Is this an Illness or an Accident?
Posted by Daniela Elza on Oct 28 2024 | Comment now »
My debut essay/memoir collection is now up for pre-orders on Caitlin Press website. It is quite exciting to put this work together into a book and to have my first non-fiction, non-poetry collection come out into the world. Though it is also a poetic, and lyrical collection in my eyes.
Is This an Illness or an Accident?
Expected to ship in March, 2025.
Here is the description on the publisher’s website. Book cover is forthcoming.
In her debut prose collection, Daniela Elza gives voice to the “third culture child”—born in one culture, raised in another, building her life in a third—capturing the whole through fragments of significance.
Description
When asked, “But where are you really from?” Daniela Elza responds with a challenge: “How much time do you have?”
Is This an Illness or an Accident? is a profound exploration of belonging, identity, and the question of home. Drawing on the bleak and occasionally absurd moments encountered in being forced to label oneself on document after document, Daniela Elza’s evocative memoir challenges the conventional narrative of cultural integration, focusing instead on the concept of the world citizen. Elza’s allegiance is not to a single country, but to the land, the trees, and soil of our shared planet, pushing back against the rising tides of nationalism and tribalism. The way nature cannot be hacked into its parts and expected to function, this book captures an ecology of being and identity. Not only do the facets of who we are need to collaborate within each of us in an ecosystem of being and thought, but we also need to collaborate amongst each other for our survival.
This book explores the conflicts and contradictions of what it means to belong, to work, and to find home. It questions societal practices, challenges the status quo, and insists on the complexity of our identities. With a curious and critical eye, Elza captures the beauty of the moment while refusing to be confined by others’ definitions.
Through her unique perspective, Elza reframes the conversation around identity, urging us to see ourselves as wholes, far more interesting and intricate than our separate parts. Is This an Illness or an Accident? is a timely and necessary read for anyone grappling with the notions of belonging, identity and symbiosis in an increasingly divided world.
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On the site there is a drop down SHOP LOCAL menu, where you can preorder the book at your local bookstore, or your favourite independent and neighbourhood bookstore.
Thank you to The Queen’s Quarterly (times four), subTerrain, GRAIN Magazine, About Land Journal, Motherwell, UNTIL Magazine, and Mother Tongue Publishing for taking a chance on these essays. And thank you Caitlin Press for seeing them through in a book collection.
SCAR/CITY
Posted by Daniela Elza on Sep 16 2024 | Comment now »
My new poetry collection SCAR/CITY is forthcoming in the Spring of 2025 with McGill-Queen’s University Press, in the Hugh MacLennan Poetry Series. I wished this year to get two books accepted and the wish came true. The other book (more on that later in another post) is my debut prose collection. For now you can preorder SCAR/CITY here:
Description:
When the trees came down no one knew how / to interpret the light. homeless / it bounces off glass sur*faces */ pierces the wandering eye
These poems walk streets and take snapshots of the impact financialization of our homes has on our sense of community and belonging.
Meandering through physical and philosophical materials – cement, memory, water, narrative, history, sand, light, concrete, and others’ voices – Daniela Elza documents this urgent moment. The reader winds through fragments amidst urban fragmentation. A sequence of triptych poems harkens to silos, skyscrapers, and streets. Readers here have a choice: they can read across the page or down. She channels Syrian architect Marwa Al-Sabouni, who says “the fabric of our cities is reflected in the fabric of our souls.” SCAR/CITY emerges from the Vancouver context to take on global issues of predatory finance and a market that mines homes for profit. It steps outside of binary conversations in favour of poetic reflection and interrogates a system that results in perceptible depravity and scarcity, which leaves us homeless metaphorically and literally.
French philosopher Gaston Bachelard says, “The space we love is unwilling to remain permanently enclosed … Space calls for action, and before action, the imagination is at work.” Amidst negotiations and advocacy in the fight for security of tenure and lease renewal, SCAR/CITY is a poetic call to action.
stones we tend to
Posted by Daniela Elza on Jun 05 2024 | Comment now »
My Review of We Follow the River by Onjana Yawnghwe, ( Emotional Truths) is now up on The British Columbia Review of Books (previously known as The Ormsby Review).
split ends
Posted by Daniela Elza on May 31 2024 | Comment now »
You can read the poem here. The poem was selected by Emma Rhodes. The theme for the month of April was Hair.
