an award-winning writer, anti-racist educator, lawyer, and singer. Recognized by the CBC Prize, the Journey Prize, the RBC Bronwen Wallace Award, she was also chosen as a Writers’ Trust Rising Star. She lives on Treaty 1 territory. The World So Wide is her debut novel.
🌊 Alison Gadsby lives in Tkaronto, where she hosts Junction Reads, a prose reading series. Her debut novel, Dreams Of The Weary is forthcoming from Palimpsest Press. Breathing is How Some People Stay Alive is her first collection.
🪻 Hollay Ghadery is a multi-genre writer living on Anishinaabe land. The author of an award- winning memoir, Fuse, a collection of poetry, Rebellion Box, a collection of short fiction, Widow Fantasies, and a chapbook. The Unraveling of Ou is her debut novel.
❤️🔥: @mcnallyrobinson@zilla.jones@lindsaywong.m@ay.jay.gee@river_street_writes
#winnipeg #winnipegmanitoba #bookishcanadians #bookstagramcanada #ireadcanadian
Every journey outside the house comes with its own particular anxieties, and for some of us those fears feel irrational and we can talk ourselves into believing, everything will be fine, everything will work itself out. Social anxiety is a very real and debilitating experience. How does someone manage social anxiety with a facial difference? For Duncan being social is imperative to his health and wellbeing-he loves being around people. But that hasn’t made initial interactions any easier. There is always a hurdle, an anxious obstacle, if you will.
But for many people living with visible differences and disabilities, that “working itself out” requires a self-determination and fearless step forward many don’t understand. Duncan shyly avoided ordering food from a restaurant (until recently..:now if you try to order for him…watch out) or going into a fast food place or coffee shop shop alone, and for a very long time we talked about, about the challenges of payment, of saying the right thing when ordering, of being clear when you order. What I couldn’t counsel was how to acknowledge or not, how to see without seeing, how the server responds, how other patrons respond to his very presence.
This presence is why @faceequalityint have chosen this campaign of #seenandserved because for many people with visible differences, being seen can sometimes lead to not being served, or being ignored or delayed.
You can donate to Duncan’s campaign for @aboutfacecanada #moveit campaign through the link.
From the moment Duncan was born, we were put on a medical train that has mostly treated, managed and monitored life and sight threatening medical issues, but first we were referred to a dermatologist, then a plastic surgeon, because the sooner we treated the birthmark, the better his life would be. That was before we knew the importance of laser to stave off hypertrophy and nodules that happen more frequently in men than women. They said, “We can fix that.”
And we jumped on board because we knew this world. What happens when people with visible differences and disabilities do everything to “fit in” to “fix” themselves with make-up, concealing clothing, devices and special equipment (that are not covered by healthcare plans)? Society drops the ball – they never pick it up – and people with visible differences and disabilities are told they don’t fit, that their presence is making other people uncomfortable, they are followed around with curious contempt, they are told they are not welcome. We worried for Duncan, but not for long. Duncan reminded us every day that worrying was a waste of time – he was moving forward, full steam ahead.
@faceequalityint 2026 campaign #seenandserved focuses on the experiences of people with facial differences in hospitality and retail settings, such as cafes, bars and shops. Reminder: Face Equality is a human right.
Donate to Duncan’s #moveit campaign for @aboutfacecanada the link is in my bio.
As many parents fill out forms and finalize the week(s) their kids are going to spend at summer camp, there are just as many parents who wish there was a place for their kids, a summer camp where their child will be embraced for who they are, and #camptrailblazers was that for Duncan.
