A Mawenzi House Holiday Gift Guide December 4, 2020 – Posted in: Gift Guides

With so many family members to love on, friends to delight, and colleagues to impress during the gift-gifting season, many of us find ourselves overwhelmed by the endless browsing and comparing and guessing and shortlisting that goes into holiday shopping. Thankfully, we know that books remain evergreen gifts—they are wonderfully aesthetic, provide long hours of enjoyment, and have lasting significance for those who receive them. Here at Mawenzi House, we’ve put together a gift guide for you so that finding that memorable book for…

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Four Days Before November 17, 2020 – Posted in: Guest Post, Poetry

I don’t need roses or chocolates. What would I do with buds when they fade, the cracked frieze of a once living leaf. As for chocolates I suffer the bane of middle age, a slight protuberance that needs no additional support. So I will go now for my morning walk but I have something to share before I do, news of a poetry channel on YouTube that grows and grows in viewers. I am close…

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Lien Chao’s Salt in My Life Reading April 7, 2020 – Posted in: Readings & Excerpts

Lien Chao’s latest collection contains seven chapters of bilingual poetry created in the past decade, covering a wide terrain of subjects, art forms, and poetic styles, including a reflective travelogue, lyrics inspired by situations, concise vocal lyrics for symphony orchestra, and finally, a multimedia-poetic stage production. By challenging the genre of poetry and its terrain, this new collection continues to build a cultural bridge across the boundaries between two totally different languages. In the audio readings…

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Happy Lunar New Year! January 25, 2020 – Posted in: Holidays & Observances

Happy Chinese New Year! 新年快乐! Last year, we celebrated some of our authors who were born in the Year of the Pig, and this year, we have no one from the Year of the Rat! What we did find out though, were the lucky colours for whoever will be celebrating the Rat, and we compiled a list of some blue, green and gold books for you! Fun fact: one of the lucky numbers for rats…

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Holiday Gift Guide November 11, 2019 – Posted in: Gift Guides

Struggling to find the perfect gift? It’s no secret that books are a great choice, but let’s face it…not just any book will do! Supporting diverse Canadian lit this year is just as important (and rewarding!) Imagine helping your friend or family member discover their next favourite author that they wouldn’t have chosen for themselves. You’ll be the holiday lit(erary) hero in no time at all! So before you hit the bookstores, check out our…

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Pride Highlight: Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha June 24, 2019 – Posted in: Book Recs, Highlights

More about Leah: Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha is a queer disabled femme writer and performer of Burgher/Tamil Sri Lankan and Irish/Roma ascent. Her most recent titles are the nonfiction book Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice (2018) and the poetry book Tonguebreaker (2019). Her memoir Dirty River was a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award and a Publishing Triangle Award (Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction). She is also author of the poetry books Bodymap and Love…

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National Indigenous People’s Day: Featuring Joseph A. Dandurand June 20, 2019 – Posted in: Book Recs, Highlights, Holidays & Observances

In celebration of National Indigenous People’s Day, we are celebrating with Joseph A. Dandurand, and his newest book of poetry, SH:LAM (The Doctor), where he lives the experiences of an Aboriginal people brought to the edge of extinction. In the Author’s Note, Joseph says: “The poems in this collection tell the truth of what has happened to my people. The Kwantlen people used to number in the thousands, but 80% of our people were wiped…

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Pride Highlight: Trish Salah June 19, 2019 – Posted in: Book Recs, Highlights

More about Trish: Born in Halifax, Trish Salah is the author of the Lambda award winning Wanting in Arabic, and of Lyric Sexology Vol. 1, and co-editor of a special issue of TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly on Transgender Cultural Production. She has fiction in the science fiction and fantasy anthology, Meanwhile, Elsewhere and poetry in numerous magazines, including Anomaly, Prism International and Supplement. In 2018 she was a finalist for the Dayne Ogilvie prize.…

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Asian Heritage Month: Poetry Part Two May 28, 2019 – Posted in: Highlights

Today, we’ve got some more great poetry titles for Asian Heritage Month to bring to your attention! Don’t forget to click on the titles below to learn more about your next favourite book! “Bodymap” by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha: Finalist for the 2015 Publishing Triangle Audre Lorde Award for Lesbian Poetry, Shortlisted for the ReLit Poetry Award! In this volume, Leah Lakshmi maps hard and vulnerable terrains of queer desire, survivorhood, transformative love, sick and disabled…

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Asian Heritage Month Highlight: Poetry Part One May 21, 2019 – Posted in: Highlights

Today, we’re featuring some interesting poetry titles for Asian Heritage Month. You’ll find that each of these titles, both new and old, catch the essence of what it means and feels like to be of Asian heritage in Canada. “Rouge” by Adrian De Leonis a collection that takes us on a ride through the TTC – except you don’t have to use the transfers, or wait for hours upon hours of delays. Rouge goes deeper…