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The Malahat Review

Brobby’s Double Jeopardy

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Magazine Review by Katy Haas.

The Winter 2020 issue of The Malahat Review opens with the winner of the 2020 Constance Rooke Prize for Creative Nonfiction: “On Playing Double Jeopardy!” by Christina Brobby. This piece works through the different money categories in a game of Jeopardy all on the theme of photographic terms. Like the show, Brobby is given the answer and she responds with the appropriate question as she connects the term to her life.

I enjoyed the set-up of this piece. It flows seamlessly, Brobby always taking care to weave the photographic terms into the moments of her life. She examines how she presents as her race, in her adoptive family, as a wife, a partner, a mother. When she gives the answer of “What is a filter?” she ends the section turning it back inward: “Be more or less vibrant, act more coolly, like when the man after your husband said you were too emotional and that’ s not what he was signing up for. You donned your neutral-density filter . . . ”

This piece is a great opener for the issue, and well-deserved of taking home the Constance Rooke Prize. It immediately caught my eye and drew me in with its unique format, something greatly appreciated in the these days of shortened attention spans.

NewPages Mag Stand: The Malahat Review

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This issue features work by Tawahum Bige, Megan Butcher, Rachel Lachmansingh, and Aaron Schneider. Plus the winner of the 2020 Constance Rooke CNF Prize: Christina Brobby who is also interviewed. See even more contributors at the Mag Stand.

Malahat Review Extends Deadline of Long Poem Prize

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The Malahat Review Long Poem Prize extension bannerLiterary magazine The Malahat Review has announced they have extended the deadline for its biennial Long Poem Prize. If you missed yesterday’s deadline, you’re in luck! There is still time to submit. The new deadline is February 5 at 11:59 PM PST.

The Long Poem Prize awards two cash prizes of $1,250 CAD and is open to both Canadian and international writers across the globe. The two winning poems will appear in the the Summer 2021 issue. This year’s judges are Meredith Quartermain, Armand Garnet Ruffo, and John Elizabeth Stintzi.

This year, in addition to the cash prizes and publication, The Malahat Review is giving away poetry books to one lucky contest entrant. All submissions to the contest are entered into this giveaway. Books being given away are Salt and Ashes by Adrienne Drobnies, Re-Origin of Species by Alessandra Naccarato, Visual Inspection by Matt Rader, and Pockets by Stuart Ross.

What’s in a Name?

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Magazine Review by Katy Haas.

Not to be missed in Issue 212 of The Malahat Review: “It’s Here All the Beauty I Told You About” by Shane Rhodes.

This piece is an excerpt from a manuscript in progress. In it, Rhodes explores Shane, a 1949 Western pulp novel by Jack Schaefer; the origins of given names; and the ways in which Western novels continue to “obscure and rewrite the history of North American colonization and settlement and the racism that fuels them.”

This excerpt combines written work, cut-outs of overlapping book pages, and handwriting. Rhodes collects copies of Shane and is drawn to “the most abused copies” with writing in the margins, underlined words, browning pages, and this excerpt adopts this feeling of a much-used book. Each page offers something new and arrests the eye, a real treat to read through.

Readers can get an idea of Rhodes’s style by checking out recently published work from the same manuscript in progress in periodicities : a journal of poetry and poetics.

NewPages Mag Stand: The Malahat Review

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The Autumn 2020 issue, now at the Mag Stand, features the winner of the 2020 Far Horizons Award for Poetry: A.R. Kung with “Flight.” Also in the issue, find poetry by Karen Lee, Shane Rhodes, Patrick Phoebe Wang, and more; fiction by Shoilee Khan, Francine Cunningham, and John Elizabeth Stintzi; and creative nonfiction by Michelle Poirier Brown, Kathy Mak, and Erin Soros. Plus, a hearty selection of book reviews.

The Malahat Review Novella Prize – 2020 Winner

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The Malahat Review hosts a Novella Prize biennially. The 2020 winner opens the Summer 2020 issue. Judges Samantha Jade Macpherson and Naben Ruthnum selected “Yentas” by Rebecca Păpucaru.

Of “Yentas,” the judges said: “‘Yentas’ is a nostalgia-free portrait of girlhood lived among the Jewish communities of 1980s Montreal. The novella’s evocation of the cruelties and kindnesses of teenage friendship, territorialism, and enmity is built in prose as funny as it is precise. Rebecca Păpucaru’s treatment of culture, ethnicity, and religion as complex structures informing protagonist Karen’s family and social life achieves impressive depth and nuance. Through Karen’s eyes we are totally immersed in a rich and bubbling teenaged world. Visceral and enchanting, a truly fantastic read!”

