Anthologies

  IMPACT: WOMEN WRITING AFTER CONCUSSION In this anthology, 21 women writers consider the effects of concussion on their personal and professional lives. The anthology bears witness to the painstaking work that goes into redefining identity and regaining creative practice after a traumatic event. By sharing their complex and sometimes incomplete healing journeys, these women convey the magnitude of a disability which is often doubted, overlooked, and trivialized, in part because of its invisibility.  

Published by University of Alberta Press, 2021

Edited by E. D. Morin and Jane Cawthorne

“This book is such a gift to women, like me, who have suffered concussion. I devoured it. I revelled in it. I offer deep gratitude for these eloquent women courageously sharing their personal stories about the invisible thief that is concussion. This book creates affirmation, validation, and understanding. I believe it will also create change.” (Shelagh Rogers, Host of The Next Chapter, CBC Radio)

“I know people who have had serious concussions. I’m familiar with the devastating range of symptoms. But those I know are not writers; those in this book are. They articulate that experience with bravery and insight; painfully, but personally. I know concussion specialists who are open-minded about how much they don’t know about concussion. This is a book for them. And for the rest of us too.” (Jay Ingram, science writer and broadcaster)

FINDING FATHER features stories by Mennonite women about their fathers, and, more specifically, stories about their relationships with their fathers. Given that these writers are Mennonite, these relationships are also shaped by other cultural artifacts, such as religion, minority status, and immigrant group experience.

Published by University of Regina Press, 2019

Edited by Mary Ann Loewen

“These intricate, moving tales of daughters and their fathers offer essential storytelling and perceptive reflections on family, faith, and gender relations. They also become a kind of oral history — often lyrical, sometimes melancholy — of Mennonites in the last half century.” (Jeffy Gundy, author of Songs from an Empty Cage)

“So much respect in these voices. And yearning. And generosity. And love.” (David Bergen, author of The Time In Between)

In THE M WORD, an original, often provocative book, Kerry Clare has assembled essays that face down motherhood from the other side of the picket fence. A Dropped Threads-style anthology, assembling original and inspiring works by some of Canada’s best younger female writers, THE M WORD asks everyday women and writers, some of whom are on the unconventional side of motherhood, to share their emotions and tales of maternity.

Published by Goose Lane Editions, 2014

Edited by Kerry Clare

A CNQ Editors’ Book of the Year

“The M Word: Conversations about Motherhood, a powerful, female-driven anthology of short personal essays, poems, and illustrations, tells the many stories women so rarely share. … It breaks down the walls of maternal isolation and offers companionship to anyone who has not had the fairy-tale journey to motherhood.” (National Post)

“The M Word is a book I would have benefited from reading when I was a young mother more than 30 years ago.” (Coastal Spectator)

In HOW TO EXPECT WHAT YOU’RE NOT EXPECTING, twenty writers share their stories of miscarriage, stillbirth, infertility, premature delivery, giving up a child for adoption, and other related losses. So many of us hear these stories only after we live through a loss of our own. This book raises a question: is that the only time to have the conversation?

Published by Touchwood, 2013

Edited by Jessica Hiemstra and Lisa Martin

Winner of a 2015 Independent Publisher Book Awards Bronze Medal

“These are personal stories of anticipation and hopefulness, fear and grief, joy and beauty.” (The Banner)

“This collection is not just about loss. It is about resilience, hope, courage and determination. These stories demonstrate the complex web of emotions we are forced to navigate when it comes to intensely confronting experiences of loss. After reading the collection of essays we are reminded that while no two experiences are ever the same, we as humans are all subject to, and will inevitably experience, the turmoil, rawness, and reality of grief and loss in one form or another.” (Journal of Motherhood Initiative)

HAVE MILK, WILL TRAVEL reveals the lighter side of nursing and throws a lifeline to mothers in the thick of lactation.

Published by Demeter Press, 2013

Edited by Rachel Epp Buller

“Humor is the best medicine for adults and breast milk is the best medicine for infants. Thanks Rachel Epp Buller for this terrific look at the sometimes complicated world of natural mothering.” (Joy Rose, Founder, Museum of Motherhood)

“Breastfeeding meant the world to me. I continued for twenty months, but was only able to nutritionally support my daughter fully from nursing until about eight months. I lacked education about the importance of pumping, and when I went back to work lost most of my supply. It was scary and necessary. Get the facts, and the support. Thank you for providing a book as a reference for all new moms! (Alisa Donner, Co-Founder of Pregnancy Awareness Month)