AT LIVING HYPHEN, WE WORK TO support and UPLIFT writers across all intersections of identity. our community is made up of writers and readers alike who celebrate each other’s work.
Join us this fall 2021 in exploring new titles by emerging and established writers across what we now know as “Canada”. Scroll below to see what we’re reading this season!
Are you a writer or a publishing press looking to promote a new book? Click here to learn how we can work together.
THE GOOD ARABS by eli tareq el-bechelany lynch
October 27 @ 7 p.m. ET.
Swinging from post-explosion Beirut to a Parc- Extension balcony in summer, the verse and prose poems in The Good Arabs ground the reader in place, language, and the body. Peeling and rinsing radishes. Dancing as a pre-teen to Nancy Ajram. Being drenched in stares on the city bus. The collection is an interlocking and rich offering of the speaker’s communities, geographical surroundings both expansive and precise, and family both biological and chosen.
Get 20% off the book from Metonymy Press with promo code LIVINGHYPHEN.
THE SHAYTAN BRIDE by SUMAIYA MATIN
NOVEMBER 10 @ 7 p.m. ET.
Sumaiya Matin was never sure if the story of the Shaytan Bride was truth or myth. When she moved at age six from Dhaka, Bangladesh, to Thunder Bay, Ontario, recollections of this devilish bride followed her. At first, the Shaytan Bride seemed to be the monster of fairy tales, a woman possessed or seduced by a jinni. But everything changes during a family trip to Bangladesh, and in the weeks leading to Sumaiya’s own forced wedding, she discovers that the story — and the bride herself — are much closer than they seem.
The Shaytan Bride is a riveting true story of how one Muslim woman shaped her own fate and escaped her forced wedding.
Get 20% off the book from Dundurn Press with promo code LIVINGHYPHEN.
PERSONAL ATTENTION ROLEPLAY BY HELEN CHAU BRADLEY
NOVEMBER 30 @ 7 p.m. ET.
A young gymnast crushes on an older, more talented teammate while contending with her overworked mother. A queer metal band’s summer tour unravels amid the sticky heat of the Northeastern US. A codependent listicle writer becomes obsessed with a Japanese ASMR channel.
The stories in Personal Attention Roleplay are propelled by queer loneliness, mixed-race confusion, late capitalist despondency, and the pitfalls of intimacy. Taking place in Montreal, Toronto, and elsewhere, they feature young Asian misfits struggling with the desire to see themselves reflected—in their surroundings, in others, online.
Get 20% off the book from Metonymy Press with promo code LIVINGHYPHEN.
At Living Hyphen, we believe that representation matters. We need to see ourselves in the media that we consume to be able to imagine ourselves in experiences. We need to see ourselves in the media that we consume to aspire for opportunities greater than what may be available in our immediate world.
But more than representation, we need programming, resources, and mentorship to turn that imagining into action and into reality. That's why we've spent the last year creating programming where hyphenated Canadians feel compelled and confident to share their stories. Our book club is just one of the many ways we work to support and uplift storytellers of diverse intersections of identity. If you’re a writer looking to promote your work to a community that is dedicated to diversifying their bookshelves and learning about diverse lived experiences, let’s work together!