Archive - Back issues
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Back issues of Grain are $6.50 each ($9.50 for U.S. residents, $11.50 for residents outside North America). To order a copy of any of the issues on this page, use the drop down list below to select the correct shipping destination. Use the text box to indicate which back issue you wish to purchase.
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Truths and LiesGrain Volume 38 No 4, 2011 TRUTHS AND LIES, Grain’s Summer 2011 issue, distorts the lines between fib and fact, fabricated and actual, between poetic truth-stretching and documentary confabulation. Maybe all truths and untruths are simply different echoes of ourselves, sounding in the narratives we tell about who we are and how we came to be, writes Lindsay Cuff in “Two Truths and a Lie.” Cuff’s clever essay sets a provocative tone for the issue, the rest of which is poetry poetry all the way! It seems fitting that this issue, dedicated to the late great Robert Kroetsch, a ground-breaking exemplar of both the tall yarn and the long poem, features some astounding new writing by several poets who are working in longer forms or sequences. The writings here by Rachel Lebowitz, Sue Goyette, Kim Trainor, and Susan Andrews Grace all incorporate elements of document or historical documentation. All of these poems entice the reader completely, irresistibly and convincingly, but sometimes with a small voice infiltrating the edges that asks, Come on, are you making this up? As with all exceptional poetry, the answer is both a decisive Yes and No, or an indecisive Yes and No…it’s all true whichever way you read it. TRUTHS AND LIES also includes poetry in translation by Yang Jian and Wang Jiaxin, and, of course, also includes the installment everyone’s been waiting for of Jonathan Ball’s Haiku Horoscopes. The spectacular full-of-words-and-questions artwork is by Ray Fenwick, this issue’s Featured Artist—Ray’s gorgeous jealousy-inducing cover alone is reason enough to pick up this issue! Editor: Sylvia Legris Designer: Betsy Rosenwald Cover Image: Ray Fenwick, inhmiuywi, Repeat Pattern. Contributors: Susan Andrews Grace, Jonathan Ball, Gary Barwin, Méira Cook, Lindsay Cuff, Ray Fenwick, Sue Goyette, Yang Jian, Wang Jiaxin, Rachel Lebowitz, Moez Surani, Kim Trainor. Translations by George O'Connell/Diana Shi, and Fiona Sze-Lorrain.
THIS ISSUE IS SOLD OUT!
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HoneysuckleGrain Volume 38 No 3, 2011 Editor:Sylvia LegrisDesigner: Betsy Rosenwald Cover Image: Chris Kuzma, Step 6, watercolour, ink, pencil on paper. HONEYSUCKLE, Spring 2011. With a small nod to Pantone’s 2011 Color of the Year, HONEYSUCKLE touches on things design-related and marks the lengthening of days. Includes a dazzling collection of work replete with both creatures of nature and objects manufactured for living rooms (from Herman Miller chairs to American Pelicans!). Features brilliant artwork by Chris Kuzma, Jonathan Ball’s popular Haiku Horoscopes, and new writing by Trevor Corkum, Marilyn Bowering, Sara Heinonen, Michael Trussler, Ronna Bloom, Alpay Ulku, Corinna Chong, and more… Check out this flattering review of HONEYSUCKLE by Sarah Gorman at NewPages.com! Contributors: Maggie Andersen, Jonathan Ball, Michelle Barker, andrea bennett, Ronna Bloom, Marilyn Bowering, Corinna Chong, Trevor Corkum, Claudia Coutu Radmore, John Creary, Antony Di Nardo, Sara Heinonen, Kevin Immanuel, Irina Kovalyova, Chris Kuzma, Andrew McEwan, Ben Rawluk, Paula Jane Remlinger, Hendrik Slegtenhorst, Michael Trussler, Alpay Ulku.
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ArsenalGrain Volume 38 No 2, 2011 Editor: Sylvia Legris ARSENAL, Winter 2011. Grain’s annual Contest Issue is a stockpile of shiny new writing, ideas, and images—spit and polished and ready for inspection! Rifle through these pages and the only cover you’ll want to take is inside the one that wraps this issue. ARSENAL includes a fantastic array of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. Features spectacular artwork by Mary Kavanagh, and superb new writing by Louise Bak, Sarah Keevil, Doyali Farah Islam, and Rosa del Duca. PLUS Grain’s 2010 Short Grain contest winners! Contributors: Rose Adams, Louise Bak, Jonathan Ball, Rosa del Duca, Bill Howell, Doyali Farah Islam, Christian Jordan, Mary Kavanagh, Sarah Keevil, John Pass, Sandra Ridley, Shawn Riopelle. Featuring the winners of the 22nd Annual Short Grain (with Variations) Contest: Fiction: judged by Lee Henderson Poetry: judged by Jennifer Still
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UnrulyGrain Volume 38 No 1, 2010 Editor: Sylvia Legris UNRULY, Fall 2010. Go rowdy! Go unruly! Think of the first sentence as if it were a mushroom spore, writes Irina Kovalyova in her essay "On Mushrooms." Grain's Fall issue, UNRULY, is a magnificent literary "mesh of living growth" that positively sporulates with provocative writing. Pieces by contributors Michael Goertzen, Kyeren Regehr, Shane Rhodes, Kellee Ngan, and Jim Johnstone branch unpredictably, impeccably, between genres, or stretch one’s more domesticated expectations of form and content. