Poetry – Creative Nonfiction Collective

Autobiographical Poetry

December 5, 2023

Craft, Guest Blog Posts, Interviews, Members, Members Blog, Poetry

Autobiographical Poetry: Interview with Kate Rogers About Hollay Ghadery: Hollay Ghadery is an Iranian-Canadian writer living in Ontario. She has her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph. Fuse, her memoir of mixed-race identity and mental health, was released by Guernica Editions (2021) and winner of The Canadian Bookclub Award for nonfiction/memoir. Her collection of poetry, Rebellion Box, came out Radiant Press in 2023 and her collection of short fiction, Widow Fantasies, is scheduled for release with Gordon…

Book Review: Betsy Warland, Lost Lagoon/ lost in thought

March 31, 2021

General, Guest Blog Posts, Poetry, Promotions

Betsy Warland, Lost Lagoon/ lost in thought (Halfmoon Bay, BC: Caitlin Press, 2020). Paperbound, 86 pp., $20.00 By Susan Olding In February, 2020, a month before the pandemic upended the ordinary patterns of many people’s lives, Betsy Warland took me for a stroll around Lost Lagoon, in Vancouver’s Stanley Park. I had walked there before, alone and with other friends. I knew where the herons liked to stand and wait for their prey. I’d seen the mallards and Canada Geese…

Poetry: Pure Fiction, or Nonfiction in Its Purest Form?

April 26, 2015

Conferences, General News, Members, Members Blog, Poetry, Workshops

CNFC workshop at Loft 112 in Calgary on Sunday, April 19, 2015 Photos & blog by Dale Lee Kwong Can poetry constitute creative nonfiction? The question is one I had never considered. When I did, I discovered I’ve unconsciously never given my poetry the same respect as my essays. For me, nonfiction held more interest than fiction and I categorized poetry as less valid. After attending a workshop featuring South African author and editor, Helen Moffett, I now feel excitement…

Members Blog: What’s So Scary about Words Like “Religion,” “Spirituality” and “Mysticism”?

March 30, 2015

Dante, General News, Members Blog, Poetry, Rumi, Spirituality

Reflections on Writing my Memoir, Into the Mystic: My Years with Olga (Inanna Publications, 2014) Susan McCaslin The word “religion” can sometimes generate hostility or fear. People mistrustful of religion notice how many of the major religions have been and continue to be tied to empire-building, rigid belief systems, gender inequalities, corporate capitalism, wars, and the exploitation of the “have nots.” The word “spirituality” seems a gentler, more inclusive term, less indicative of rigid belief systems. Yet it too remains…