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attempt/ to take wing” and – the last lines in the book – “A sugar-swollen monarch/ will shiver its way to warmth.”

As I have meant to imply, Locked in Different Alphabets is a courageous writing endeavour, in which the author, much like her parents, takes on the roles, all at once, of a witness, a victim and a survivor. The book holds its own among other accounts by authors of Fiszer’s generation who have memorialized their parents’ horrific early lives and their aftermaths while forthrightly exposing the effects on themselves. The effect of this book, then, though to a great degree sombre and troubling, is ultimately, when one reaches the end, consoling and an affirmation.

Locked In Different Alphabets by Doris Fiszer Silver Bow Publishing (2020) ISBN-13 : 978-1774031063 Purchase Locked In Different Alphabets

Andrea Actis is a writer, editor, memorial maker, and secondgeneration settler living on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and TsleilWaututh Nations. She teaches literature and writing at Capilano University and was Editor of The Capilano Review from 2015-17. Her first book, Grey All Over, is an autoconceptual study of traumatic grief, white working-class identity, false prophets, and whole seriousness. Visit www.andreaactis.com for more information.

Richard Brait

R.J. Calzonetti is a youth poet who loves how the abstract, intense and dark epics poetry can be. Identifying as he/him, he was born in 1997 and is asexual. He often finds himself writing hour after hour, never satisfied. He was a finalist two years in a row at the Burlington Poetry Slam within the first two years of writing. He has since branched out from spoken word into other forms of poetry. Headline Poetry and

Press published a good dozen of his poems, and for several months he worked together with the head editor who he owes a great debt. After leaving the magazine in order to focus more on building his skills in hopes of eventually publishing a booklet, he has been bunkered up for two years of constant writing. His early work focused on mental illness and abstract works. These days he focuses on improving in new areas. He wants to be inspired by experienced poets, and eventually, be among them.

Margaret Code

Ellie Csepregi has been a cultural worker since 1972. Born in Budapest and grew up in Calgary, Alberta, she has lived and worked in several cities: New York, Vancouver, Toronto, Chengdu, but now calls Windsor, Ontario home where she raised her two children and taught high school English for over twenty years. She studied theatre arts and creative writing in NYC, the University of Calgary and the University of Windsor. Ellie has served on several literary, art and social justice committees.

Jennifer Bowering Delisle (she/ her) is the author of Deriving (forthcoming March 2021), and The Bosun Chair (2017). She regularly teaches creative writing at the U of A Faculty of Extension, and is a board member of Edmonton’s NeWest Press. She has a PhD in English from UBC, and is also the author of The Newfoundland Diaspora: Mapping the Literature of OutMigration (2013). She is a settler in Amiskwaciwâskahikan/Edmonton/ Treaty 6.

Sheri Doyle

Eva Halus is a painter, poet and journalist born in 1967 in Bucharest, Romania. In 1989 she came toCanada, reuniting with her father’s family. She lives in Montreal, where she completed Graphic Design studies at Concordia University in 1993, took journalism and photojournalism studies at University of Montreal (2013-2015) and some studies in organising events at the City Counsel in NDG neighbourhood. A trilingual author, writing in English, French and Romanian, she published ten poetry books, following the same concept and format: poetry illustrated with her own paintings. The first three books are published at Reflections Publishing Editing House in California, followed by books published in Montreal (through the Association of Romanian Poets from Quebec, the Hyegrafix Press in Ville St-Laurent, L’Essor du livre, Lanoraie, Lanaudière and Cervantes Editing, Romania). Her poems are found in various anthologies in North America and Romania: Who’s Who in Poetry from San Francisco, Across the Canyons from Eber & Wein Publishing House in Pennsylvania, The Val-David Note Books from the Laurentians, The Anthologies of ASLRQ from Montreal, The Anthology of the Editing House Singur from Romania, etc. Her translation

work includes the translation of Soliloquies – a poetry book of Veronica Balaj, (from Romanian to English) and the translation of a Romanian Anthem that was the sound track of a documentary film made in San Franscisco. Eva Halus is a permanent collaborator at different newspapers and literary magazines published in Romanian in Montreal and Toronto, like Accent Montreal, and Candela de Montreal, The Observatory, as well as at the online magazine Raga zine from New York, where she writes in English.

Dharmpal Mahendra Jain Born (1952) and raised in tribal reserve of Jhabua, India, Dharm is a Toronto based author. He also writes in Hindi.

Beth Lexah

Khashayar Mohammadi is a queer, Iranian born, Torontobased Poet, Writer, Translator and Photographer. He is the author of poetry Chapbooks Moe’s Skin by ZED press 2018, Dear Kestrel by knife | fork | book 2019 and Solitude is an Acrobatic Act by above/ ground press 2020. His debut poetry collection Me, You, Then Snow is forthcoming with Gordon Hill Press.

