Summer happened and I stopped updating this blog. But a few things are coming up:

I’m reading at the On Edge series at Emily Carr University of Art + Design on Thursday, Oct 3rd with Mercedes Eng. The reading is at 7 PM in SB 406 (if you’re not familiar with the Emily Carr campus, SB is the South building).

Some info on my co-reader, Mercedes Eng: Mercedes Eng is a teacher and writer in Vancouver, unceded Coast Salish land. She is the author of Mercenary English (CUE Books). Her work has appeared in West Coast Line, Canada and Beyond, The Capilano Review, Geist, and Open Letter. She is also the author of the chapbooks, February 2010 and knuckle sandwich, which explore the potential of documentary poetics.

Mercedes is a powerful reader and local activist and I’m honoured to be reading with her. I was also glad to hear that my book People Who Disappear is part of the syllabus for a creative writing class at Emily Carr this year.

I have a few upcoming publications: two pieces from my ongoing prose poem series Vancouver For Beginners will be in filling station‘s special issue focusing on experimental writing by Canadian women. The issue will be out this month and I’m looking forward to seeing the work included. Two pieces from Vancouver For Beginners are also forthcoming from EVENT.

A short story from People Who Disappear, ‘People Who Are Michael,’ which records a teenage pop idol’s rise and fall through descriptions of YouTube videos, will be in the anthology Friend. Follow. Text. #storiesfromlivingonline edited by Shawn Syms –“an anthology exploring the intersection between social media & literature.” Contributors include Zoe Whittall and Jessica Westhead. It’ll be out in October and you can pre-order it here. Apparently I’m the only west coast contributor so there’s no launch in Vancouver, but there will be launches in Toronto and a couple other cities too, I think.

I think that’s it for now. Thanks for listening.

The Queer issue of Poetry Is Dead, which I had the privilege of editing, is being mailed out this week. The issue includes essays on contemporary poetics by Antonette Rae, Lisa Foad and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha; an interview with bill bissett; reviews of current books; artwork by Sarah Leavitt; and poetry by Ben Rawluk, Leah Horlick, Amber Dawn, John Barton, Lydia Kwa, Jen Currin, listen chen and many others.

We’re having a launch for our Vancouver contributors on November 14th, a Wednesday. It’s at Project Space at 222 East Georgia. Doors at 7 and performances begin at around 7:30. Amber Dawn will present a video poem and a number of our poets will read, including kierst wade, Leah Horlick, Ben Rawluk and myself. All are welcome and admission is free.

Also, my collection of stories People Who Disappear got a lovely review from short fiction writer Jasmina Odor in Alberta Views. Here is an excerpt:

“The beauty of the images, and their sensuality too, recall the short stories of Lisa Moore, who charts human intimacy on the other side of the country. Leslie reveals many layers of the worlds through which her characters move–hidden depths of history, bones and fossils, layers of social divisions, layers of the human heart, desire and fear. ‘People Who Disappear’ is a great example of the exceptional short fiction currently being written by young Canadians.”

This year I’ve been putting together the Queer issue of Vancouver-based literary journal Poetry Is Dead. The issue will be out mid-September and will feature poetry, prose, visual art, essays and reviews by and for Queer Canadian artists. You can get a copy by subscribing to Poetry Is Dead here — you will also be supporting an amazing poetry journal that supports emerging artists across Canada. Just $12 for a year!

We’re participating in a few events around Vancouver. Contributors to our Queer issue will be reading from their work.

MagScene — At MagScene on Main our writers Adrienne Gruber and Meg Torwl will be reading with four writers from PRISM and the Wolf Mountain Writing Collective at Feeling It Out: Emerging Poets Write the Body. It’s on Friday August 17th (that’s tomorrow!) at 221A from 6:30-8. All details are here.

Word On The Street — At the Vancouver Word On The Street festival, I’ll be hosting a reading showcasing 6 of our contributors — Jen Currin, Antonette Rae, Lydia Kwa, Leah Horlick, Kierst Wade and Ben Rawluk. It’s on Sunday September 30th at the Magazine Life Tent at 1 PM.  All events are located in and around the Vancouver Public Library central branch in downtown Vancouver. The complete festival schedule is here.

We’ve also started blogging about the issue over on the Poetry Is Dead website. You can read my first post, about finding Queer literary content on the web, here.  We’ll start posting our series of interviews with our contributors soon!

More to come.

My book of stories People Who Disappear was designed by the amazing Natalie Olsen of kisscut design. It goes without saying, but book design is an art unto itself. I loved reading more about how Natalie produced the visual effects in my book on her blog here. Natalie’s design evokes the tone of my book and it was a learning experience to work with a designer who works so intricately with colour, page numbers, typefaces…

On Monday July 9th I’ll be reading in Harrison, BC at the Harrison Festival of the Arts. The event is at 8:30 PM and all info is here. I am reading with author Kevin Chong and there will be a flamenco guitar performance by John Gilliat.

Last year two of my photographs and accompanying microfictions were published in the Mapping issue of Dandelion, edited by Oana Avasilichioaei and Kathleen Brown. The issue includes the work of many amazing writers, such as Nikki Reimer, Angela Rawlings, Lisa Robertson and Jordan Abel. The issue is now available online as a PDF here.