Spoken Word - ProjectAwake - 3.02 AM by Audrey Lane Cockett

Welcome to the first installment of Verbal Vol. 1, The Blasted Tree's digital spoken word anthology! This week we're featuring the lyrical stylings of Audrey Lane Cockett, a Calgary-based spoken word poet, soundscape artist, arts organizer, and park naturalist. "ProjectAwake - 3.02 AM" is set to soothing music by SHIGETO, and emphasizes breathing and an interconnectivity with the world. Audrey Lane's poem can be heard (and read) on The Blasted Tree, and you can download all of Verbal Vol. 1 as it becomes available, one track per week for the next eight weeks, on Bandcamp.

LISTEN TO PROJECTAWAKE - 3.02 AM

Be sure to read the Forward to Verbal Vol. 1 by Blasted Tree editor Kyle Flemmer for a quick introduction to spoken word and the challenge of "publishing" literary audio.

Featured Interview - May G N

We sat down with Alberta-based print media artist and Blasted Tree contributor May G N to talk art and life in Calgary's queer community. May lends us razor-sharp insight into digital print-making, political engagement, and the demystification of gender, discussing how these pursuits fit into our anxiety-inducing contemporary context. Featuring images from May's impressive creative oeuvre, check out this interview for a closer look at one of Alberta's most fascinating young artists.

READ INTERVIEW WITH MAY G N

Feminist Perspectives 6 - Yvonne Raaymakers

Welcome to The Blasted Tree's creative nonfiction series Feminist Perspectives! The final entry in the our six-week program is provided by Dutch-Canadian engineer and mother of three, Yvonne Raaymakers. My Story: letter to a YWCA support group, originally written in response to the group counseling Raaymakers underwent after leaving a decades-long abusive relationship, recounts her journey from victimization to empowerment, and proves it is never to late to ask for help.

MY STORY: LETTER TO A YWCA SUPPORT GROUP

If you're new to this series, we recommend beginning with the Forward, also by Bea Keeler, as a quick way to familiarize yourself with the issues and with the general approach we've taken in curating this collection.

Feminist Perspectives 5 - Dana Neily

Welcome to The Blasted Tree's creative nonfiction series Feminist Perspectives! This week's entry is an autobiographical account by Victoria-based author Dana Neily. What happens when a feminist makes a mistake? Neily lays out a plan toward self-awareness, compassionate conflict resolution, and personal growth through failure. HOW TO FUCK UP LIKE A FEMINIST shows that, while nobody is perfect, the option to improve is always there.

HOW TO FUCK UP LIKE A FEMINIST

If you're new to this series, we recommend beginning with the Forward, also by Bea Keeler, as a quick way to familiarize yourself with the issues and with the general approach we've taken in curating this collection.

Feminist Perspectives 4 - Bea Keeler

Welcome to The Blasted Tree's six-part online series, Feminist Perspectives! Our fourth entry, by series co-editor Bea Keeler, is an essay arguing for intersectionality in the feminist movement. QUEER LIBERATION IN FOURTH WAVE FEMINISM makes a compelling case for unity and understanding across lines of gender and sexuality in our fight for equality under a banner of 'fourth wave' feminism. Keeler's essay provides the theoretical backbone for the Feminist Perspectives series, informing our understanding of feminism as a necessarily multifaceted movement able to rise above its own internal discrepancies.

READ QUEER LIBERATION IN FOURTH WAVE FEMINISM

If you're new to this series, we recommend beginning with the Forward, also by co-editor Bea Keeler, as a quick way to familiarize yourself with the issues and with the general approach we've taken in curating this collection.

Feminist Perspectives 3 - Ilona Martonfi

Welcome to The Blasted Tree's Feminist Perspectives, a six-part online series on the topic of (you guessed it) feminism! Part 3 of the collection is contributed by Montreal author and community leader Ilona Martonfi. Her work, SONG OF THE SYBIL: SIXTH LESSON, combines prose and poetry to create an elegant and brave retelling of her flight from a troubled family, a retrospective at times heart-breaking, yet ultimately inspiring.

READ SONG OF THE SYBIL: SIXTH LESSON

If you're new to this series, we recommend beginning with the Forward by co-editor Bea Keeler as a quick way to familiarize yourself with the issues and with the general approach we've taken in curating this collection.

Feminist Perspectives 2 - MAY GN

Welcome to The Blasted Tree's Feminist Perspectives, a six-part online series on the topic of (you guessed it) feminism! Our second part, written by Calgary-based artist and poet MAY GN, certainly looks like a poem, but the piece goes well beyond its form in speaking to contemporary feminism. KNOWN FEMINIST DEALINGS draws upon the work of conceptual artist Jenny Holzer to interrogate how feminism is experienced and displayed in public spaces, and we are very excited to be exhibiting it here, in a space both digital and public.

READ KNOWN FEMINIST DEALINGS

If you're new to this series, we recommend beginning with the Forward by co-editor Bea Keeler as a quick way to familiarize yourself with the issues and with the general approach we've taken in curating this collection.

Featured Author - Dana Neily

Hailing from beautiful Victoria, Dana Neily is the newest author on The Blasted Tree's growing line-up of emerging Canadian talent. Neily uses her writing as a means of drawing attention to mental illness and neuroatypical experiences, advocating for compassion and understanding in regards to mental health. ONE DAY'S BATTLE, published in our Short(er) Fiction series, speaks directly to these issues, illuminating the daily struggle between the protagonist and a surreal manifestation of Death. Additionally, we are please to bring you two of Neily's poems, AN ESCAPIST'S FANTASY and the comically titled AIM FOR AN 'OCEAN'S 11' RATHER THAN A 'RESERVOIR DOGS' BUT EITHER WAY WE WILL LOOK KILLER IN SUITS. Read her work online, then check out her bio using the link below!

VIEW DANA'S PROFILE

Featured Author - Gabriel Wainio-Théberge

Every now and then we are fortunate enough to encounter a talent beyond our modest comprehension while remaining perfectly in tune with our commonly-held artistic sensibilities. Gabriel Wainio-Théberge is just such a talent. It was obvious during first year poetry class (a mere three years ago) that nobody possessed the depth of insight to adequately critique his work, and we've been playing catch-up with this jack-of-all-literary-trades ever since. Well, we've finally caught up with Gabriel and got our grubby, ink-bespeckled digits on three of his luminous gems, which we now happily pass along to you. Please enjoy NECROWMANCY, ALL DRESSED UP FOR A NAP, and PATAPHYSICAL PROOF OF MARCH, then check out his bio and blog for more!

VIEW GABRIEL'S PROFILE

Featured Author - Olivia Alexander

Olivia Alexander is interested in the art of storytelling, and has been for a long time. For the author of newly minted SOCIAL HONESTY, fiction is about both escaping and exorcising the demons of our reality. In her youth, Olivia studied theatre and vocal music, feeding her passion for storytelling on the works of Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, Joss Whedon, and Frank O’Hara, whose conversational walk-and-talk descriptions redefined her notion of poetry. She moved to Montreal in 2011 to study Creative Writing at Concordia University, hoping to pursue a career in the relatively new storytelling medium of video games. Olivia particularly enjoys writing multiple-choice conversations, allowing the reader to navigate and change the story with their various choices, and she feels video games can offer an excellent fusion between good dialogue and a compelling, ever-changing narrative. So far, Olivia has published two short stories on The Blasted Tree: SOCIAL HONESTY, part of our Short(er) Fiction series, and TO THE SPOT, soon be available for purchase in physical format from The Blasted Tree Store.

VIEW OLIVIA'S PROFILE