Engen Books and Quadrangle are proud to reveal three more authors to-be-featured in their collaboration anthology featuring stories by and about the 2SLGBTQIA+ community.
Quadrangle’s mission is to create a community centre for 2SLGBTQAI+ individuals and organizations in Newfoundland and Labrador, a space that is a resource for building community resilience and connection, and that provides supports for existing initiatives of our 2SLGBTQAI+ community. As a registered charity, both working toward having a community centre, and taking up projects like this one contribute to Quad’s vision of contributing to sustainable, positive, community connections. All profits from this collection will go towards that goal.
The title of this year's collection will be Acceptance: Stories at the Centre of Us. Stories were selected by Ailsa Craig, Sulaimon Giwa, AJ Ryan, and, Sarah Thompson.
Daze Jefferies is an astonishing author and vocal talent living on the Bay of Exploits. Her work will appear in the highly anticipated Land of Many Shores: Stories from a Diverse Newfoundland and Labrador, edited by Ainsley Hawthorn from Breakwater Books. She has also produced poetry and hybrid text which has been published in many journals, magazines, and anthologies including Arc, The Dalhousie Review, untethered, HELD, WORD, transVersing, and Hustling Verse. "I am so honoured that this story-poem can find a home in the Quadrangle collection," says Jefferies. "This work helps illustrate the necessity of forming a body of queer and trans literature born and bred in Newfoundland and Labrador." She brings with her her poem Abandoned Land-Child.
Secondly, Engen is proud to announce that Liana Cusmano will be joining our collection, the President of the Green Party of Canada from Montreal, Quebec. 2022 will see the release of their first novel, Catch & Release, from Guernica Editions. Previous publications also include “Matters of Great Unimportance” in Influence and Confluence, East and West: A Global Anthology of the Short Story, edited by Maurice A. Lee, and, “Superhero Pill” in The Radiance of the Short Story: Fiction from Around the Globe by editors Maurice A. Lee and Aaron Penn. When asked for comment, Cusmano said: "I feel honoured and proud to be a part of this collection, and grateful to be joining the 2SLGBTQ+ voices in this volume." They bring with them their short story Concerns.
Thirdly we have Andar Wärje, and his short story The Psychopomp. "I'm thrilled to have a story included in this collection," said Wärje. "Especially this weird, scary, allegorical, and strange story about the power of friendship that has such a special place in my heart. I think every genre of story can be healing and nurturing for our spirits, including scary stories." Wärje was born and currently lives on stolen Coast Salish territory, and strongly believes in the healing power of stories. Previous to this, his work has been published in the Spring 2021 Malahat Review, with "Hopeful Materials: A Nordic Trans Man's Response to Ibsen."
Interested parties can click here to preorder Acceptance: Stories at the Centre of Us from Engen Books, expected in the Fall of 2021. All profit from the collection goes toward Quadrangle's community efforts.
Acceptance: Stories at the Centre of Us will feature twenty-two stories from twenty amazing authors. Stay tuned to Engen Books for more author announcements and reveals.