I remember sitting at Sick Kids in the surgical waiting room and it was just before the summer. We were chatting with parents of another kid with a facial difference. I mentioned Camp Trailblazers because we had just registered. I’ll never forget the dad saying, “we don’t put him in things like that. He is one of six kids and we treat him just like the other kids.” That they wanted so much for their kid to be “normal” and to not go to camp with “different” kids. It was not only ableist, but disregarded their child’s experience in the world. It’s pretty obvious we all want our kids to be treated equally, that they should be allowed to experience the world in all its wonder, but their philosophy of exposing their kid to “normal” camp because he’d be stronger for it, better able to “fit in”. I almost cried. In treating their child as though he wasn’t different, they erased his experience, they nullified the struggle, they didn’t see his face. That sadness stunned me silent.
What I wish that dad knew was the glorious joy on the faces of kids at Trailblazers who are embraced for who they are and not for their difference. Duncan opened up all those summers and I think it’s why he has the confidence to blaze trails, not fearless, but more sure of himself.
Support @aboutfacecanada thru Duncan’s fundraiser linked in my bio. Send a few kids to camp.
#faceequalityweek #moveit @aboutfacecanada@faceequalityint
From the moment he could walk (and some of you will know he was almost two before he walked confidently) this kid has been walking.
As a mother I had to learn pretty quickly to keep my mouth shut. As Duncan walks he is always focused on the journey and the destination….and talking…and music….and smiling from ear to ear.
My noticing made him notice and I didn’t want his joy undermined by my rage.
I’d love to say that when he was a kid I only noticed people because I was a protective mom keeping an eye out, but I can’t. We’ve been followed, we’ve been tracked down by people determined to show their friends what they missed and we’ve been approached in public to answer ridiculous questions about potential allergies or burns or other forms of bullshit masked as caring.
And as he does his massive city marathons (40 km weekly walks) I often wonder about the people who see him - but the truth is they don’t matter. If you stare at people with facial or visible differences, you don’t matter. If you follow people around or ask intrusive questions, you don’t matter. If you can’t see the beauty of difference and that beauty standards are another oppressive tool of conformity within a capitalistic fascist system, you don’t matter.
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What matters is that your opinion isn’t used as an excuse to discriminate and dehumanize, that your opinion doesn’t change the way we legislate human rights and labour laws. That your opinion is never the reason this kid doesn’t feel safe eating in a restaurant, or walking for hours on the beach or for a day across our city.
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Donate to Duncan’s campaign for #moveitmay as we raise money for our favourite charity. The link is in my bio.
International Face Equality Week 2026 kicks off this week!
From 11-15 May 2026,
I’ll post a few messages about why face equality is a human right and how that is undermined in the media.
You can also donate to @radio_host.duncan #MoveIt Campaign thru @aboutfacecanada the link is in my bio.
@faceequalityint is “shining a light on the experiences of the facial difference community in hospitality and retail settings; such as restaurants, cafes, bars and shops.”
I have shared a few of our experiences being followed around and stared at by servers and patrons, which is why this campaign is so important. Nobody deserves to be treated like an object to feed your curiosity.
While Duncan has never been refused service, some people have. “Imagine how you would feel if a café refused to serve you because of the way you look; or a restaurant asks you to leave because your appearance might upset the other diners. Bars are often a place where the facial difference community face comments and abuse from strangers but often staff too. People with facial differences encounter discrimination throughout day-to-day life – often being ignored, refused service or mistreated when out and about.
Let’s change that.”
This is everyone’s business.
You can get “involved with International Face Equality Week, whether you have a facial difference or not. Let’s make sure that people with facial/visible differences are seen and served.”
TOMORROW NIGHT! - HOWL CIUT 89.5FM @ciut895fm - 10pm - 11pm
Host Allison Alison Gadsby @ay.jay.gee welcomes poet Uchechukwu Peter Umezurike @uche_peter_umez talking about his latest poetry collection “We Survived Until Could Live” (University Of Calgary Press) & poet Charlie C Petch @saw.poet talking about their latest poetry collection “Infinite Audition” @brick.books
TUNE IN TOMORROW NIGHT!
