Poetry, Canadian, Non-Fiction, Biography, Biographies, Autobiography, Autobiographies, Poets, Black, African Canadian, Queer, Women, Canada 

-As the former director of the Verses Poetry Festival, Jillian Christmas has been a beloved mainstay of Vancouver's poetry scene for years, but this is her first poetry collection. Her work is informed by her life as a queer African Canadian, and counts among her inspirations Claudia Rankine, Maya Angelou, Angela Davis, and poet Mahogany L Browne.
-The book represents 10 years' worth of poems, exploring themes of love, loss, identity, sexuality, resistance and care. The book travels between family story, personal narrative, and third-person observation, informed by black history, personal politics, and her queer identity.
-The book was edited by Amber Dawn, whose latest poetry book My Art Is Killing Me and Other Poems is being released this same season by Arsenal.
-Jillian is well known as a performance-based poet, and we will be pitching her to various festivals. She is also well connected to African American, LGBTQ+ and slam poetry communities across the US. She has won numerous Grand Poetry-Slam Championship titles and represented both Toronto and Vancouver at 11 national poetry events, notably breaking ground as the first Canadian to perform on the final stage of the Women of the World Poetry Slam.
-In Jillian's own words: "My hope for this book is that the audience be a diverse one. I hope that this book will reach young black readers, I hope it will exist in schools, I hope that it will speak to folks who experience the world as members of diaspora, I hope that it will nurture femmes, caretakers, and tender hearts."
Source: Publisher