Breaking Boundaries: LGBTQ2 Writers on Coming Out and Into Canada is an anthology of fiction, personal essay, and poetry by LGBTQ2 writers (Canada-born, immigrated, or refugee). The common thread throughout is that for LGBTQ2 people, Canada is the place to be. Nominated for the 2019 GEORGE RYGA AWARD for social awareness. Authors: Teryl Berg, Kyle Chen, Wendy J. Cutler, Corrie H. Furst, Kevin Henry, Anne Hofland, Chantal Hughes, Masaki Kidokoro, Dale Lee Kwong, Austin Lee, JL Lori, Eka Nasution and Rainer Oktovianus (narrators), Adam Nixon, Gail Marlene Schwartz, Caelan Sinclair, LS Stone, Sosania Tomlinson, E.T. Turner, Hayley Zacks. Teacher resources available on publisher website: rebelmountainpress.com/breaking-boundaries-teacher-resources
Lori Shwydky graduated from Vancouver Island University (VIU) in 2016 with a B.A. in Creative Writing. She resides in Nanoose Bay, BC.
Robin Stevenson, award-winning author (including Governor General Award) of more than 20 books for kids and teens, including the Stonewall Honor book, PRIDE: Celebrating Diversity and Community. Her books have been translated into many languages. Robin lives in Victoria, B.C. with her family and has been involved with refugee sponsorship since 2015.
"What does it mean to be LGBTQ2 in Canada? The only possible answer to that question is one given in many voices. That is exactly what this book offers. There is struggle in these stories and poems, but there is also strength and resilience, compassion and determination. Woven together these voices leave me with a sense of hopefulness: a belief that the creativity and fierce commitment of our community will carry us forward as we work to create a Canada that lives up to the dream of freedom and safety it represents to so many people around the world."-Robin Stevenson, author of Pride: Celebrating Diversity and Community
"There are mature and rigorously insightful pieces here, like Gail Marlene Schwartz's "Threads," incredible non-linear and poignant vignettes that move back and forth across time and place to painstakingly detail the narrator's anxieties in relation to her sexuality. The result is a stunningly moving coming-of-age piece. Anne Hofland's "Are You a Lesbian?" is yet another reflexive essay showcasing a profound maturity in thinking about the very craft of writing and how it might be honed to writing about oneself. She examines what it means to look back across the decades, and to have witnessed the shifts, the ebbs and flows, that have occurred in the scene of queer history and politics in Canada."-Malahat Review
"An excellent anthology of LBGTQ2+ content. While I am not part of the community, reading this did give me better insight and I hope I can use that to be a better, more supportive ally to members of the LGBTQ2+ community. I think more people should read this whether they are straight or not."-Noelle Walsh