You can listen online at ciut.fm on your mobile device by downloading the TuneIn app Rogers Cable Channel 946, Bell Fibe TV Channel 970 and Star Satellite Channel 826
Thank you always for your listenership & support
#poetry #spokenword #radio
My mum isn’t a huge fan of having her photo taken, she isn’t a fan of herself; to be honest she wasn’t told she could ever love herself, always failing, always falling, always not good enough. That made being the greatest mother the most difficult job in the world for her, and that led to many silences, absences and challenges for us. I was a very emotional child, so I spent most of my life feeling unloved and neglected (sure didn’t help the other parent was an abusive drunk). The truth I know now, that I didn’t know then, that I maybe didn’t even appreciate ten years ago, was that while she struggled to survive and to find herself in this fucked up world, she raised five kids who all would rather hang out with her than most other people. And I am grateful that – through all of our ups and downs –I learned how to be a mom. There is no greater gift than to be my mother’s daughter, and to be mom to my three beauties. Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms and to all the children, for whom this day is not as simple as they make it out to be in all the hallmark cards.
I can’t believe I forgot to include my skipadeedoo down the highway to Blurlington a couple of weeks ago. My plan was to include @differentdrummerbooks in my #indiebookstore reel because it was such a great experience. They had a few copies of my book but it was how graciously we were received. I love this book store!!
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#shoplocal #shopindiebookstores #burlington @guernicaeditions@river_street_writes
Who else loves short stories? ❤️
We are stoked to see four of the short story collections we’ve been celebrating featured in this BookTrib column by Michael Schmidt!
💫 The Library Cosmic: Stories by Benjamin Berman Ghan, forthcoming with Wolsak & Wynn, May 26, 2026
🌊 Breathing Is How Some People Stay Alive by Alison Gadsby, released March 2026 with Guernica Editions
🩷 Weird Babies (short fiction) by Jaclyn Desforges, released April 1, 2026 with Gordon Hill Press
🍁 SuperCanucks: An anthology of Canadian small-town superheroes, edited by Matthew Del Papa and Andy Taylor, released March 21, 2026 with Latitude 46 Publishing
“Canada is fortunate to have a longstanding tradition of some of the best short story writing found anywhere, including the talents of Margaret Atwood, Alistair MacLeod, Carol Shields and others — too many to name in one introduction. These iconic names aside, there’s never been a more exciting time to read fresh, contemporary voices earning their place in the Canadian canon of short fiction, or to discover someone new.”
—Michael Schmidt, BookTrib
Click our LinkTree bio link to read more.
🫶🏼 : @booktrib@theepictom_
#nationalshortstorymonth #shortfiction #shortstory #shortstories #ireadcanadian
I read so many short story collections in 2023 as I edited and reimagined all the stories in my collection so that it would be all that I wanted it to be before I queried publishers. And I am grateful for all of them, because inspiration and influence comes from all the books I’ve read!
📖 These four were opened and closed a number of times.
Kathryn Mockler writes funny and darkness so well in ANECDOTES. While not a comparison, there is a way that @themockler gets to the heart of pain with emotional language that sears.
📖
Kim Fu’s LESSER KNOWN MONSTERS OF THE 21ST CENTURY is a book that I dream of being compared to because it’s everything I want to write - the fantastic, fabulist, monstrous speculative worlds of these stories all scream the fears and reality of living in the world.
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I have said this before, and I will keep saying it, but RAFAEL HAS PRETTY EYES by Elaine McCluskey was a life changing collection for me. Not because it is incredibly well-written and thoroughly enjoyable, but because the characters in these stories are EVERYTHING! They are brilliantly unique and as a writer of weirdos it was truly a joy to whip through these stories, so that I could open the book and start all over. @mouseythegreycat is on my read forever list.
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CHRYSALIS by Anuja Varghese is also a wonderful escape from the ordinary, dreamy, mythical, magical, real and surreal, they aren’t connect by genre, but a feeling, like poetry or fairy tales, there’s an underlying message waiting for you. So much greatness coming from @anuja_v
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#shortstorymonth #shortstorymonth2026
