Event – Spring 2005

This is the annual creative non-fiction awards issue, but every issue of Event is a winner from what I’ve seen.

This is the annual creative non-fiction awards issue, but every issue of Event is a winner from what I’ve seen. Canadian magazines continue to impress me with consistently strong work, an expansive and generous vision, and a satisfying mix of “new and established writers.” Judge Ross Laird’s choices for the contest are exceptional, as is his introduction. He honors some of the fine entries which did not win the contest by describing their efforts as texts that blend “the inner and outer worlds, flowing seamlessly between reflection and description…”—a standard the winners (Vaia Barkas, Nancy Mauro, and Susan Olding) also achieve. Mauro is a graduate student at work on her first novel and if “The Griller’s Guide to Love and Loss” is any indication of what we can expect of her future work, I would order a copy of the novel, even before she finishes it. Her essay is a masterpiece of what Laird would call “melodic writing,” coupled with insightful and original thinking, and a unique momentum in the prose that somehow encourages us to speed up and slow down at the same time. The poetry in this issue is equally exceptional. Lorna Crozier contributes two poems that demonstrate why she is one of Canada’s premier poets, along with the work of a dozen other talented poets. [Event, Douglas College, P.O. Box 2503, New Westminster, B.C. V31.5B2. www.event.douglas.bc.ca. E-mail: [email protected]. Single issue $8. http://www.douglas.bc.ca/visitors/event-magazine.html] – Sima Rabinowitz