I’m thrilled to be able to announce that one of the essays Roxane Gay chose as “Best of 2019” from Gay Magazine has now garnered a Notable in Best American Essays 2020! I believe it’s my fourth Notable for Best American Essays, and I had one for Best American Short Stories, too, once. Congrats to the other Notables, with whom I’m honoured to be mentioned and to the essayists. Thanks to the series editor, Robert Atwan! #canlit
Event is a great litmag here in Canada. I am so happy that I won their non-fiction contest today with an essay about guns in Canada and the time I went to a shooting range to combat my fear of them, “The Dead Green Man.” Thank you to the judges, the final judge, and congrats to the other winners! At the start of the year, Gay Mag cited my essay “The Pleasure Scale” as one of their 2019 faves; an EU periodical Queen’s Mob Review of the Decade picked an essay “The Nothing Between My Legs” as one of their best of the decade; recently I was long-listed in the Mogford Food and Drink contest and a few weeks ago, I won 2nd place in the Writer’s Digest short story contest with “The Pride,” a story about a lion researcher who lost her husband in a terrorist attack. It’s all been a relieving start to the year.
In other news, we are in a global pandemic of COVID-19; on this continent we are in the “keep your distance” stage of trying to flatten the curve and slow the growth. Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, wife of our Canadian Prime Minister, has tested positive, and Justin Trudeau is isolating. I wish them well. I wish everyone well as, together, we go through this. Thinking of you all.
I’m delighted to announce that Roxane Gay has chosen my essay “The Pleasure Scale” as one of Gay Magazine’s favourite essays of 2019. Congrats to everyone!
I’m moving some of my essays onto Medium for your reading pleasure! Here’s what’s there so far:
The Pleasure Scale, Gay Magazine, about how, as a near shut-in, I find pleasure
The Preludes to Assault, about a short encounter with Jian Ghomeshi, and sexual violence
The Nothing Between Your Legs, about my non-binary life as a girl in the 1950s; first published in Autostraddle
A Night of Art and Anti-Art, about a walk on beach one evening with Liz
“The Pleasure Scale,” my contemplation on disability, pleasure and pain, is up today at Gay Magazine. Be forewarned that it is sexually explicit.
I realize there’s so much more to be said about pleasure, mine, and, of course, that found by others.
“I want to feel my body opening in the way it can open, like it is split, and is yawning in two pieces like a knifed watermelon, when it can take not only a fist but a globe, it can take every war, every famine, every mining disaster, every broken child behind bars, every river of tainted water into itself and it can turn water clear and take the broken children onto its lap and cause weapons to be laid down and corpses to rise and people to laugh again.”
Roxane Gay, author of “Bad Feminist” and all-around bad-ass role model and social activist, has started up Gay Magazine at Medium! The first issue, on the topic of pleasure, launches in June.
For those of you who haven’t heard the good news, my own essay, provisionally titled “The Pleasure Scale” is going to be included, although I haven’t heard in what issue yet.
Last year, she put together a month-long magazine at Medium, called Unruly Bodies, full of stunning essays I urge you to read.
What Fullness Is, Roxane Gay
Hysterical!, Samantha Irby
What Love Is, Randa Jarrar
Unruly, Adjective, Carmen Maria Machado
There are more, every one of them as good as the last, but these are some of my favourites. I re-read “What Fullness Is” a week ago or so, and loved it even more than I did last year.
Eaton Hamilton 