Zayn Ojoawo An emerging poet based in Tkaronto, colonially known as Toronto, and presently residing on Treaty 6 territory, Zaenab is a bright new voice in the world of spoken word. Performing under the stage

name Zayn, they masterfully weave stories of love, resilience, family, and healing. After becoming the 2019 London Poetry Slam Grand Slam champion, Zaenab was a finalist at the 2019 Canadian Festival of Spoken Word poetry slam along with their London Ontario team. Zaenab is a prolific writer, poet, and organizer with a vested interest in helping young people like themself find their voice and speak their Truth.

Kimberley Orton is a poet/stage poet, playwright and photographer who lives and works in downtown Toronto. She has been published by Playwrights Guild of Canada along with several other poetry publications, and her plays Raven, An Act of Ruth, and The Savage Lily have been produced in Toronto, Ottawa, New York and Chicago. Kimberley holds degrees from U of T in Theatre and English Literature, and is currently completing her MFA in Creative Writing at UBC.

Angelica Poversky (they/them) is a queer non-binary RussianJewish poet who has over 7 years of poetry experience and facilitation experience. They’ve taught poetry workshops in schools, libraries, with youth groups, in community centres, and dozens of festivals across North America. Much of their poetry has been devoted to queer and trans celebration and dreaming beyond patterns of trauma. An intuitive empath, their practice is informed by nurturance culture building and poetry as a political, personal, and spiritual power. They have written extensively on the topics of transness and Judaism, diaspora, and healing justice. They know that language is action, and lives at the site of all transformation.

Anthony Purdy lives in Nova Scotia where, after an academic career spent at universities in New Brunswick, Ontario and Alberta, he is happily acquiring a new skill set as he repurposes himself as a writer of fiction and poetry. He started writing creatively for publication in 2020 and has since published, or had accepted for publication, three stories and eighteen poems in journals and magazines such as The Goose, Prairie Fire, The Dalhousie Review, The Fiddlehead, and Queen’s Quarterly. He is a member of the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia and an Associate Member of the League of Canadian Poets.

Deanna Radford

Brian Sankarsingh is a Trinidadianborn Canadian immigrant who describes himself as an accidental poet, with a passion for advocacy and a penchant for prose. Arriving in Canada in the 1980s, Brian worked tirelessly to forge a life and career for himself. In so doing, he inadvertently shrouded his love for poetry. Now, with his children all grown up, he has rediscovered his voice. With renewed vigour and an unapologetic style, Sankarsingh is committed to maddeningly screaming his poetic ponderings from whatever rooftop or soapbox he can find. Wading into controversial topics like systemic racism and

politics, Sankarsingh’s readers should think about his poetry as social and political commentary.

Lindsay Soberano-Wilson My poetry is best described as accessible, colloquial, rhythmic, repetitive, and concise sprinkled with wordplay and imagery. I seldom use punctuation and instead use enjambment. I am also a high school English and Drama teacher in Toronto. I have been teaching for over 15 years. I love working with and inspiring teenagers. My background in the dramatic arts also lends itself well to the spoken word. Watch my spoken word dramatic monologue I Call this Trauma on IG @Poetry.Matters. I performed poems like “The Streets of Munich” (also in the upcoming chapbook) at arts festivals in Toronto and also dabbled in open mic nights in Kensington Market. I love traveling and exploring new cultures in my writing. I have traveled to Israel, Egypt, Greece, Spain, Italy, England, Germany, Morocco, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and the US and Canada. I am interested in trauma poetry and healing and also write about topics such as mental health and suicide. I am currently working on additional poetry chapbooks about motherhood, trauma healing, and sex-positivity. As a feminist, bisexual writer, I look at sexuality in the eye and question cultural norms and practices and evoke sensuality. For instance, my poem “Sex Miseducation” explores how women lack education in reproductive health and sexual desires, while “Through the Looking Glass” questions sexual cultural norms. These poems can be found in publications on my medium platform. I hold a Bachelor of Arts degree (honors) in English and Creative Writing from Concordia University, a Bachelor of Education degree, and a Master of Arts degree in English Literature from the University of Toronto. While at the University of Toronto I was lucky enough to find a professor willing to work with me on an independent study course in Jewish Canadian Literature. I read a ton of work by Montreal writers, such as Mordecai Richler, A.M. Klein, Adele Wiseman, and Leonard Cohen. I live with my amazing husband and my boisterous and loveable three sons in Vaughan, Ontario. We are all hockey, nature, and food lovers!

Johnny D Trinh

Johnny D Trinh is an interdisciplinary and spoken word artist based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Exploring the use of spoken word, music, video, social media, movement, theatre, and creative technology- Johnny’s practice integrates the multi-layered realities within which we exist to create immersive spoken word experiences. Johnny’s pedagogy is rooted in the constant goal of fostering a sense of empowerment, agency, and compassion through socially engaged, community based art. Johnny recognizes that many of us are uninvited guests on this indigenous Turtle Island, and continually works to negotiate that through accountability, solidarity,