“the broken boat” is on sale
Posted by Daniela Elza on May 27 2024 | Comments Off on “the broken boat” is on sale
This month I got a fresh batch of copies from my latest book “the broken boat” (2020). If you have been meaning to get a copy I am doing a sale on the book: $15 (pick up or delivered in person), or $20 to mail it to you within Canada.
November Mysteries
Posted by Daniela Elza on Apr 19 2024 | Comments Off on November Mysteries
November Mysteries (written with Brian Brett) has been accepted for publication by The Malahat Review. It is forthcoming in the Summer issue, 2024. They will include some process notes. Even though Brian is no longer with us, I think he would have been pleased to see this poem come out.
This will also be my debut appearance in the pages of this literary journal.
November Mysteries is one of dozens of poems that have come out into the world from a manuscript of poems written-between-two. I have written with over 30 collaborators. Each of the poems comes with process notes. Ten of the poems were published 2020 in slow erosions. All the poem in the chapbook are written between myself and poet Arlene Ang.
This project began in 2009. The full manuscript is still looking for a publisher. If you know someone who is interested, do let me know, would love to talk to them.
Colleen Thibaudeau Award
Posted by Daniela Elza on Apr 13 2024 | Comments Off on Colleen Thibaudeau Award
I was delighted and honoured to hear this week that I was awarded the 2024 Colleen Thibaudeau Award for Outstanding Contribution. This award is given by the League of Canadian Poets for contributions to poetry and the literary community and comes out in time to celebrate National Volunteer Week from April 14th to 20th!
I was asked to write a statement. I did and on a short deadline, so can already see how it could be better. :-)
Here is an excerpt:
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It often feels that the work we do daily is never done and never enough, but it is. Rebecca Solnit says: “To hope is to give yourself to the future – and that commitment to the future is what makes the present inhabitable.” I volunteer because I want to keep building the world I want to live in. Hope is never misplaced when you are actively working on what is life giving, what creates spaces where one can belong. David Orr puts it nicely, “Hope is a verb with its shirtsleeves rolled up.”
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To read the whole thing: click here.
Thank you to the people who took time to write letters to nominate me.
To all the volunteers out there: Happy National Volunteer Week 2024. Celebrate all volunteers this week during National Volunteer Week and every week of the year.
poetry at Joy Kogawa’s House
Posted by Daniela Elza on Apr 03 2024 | Comments Off on poetry at Joy Kogawa’s House
I am delighted to contribute to a poetry event with these power poets and writers. Click here to register for the event.
Featuring: Aislinn Hunter, Kevin Spenst, Kristina Bresnen, Fiona Tinwei Lam, Rachel Rose, Tariq Malik & Daniela Elza.
Eight poets will read for ten minutes each with four readers before and four readers after a refreshment break.
We will host in the intimate living room at Historic Joy Kogawa House with books available for sale and signing.
There is a small cover charge of $10. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.
Hosted in honour of Danny Peart, who has organized an annual poetry event each year for five years now. We are deeply grateful for Danny’s support of the writing program at Joy Kogawa House and for all he has done to live a life rich in poetry.
Please register at this link to save a spot.
on home and belonging
Posted by Daniela Elza on Mar 25 2024 | Comments Off on on home and belonging
Looking forward to sharing the stage with Taslim Jaffer and Esmeralda Cabral in readings and a conversation on home & belonging.
On Thursday, April 18th at 7pm, join Massy Arts and Massy Books in welcoming writers Taslim Jaffer, Esmeralda Cabral & Daniela Elza for a panel reading and discussion on the theme “The Places We Find Ourselves”
This is a Free Event.
Massy Art Society appreciates it when people register.
But you can come even if you have not registered.
What does it mean to belong? Where do you feel you belong? We can belong to people and places and all kinds of spaces, groups, and communities. What are the places we find ourselves? Are these spaces real or imagined? In this reading event, we hope to spark discussion on this theme. The authors have all explored spaces of in-between-ness in their writing and invite you to join in the conversation.
The event will be of interest to those who feel “at home” where they are, as well as those who may feel alienated, or feel they do not belong, for a variety of reasons. Join us to explore this topic and continue the conversation together.
Thank you to The Writers Union of Canada for partial support of this event.