Editor’s Notes

Happy 2016, dear readers. I hope you rang in the new year with song and poetry.

Our first issue of the year features work by four poets. I hope you enjoy them. If you're a current or former Ottawa resident, student or worker who writes poetry, please take a look at our guidelines and send us some work. Deadline is the fifteenth of each month.

Our mandate is to promote and showcase Ottawa as a thriving literary hub with active writers and a receptive audience. Even those who leave the City still have ties to it. Or they often come back.

I hope that your New Year's resolution was to attend readings and to buy poetry from local bookstores and small presses. Another resolution might be to attend a workshop or writers' circle. to improve your writing. Workshop information can be found on the site in the News. Writers Circles are listed in the calendar. Perhaps your resolution is to read at open mics. Take a look at the calendar to find out where the open mics are.

Thanks to our selection committee this month:

Wes Babcock
Robert Martin Evans
Jason Lamantia
Anne LeDressay
Fiona Mitchell
Kemisha Newman
Leslie Smith
Carol A. Stephen
JC Sulzenko

If you have comments, questions, suggestions or a cold bottle of bubbly to toast the new year, please feel free to contact me at amanda@bywords.ca

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Amanda Earl