A Thousand Tiny Awakenings Anthology
Latitude 46 Publishing in collaboration with co-editors, Lindsay Mayhew and Connor Lafortune have curated an anthology from emerging writers titled “A Thousand Tiny Awakenings.” A relatively new publishing house based out of Sudbury, Latitude 46 Publishing is carving out space for young marginalized voices. The anthology features 15 young writers and 23 pieces of writing that confront and lift the veils of a historically oppressed and oppressive Canadian society. In the experimental craft of these 23 pieces, a powerful voice of the next generation of writers in Canada promise to bring us into a state of healing, accountability and the protection of identity.
The editors have said that “A Thousand Tiny Awakenings unites young and marginalized voices to subvert the structures of oppression that continue to pervade our lives.” Further, “this project, at its core, seeks to uplift the voices of the upcoming generation in their journey to dismantle and break boundaries that track lines across their bodies, lives, relationships, and futures.” That is the epitome of this collection. There is a future collective of voices who will not tolerate the state of the way things have been.
Lindsay Mayhew, editor to the collection, has earned her MA in English literature at Guelph University. A spoken word poet and author from Sudbury, Mayhew is a multi-year champion of Wordstock Sudbury’s poetry slam, a runner up in the 2024 Womxn of the World poetry slam and has been featured in events across Ontario like YWCA, JAYU Canada, Nuit Blanche and Wordstock Literary Festival. She has been published in the Literary Review of Canada, Moria and Sulphur. She is a feminist writer and human rights advocate.
Connor Lafortune completed his degree at Nipissing University with a double honours major in Indigenous Studies and Gender Equality and Social Justice. He is currently working towards his masters in Indigenous Relations at Laurentian University. He has created a single in collaboration with Juno Award winner G.R. Gritt titled, “Qui crie au loup?” Lafortune is Anishinaabek, Queer, and Francophone. A writer, spoken word poet and musician, Lafortune works in Life-Promotion, harm-reduction, mental health and Indigenous education.
Contributing artists and creators to the anthology include: Carson Bohdi, Michelle Delorme, Brennan Gregoire, Waed Hasan, Tyler Hein, Jesse June-Jack, Kay Kassirer, Nicole Robitaille, Blaine Thornton, Lisa Shen, Lindsay Mayhew, Sydney Read, Connor Lafortune, Ra'anaa Yaminah Ekundayo, and Chimdi Kingsley-Emereuwa. Cover art design of the anthology is created by Grant Neegan.
This anthology is filled with necessary voices in spotlighting and exposing the historical and ongoing violence within Canada. In an interview with Open Book, the editors specify that “[w]e are writing in a time where colonialism and cisheteropatriarchy are ever-present and history is repeating itself. We structured the anthology to bring attention to this fact. The violence that is happening in Canada is also happening to others across the globe.” In the final piece written by the editors themselves, “In the Aftermath of Apocalypse,” the current state of Canadian society is left off with a call to action of acknowledgement and awareness. “What/ is a nation/ without/ its genocide?/ What/ is genocide/ if not/ a nation/ calling it/ co [space] existence?” The analysis could grow to become metonym of the nation to genocide, violence that was implemented, but an acknowledgement needed in moving forward in healing for a collective Canada. Furthermore, “Canada is the prime example/ of how to get away with murder/ to be murdered [space] again/ and never get away.” This final poem ends the collection with conviction and threads through painful but important topics throughout the anthology. A stand for identity and revolution of the existence and persistence of voice, of refusing to be silenced throws water on the dumpster fire of Canlit. “I was born in a country empty [space] from accountability,” and that is exactly what we need right now as a country, to be made accountable. “The world’s pseudonym is Devastate/ We live in the aftermath of apocalypse/ waiting for ruins to flourish/ petals of revelations/ knowing it will all collapse [.]” And pouring through the crumbling colonial foundations of this country is light from future voices in anthologies like this one, of awakenings.
And at the beginning of this anthology, there is a resistance of creation, of voices hoping to help awaken others within this country accepting the violence of invisibility, of constructs presenting as default of identity. “We have to create. It is the only thing louder than destruction,” from Andrea Gibson in “Take Me With You.” Lastly, “[w]hat if I wrote something that sounded like dozens of people in protest?” From Billy-Ray Belcourt in “A Minor Chorus.”
Thank you to the contributors of “A Tiny Thousand Awakenings,” Lindsay Mayhew, Connor Lafortune, Latitude 46 Publishing and River Street Writing for the complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review!
