Issues

The 50 Issues Project
Issue #163

Issue Date: Summer, 2008
Editor: John Barton
Pages: 112
Number of contributors: 27

Buy Issue 163: Print Edition


Cover of issue #163

This issue burrows into the heart of identity and experience. Andrew Tibbett's “Dead Man's Wedding,” travels to the vacation cottages of two families in the 1970s. Both The Malahat Review's Novella Prize winner and a National Magazine gold medalist, Tibbett's story unfolds through Simon's first-person narration: the voice of unconditional love by a gay youth slowly realizing his identity. The story's strong metaphors uncover family and sexual politics as well as stark differences between Canada and the United States. In Sarah L. Taggart’s brilliant Journey Prize-nominated story, “Deaf,” a mother attempts to hold her marriage and family together when things don't happen as they are supposed to. Healing begins at acceptance. Michael Lista's “Fidelity,” which received an honourable mention at the National Magazine Awards, layers a rhyme scheme that follows Ted Hughes. Four poems by Steven Heighton consider the moments where a loved one's identity transforms into something beautifully unforeseen, as in “Herself, Revised,” that captures the final moments of a father-daughter storytime. His “Breathe Like This” focuses the act of artistic creation on the images present in love and despair. These poems and stories are only a few of the stand-out picks from a great summer issue; also of note are contributions from Shane Rhodes, David O'Meara, Derk Wynand, Laura Lush, Sarah Barber, and Catherine Wiley.

—Stephen Leckie

About the 50 Issues Project

Have a look at our last featured issue, issue #160