At The Malahat Review‘s website, readers can check out an interview with the winning author.

NewPages Mag Stand: The Malahat Review

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Find The Malahat Review on this week’s Mag Stand. This issue features the 2020 Novella-Prize-winning “Yentas” by Rebecca Păpucaru, Daniel Allen Cox’s “The Glow of Electrum,” Mike Alexander’s “An Afternoon Gentleman,” Matthew Hollett’s “I’m Sorry, I Have to Ask You to Leave,” Ronna Bloom’s “Legend of Saint Ursula,” Alamgir Hashmi’s “Anywhere, 2019,” and Kate Felix’s “Beneath the Pond.” Also in this issue: Sarah Tolmie, Xaiver Campbell, Sarah Venart, Theressa Slind, Chris Banks, Daniel Sarah Karasik, Sarah Lord, Ron Riekki, Paul Vermeersch, and Alisha Dukelow. Plus, a selection of book reviews, and cover art by Sharona Franklin: “Mycoplasma.”

Find New Favorites in The Malahat Review

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Magazine Review by Katy Haas

The cover of the latest issue of The Malahat Review is a calming scene: a full moon framed by powerlines over a pastel sky. It invites readers to pick it up and open it to discover what’s inside. I had found two new favorites in the pages: “Nice Girl” by Hollie Adams and “A High Frequency Words List” by Matthew Gwathmey.

In “Nice Girl,” Adams’s speaker likens herself to a mall who would “never automatically / open the doors even though / there’d be a sign saying / Automatic Doors.” She admits she’d keep them locked because she’s “evil / even though in real life / I’m always doing nice things.” This poem is a fun exploration of one’s inner self and the intentions behind actions. There’s a sense of humor in this piece even as it leads to introspection, an enjoyable aspect.

Gwathmey’s poem is in four sections, each one a list of words picked from the Fry and the Dolch sight word lists, used in children’s vocabulary development. This piece is just four paragraphs listing off words, a cool form of recycling.

There is plenty more poetry and prose to find inside this issue of The Malahat Review. Grab a copy to find your own favorites.

NewPages Mag Stand: The Malahat Review

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Our spring issue showcases the 2020 Open Season Award winners: Joshua Whitehead (cnf), Patrick Grace (poetry), and Ajith Thangavelautham (fiction). Also featured: Manahil Bandukwala, Ayaz Pirani, Christine Wu, Rob Taylor, Edward Carson, Matthew Gwathmey, Tania De Rozario, Hollie Adams, Emi Kodama, Bradley Peters, Kevin Shaw, Emma Wunsch, Glen Downie, and more. Find other contributors at the Mag Stand.

2019 Constance Rooke Creative Nonfiction Prize Winner

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The Malahat Review - Winter 2019The Malahat Review annually hosts the Constance Rooke Creative Nonfiction Prize. The editors consider submissions of “a genre that embraces, but is not limited to, the personal essay, memoir, narrative nonfiction, social commentary, travel writing, historical accounts, and biography, all enhanced by such elements as description, dramatic scenes, dialogue, and characterization.” The Winter 2019 issue features the 2019 winner, chosen by Judge Yasuko Thanh: “Bat Reign” by Jeanette Lynes.

In an interview, Thanh said she was looking for “A story with a heartbeat, the ring of truth; to be surprised on every page with turn of phrase, or metaphor, or image so apt it’s breathtaking. Insight. A climactic “punchline” in the sense that its timing is perfectly paced and creates a resolution as inevitable as unexpected.”

Pick up a copy of the Winter 2019 issue of The Malahat Review to see how Lynes meets these expectations with “Bat Reign,” and check back in May of this year for details on the 2020 prize.

NewPages Magazine Stand: The Malahat Review

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The Malahat Review - Winter 2019Stop by the Magazine Stand for the Winter 2019 issue of The Malahat Review. This issue features 2019 Constance Rooke Creative Nonfiction Prize winner Jeanette Lynes. Also included: Carolyn Nakagawa, Julia Brush, Angélique Lalonde, Franco Cortese, Kurt Marti, Patricia Young, Sherine Elbanhawy, Suphil Lee Park, Emeka Patrick Nome, Hasan Alizadeh, Conor Kerr, Joel Robert Ferguson, Melanie Boyd, Bernadette White, Dominique Béchard, Jon Gingerich, Tatiana Oroño, Robert Hilles, Kulbir Saran, Sarah Yi-Mei Tsiang, Dawn Lo, and Sehrish Ranjha. Cover art by Sandra de Groot.