So delighted to see an anthology I have been a part of (Impact: Women Writing After Concussion, University of Alberta Press, 2021) on this list! It is impressive company indeed–so many great books on there.

https://www.cbc.ca/books/the-best-canadian-nonfiction-of-2021-1.6276723

The essay I wrote for the anthology is called “In Which Skinny Dipping Temporarily Fixes a Life.” It talks about how my concussion affected my life and my mental health and my writing, and how my writing process for the Garbage Poems project came out of that.

The editors worked with filmmaker Junyeong Kim to create a series of book trailers for the anthology, each focused on a different theme. My essay, not surprisingly, is in the “I Dream of Swimming” section. Here’s the trailer for the essays in that section:

Check out the whole reel of trailers here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCiHkBuv_jWYTc064OeLoAf08FnOSm1bJ

And more about the book here: https://www.uap.ualberta.ca/titles/1017-9781772125818-impact

It’s really quite a book – devastating, moving, and relatable even thought the experiences range so widely. I was honoured to see my essay keeping such amazing company in the pages of this book.