Reading at Gibsons & District Public Library, BC on May 28
Posted by Daniela Elza on Apr 27 2026 | Comment now »
I do not remember the last time I was on the Sunshine Coast. I will be visiting Gibsons for a reading on May 28th to read from my latest books with Catherine McNeil. Maybe I’ll see some friends I have not seen for a while, maybe we will share some food, drinks, laughter.
Gibsons & District Public Library, 470 South Fletcher Road
Thursday May 28, 2026
Time: 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
The library requests people register here.
There is QR code on the poster below as well, and also at this direct link to the event. Scroll down to the bottom for the registration button.
Do help us spread the word if you know people who would like to come to this event.
Poetry Open Mic Reading Series @ the Salt Spring Library on April 9th
Posted by Daniela Elza on Mar 19 2026 | Comment now »
Hello Salt Spring Island,
Next up – I will be in your neck of the woods on April 9th and will feature at the Salt Spring Island Library. I will be reading from Scar/city (MQUP, 2025). The book was going to come out last year in April but got delayed. So this will be its poetry month appearance. This might be my only reading for poetry month. Here is the poster. Thank you Brian Day for hosting this event and for welcoming me to Salt Spring Island and thank you to the Salt Spring Island Public Library for making the space for this event and for the poster and funding. Hope to see some friends there and make some new ones.
April 9, 2026
Community Program Room,
129 McPhillips Avenue, Salt Spring Island, BC
:under construction: blog post
Posted by Daniela Elza on Mar 06 2026 | Comment now »
On the occasion of SCAR/CITY coming home to where it began, I wrote a guest blog post for the McGill Queen’s University Press blog.
You can read it here. :under construction:
I will be reading from the book at Place Mattering Matters Salon 06 on March 18th, 7pm in the common room on my co-op in Enclave six (Sitka Square).
After five salons and couple of years of hiatus, we are back with salon 6. The book began there, and now it will feature at it coming full circle.
in the neighbourhood
Posted by Daniela Elza on Mar 05 2026 | Comment now »
I went up to Broadway to run some errands and go to the medical building. That was not supposed to take more than an hour. Two and a half hours later I make it home after stopping by the Book Warehouse on Broadway and impromptu chatting with booksellers, signing books, and taking photos. My book was right between Mary Oliver and Crushed Wild Mint. Here is the impromptu photo that happened.
Half a block later I ran into a neighbour drinking coffee outside Elysian Coffeeshop on the corner of Broadway and Ash, and we talked about Scar/city, our co-op, and Bulgarian literature. Ate for the first time a triangular snack of rice, and BBQ eel wrapped in sea weed. Like sushi, but to-go. Got Brita filters and chocolates at London Drugs. They still did not have tea lights. Then ran into a few more people before I got home. That is what good neighbourhoods do. That is why it is worth fighting for them.
*Puncturing holes in social norms*
Posted by Daniela Elza on Feb 12 2026 | Comments Off on *Puncturing holes in social norms*
Puncturing holes in social norms is the first review of Is This an Illness or an Accident?. It just came out in the British Columbia Review this week. I read it with trepidation … as this is my debut foray into prose.
I appreciate how the reviewer pulled through various threads and picked up on unifying themes. This is one of the questions that sat in the back of my mind. I know the unifying themes, and intuit them. I wanted to trust the reader they will pick up on them too, did not want to be too obvious. The gifts reviews give are exactly answers to such quandaries and questions you are left with after the book is published. I hope the book is also funny, in ways that one can be funny about very serious things.
“Elza’s essay collection, Is This an Illness or an Accident? is a wide-ranging, introspective essay collection that punctures holes in capitalism, small talk, and social norms. Elza writes about the nebulousness of belonging from the perspective of a “third culture kid”—she was born in Bulgaria, grew up in Nigeria, attended school in America, and now lives in Canada—the financial precarities and social interpretations of working (mothering, volunteering, writing) that isn’t recognized as work, the relationship between trees and language, the absurd impact of bureaucratic forms, the over-romanticization of travel, the lack of affordability in Vancouver, the evolution of her marriage, the vagaries of online dating, and the glorious superiority and family legacy of homemade yogurt.”
Daniela Elza puts everyday assumptions into a scrutinizing light.
“Is This an Illness or an Accident? is a deep-hearted memoir full of uncomfortable reflections and questions, and while hardly overwhelmingly optimistic, there are grounded, practical ideas for local improvement and involvement—perhaps starting with your gut. Best read under a tree, if you can.”
Thank you Jessica Poon for your engagement with this close to my heart book. Thank you Caitlin Press for the work you put into bringing this book out into the world. And thank you British Columbia Review for your dedication to the good work of engaging and connecting readers with books.
Lunch Poems 12-1pm on January 21st
Posted by Daniela Elza on Jan 19 2026 | Comments Off on Lunch Poems 12-1pm on January 21st
You are invited to Lunch Poems on January 21st, 12noon -1pm
I will be reading from Scar/city (MQUP, 2025) during the lunch hour. I will be sharing the stage with Daniel Cowper.
at the Teck Gallery,
SFU Vancouver,
515 W. Hastings, Main Floor.
Hope to see you there.
books on display in my local branch of Vancity Credit Union
Posted by Daniela Elza on Jan 12 2026 | Comments Off on books on display in my local branch of Vancity Credit Union
My Credit Union, Vancity, provides space for local businesses and artists to display their work. This month my books are on display. This is a first.
I’ll keep working on populating the top shelves, with some more colour, posters etc. Currently there are some poems on display from the latest book Scar/city and a description of the essay book Is This an Illness or an Accident? with QR codes.
What a great idea for a community bank where people line up to do their banking.
Thank you Vancity Credit Union. 
Happy New Year
Posted by Daniela Elza on Dec 31 2025 | Comments Off on Happy New Year
Here she comes!
Here we go!
Happy New Year.
May she be kinder, much wiser,
and a lot more peaceful.
May we come out the other end
more connected,
more loved and loving,
much stronger,
and more resilient.
the new books in the media
Posted by Daniela Elza on Dec 21 2025 | Comments Off on the new books in the media
I love when I hear back from people who are reading the new books. Thank you for all your thoughts on the essays and the poetry. These reflections and echos are little compasses for me, telling me what lands well with readers.
CBC posted a list of books by past CBC Literary Prizes winners and finalists that came out in 2025 . And Is this an Illness or an Accident? and Scar/city are on it.
Scar/city also made the BC Review Year-end Reviewer Picks. Thank you to the reviewers who selected my book for this list and this one sentence that says so much:
“These poems—on the tough topic of community and the forces that break it—dance through the streets with characteristic pitch-perfect timing, self-awareness, and sheer lyric exuberance.”
The latest issue of BC Book World newspaper had a paragraph on my twin book adventures this year and mention of the books, both of which speak of home and the fight we are in, but Scar/city exclusively focuses on what we are up against.
Here again is the first review of Scar/city in case you had not seen it. And I am looking forward to a first review of my debut prose collection: Is this an Illness or an Accident? I love firsts and the challenges and celebrations that come along with such moments.
Wishing every one a wonderful holiday season. May you rest, rejuvenate, and may there be much love and laughter and magic during this time of moving from the old year into the new.
Happy Solstice to all; may peace around the world grow with the light.