Heading to Victoria for Death Becomes Her
How much do I love the name of this event? I’m heading to Victoria to do a reading for Wild Prose — Death Becomes Her.
The event is at Paul Phillips Hall on May 29 with readings from three authors whose books deal with grief, death, murder plotting, and the maybe-dead. Including me! Tickets are $5 at the door. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
From Susan Sandford Blades’ latest newsletter:
In Erica McKeen’s Cicada Summer, Husha and her ex-girlfriend, Nellie are staying in Husha’s grandfather’s cabin and taking care of him while Husha mourns her mother, who died recently. In the cabin, they find a book of stories Husha’s mother wrote before she died and delve into them to try and learn more about her. These stories are the real treat of the novel—each one a surreal slice of exquisitely written prose with vivid detail and fantastical imagery, some verging into body horror. This book, which was recently longlisted for the 2025 Carol Shields Prize for Fiction, is an aching scream into the void of female experience.
Umar Turaki’s Every Drop of Blood is Red, set in Nigeria, follows the stories of Murmula, a Hausa-speaking Muslim woman whose father recently disappeared, and Pamson, an English-speaking Christian man whom she believes was responsible for stealing Murmula’s father’s land and disappearing her father. Through Pamson’s nephew, Murmula sweet-talks her way into a job at Pamson’s mechanic shop, but her attempts at exacting revenge have disastrous consequences.
Alli Vail’s Brooklyn Thomas is definitely at a low point in her life (actually, she’s not even sure she’s alive …), having burnt out at a demanding, dehumanizing job and now living in her parents’ basement and working at a fancy doughnut shop. Her best friend is missing overseas and nobody has acknowledged, or even noticed, the disturbing abuse she’s suffered at her brother’s hands all her life. On top of this, she is visited regularly by dead celebrities whose names are a variant of Emily and who wear her clothes better than she does. It’s a great concept and a total page-turner.
The open mic this time will be started off by Tracy Wai de Boer!
Tracy Wai de Boer is an award-winning writer, poet, and interdisciplinary artist. Her debut book, Nostos, a collection of poetry and experimental photography, will be released on May 15th with Palimpsest Press. She is also currently serving a two-year term as a Poetry Ambassador with Kyeren Regehr, the 7th Poet Laureate of the City of Victoria. Tracy’s chapbook, maybe, basically, was published with Anstruther Press in 2020 and was nominated for the bpNichol Award.