I Am Canadian

The X Page: A Storytelling Workshop about. stories. join. team. contact. donate. I Am Canadian by Denisha Naidoo Golden fields of wheat flank the highway and the sky is a brilliant blue. My dad is driving my mom, my sister, our dog, and me in our dark green Peugeot 404 with the orangey-brown leather seats […]

Denisha Naidoo in

Ice Cream Truck

The X Page: A Storytelling Workshop about. stories. join. team. contact. donate. Ice Cream Truck by Kirsy Diaz de Holguin Do you have a favourite ice cream? I do. It is Helado de Mantecado. It’s made with cinnamon and vanilla. Whenever I smell these flavours, I am five years old again, sitting next to my […]

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Clues

The X Page: A Storytelling Workshop about. stories. join. team. contact. donate. Clues by Ana Marco Gascon Mum’s screams shake me like thunder, striking me top to bottom. My little sister Elvi and I run to the kitchen. I am trying to make sense of the situation, but Mum’s screams do not let me focus […]

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The Jewellery Box

The X Page: A Storytelling Workshop about. stories. join. team. contact. donate. The Jewellery Box by Seemab Zahra It is July 1992 and I am ten years old. I am sitting on my bed, in front of my dresser, holding the most beautiful and magical jewellery box in the world. This dresser belonged to my […]

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Quinceañera

The X Page: A Storytelling Workshop about. stories. join. team. contact. donate. Quinceañera by Lucy Beltramo I am standing in the bathroom, staring at my reflection. I’m wearing a cream-coloured mid-length dress with a pink silk belt. I’ve put on eyeliner, pink eyeshadow, and pinklipstick. My hair is half up, half loose. My mom is […]

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The 2024 Nick Blatchford Occasional Verse Longlist

Thank you to all of our 2024 Nick Blatchford Occasional Verse Contest entrants. After thorough consideration, we are excited to announce this year’s longlisted writers and their phenomenal poetry. The longlisted poets and their poems are as follows: Christopher Adamson, “Little Sister” Nicole Ardiel, “Drug Store Check-Out” Elise Arsenault, “As a Tree (For Emily)”  Richard […]

Under Review: The Heart Song of Susan J. Atkinson

If in early May of this year you happened to be at the Ottawa Children’s Festival, an annual celebration of theatre, dance, and music, you might have noticed someone in the milling crowds dressed as a poetry pixie. This was none other than Susan J. Atkinson, poetry promoter and poem maker, author of all things […]

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Finding the Form with Pamela Hensley

For me, the seed of a story is often the question: what if? Something I see or read or become suddenly aware of sparks a feeling that I cannot shake. My mind begins to wander. I reimagine the situation, only worse, the worst it could possibly be. I slip into another life and push it […]

Under Review: Derek Webster’s National Animal

Derek Webster’s name is not new to the editors of The New Quarterly, his poems first appearing with us in the Spring issue of 2000. Nor is it new to the editors more than a dozen other literary magazines and anthologies in Canada and the United Kingdom. He is also an editor himself, most notable […]

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Finding the Form with Heather Debling

Flipping through some old notebooks recently, I came across the very first notes I made for the story that would become “Resilience.” The page is dated 2017, and there’s a working title of “Ms. Thrashings Grade (4s-5s?) Prepare for the Coming Apocalypse,” then a couple of paragraphs half-covered with a post-it, a scribbled note to […]

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