Magazine Archives - Vallum Magazine

20:2 | Endings and Beginnings

Read the poetry of endings and beginnings by Conyer Clayton, Kayla Czaga, Neil Surkan, and more. Find a new review by the editor of Resisting Canada, Nyla Matuk in which she considers Shapeshifters by Délani Valin. After reading the French and the English, Katia Grubisic offers her thoughts on House Within a House by Nicholas Dawson and gives high praise for the new English translation by D.M. Bradford. Introducing the Vallum Chapbook Award winner, Maya Clubine, and welcoming the next poet in the series, Karen Solie.

20:1 | Dreams vs Nightmares

Featuring innovative poetry by Trish Salah, a series by Khashayer “Kess” Mohammadi, an allusive and luring poem by Samantha Martin-Bird, among many other dreamy works. Find lush poems by the 2022 Vallum Poetry Award winner Jasmine Gui, and finalist Emilie Lafleur. Plus, an interview with David Ly, author of Dream of Me As Water, as well as new poetry book reviews. Introducing gorgeous collage art by Luce Hua, the winner of the 2023 Vallum Art Prize.

19:2 | Open Theme

With an Open Theme issue we offer a variety in form and feeling. Each poem is linked by proximity and intuition in this beautifully balanced issue. This collection of poems conjures the smell of fresh-mown hay and the sensation of finding old photographs of someone you haven’t seen in a while. These poets are speaking and listening, minds open and senses attuned.

Featuring new poems by Lambda Literary fellow Nora Hikari, Terry Watada, Evan J, and more. Plus, an excerpt from George Elliott Clarke’s War Canticles, as well as a preview of our 2022 Chapbook Award winner. Rosie Long Decter interviews Frankie Barnet on her debut graphic novel. Reviews of Garden Physic by Sylvia Legris and I Wish I Could Be Peter Falk by Paul Zits. Artwork by Fulbright fellow Leah Oates from her series Transitory Space.

19:1 | Bridges

The ability to move oneself towards future possibilities and potentials brings us to bridges, to principles of connection. Our current social and mental states can often seem to function on the premise of fragmentation, with past and present chaos always sweeping away a moment of coming together. The bridging of gaps and grounding in the wake of instability is crucial to our personal, and collective, well-being.

The poetry in this issue speaks about these fractures and uncertainties and our abilities to overcome them, to build bridges. This issue features an interview with bpNichol Chapbook Award-winning poet Matthew James Weigel and new poems by rob mclennan, Johnson Cheu, Jami Macarty, and more. The issue also includes poems from the 2021 Vallum Poetry Award winners, Khashayar “Kess” Mohammadi and Robyn Maree Pickens, as well as reviews by Bill Neumire and Deanna Fong. Artwork is from the winner of the 2022 Vallum Cover Award, Nora Kelly!

18:2 | The Power of Words

This issue features a translation of Daniel Saldaña Paris by Louis Sanger, new poems by Jessi MacEachern, Derek Webster, and John Wall Barger, and a review of Yusuf Saadi‘s Griffin Poetry Prize-nominated debut Pluviophile by Bill Neumire. The issue also includes excerpts from the winner of the 2021 Vallum Chapbook Award, Heather White, and from finalist Maurya Kerr. Artwork from Dottie Gordon.

This issue is not available in print. The digital edition has been made available to read online for free. Enjoy!

18:1 | Invisibility

Sometimes the obvious is before us and we don’t see anything. Something may or may not be present. At other times, we, ourselves, feel invisible. In our current world, people often fear that what is invisible is tangible, real, and perhaps a threat. At other times, the invisible may be something supernatural, a feeling, a movement to, or from, a dream-world. What are some of your encounters with the “invisible”?

This issue features an interview with Canisia Lubrin and excellent new poems by Leland James, Roxanna Bennett, George Elliott Clarke, Shazia Hafiz Ramji and more. The issue also includes poems from Vallum’s Annual Poetry Award winners, j tate barlow, Mary Trafford, Esther Johnshon, Josh Fiet, and Michael Trussler, and sharp reviews by Bill Neumire and Jami Macarty. Photos from our winner of the Vallum Magazine Cover Contest, Antoine Janot!

13:2 | The Wild

Interview with Parliamentary Poet George Elliott Clarke! Poems by Jan Zwicky, Peter Dale Scott, Mary Jo Bang, Evelyn Lau, Sina Queryas and more. Reviews by Bill Neumire, Julie Mannell, Megan Callahan, and essay on poetry from Britain and Ireland by James W. Wood.

13:1 | Open Theme

Work by George Elliott Clarke, Jan Zwicky, John Surowiecki, John Kinsella, Jane Munro, Arthur Sze, Blaine Marchand and much more! Chapbooks excerpt, Larix, by Don McKay; and riveting reviews by Bill Neumire, David Swartz and Megan Callahan, Art by Matt Crump.

12:2 | Humour

Amusing renditions by favourite poets: David McGimsey, Lorna Crozier, Mary de Michele, Jon Paul Fiorentino, Gary Barwin, Stuart Ross and many more! Interview with Monica McClure by Jay Winston Ritchie; plue reviews by Patrick M. Pilarski, Danny Jacobs and David Swartz.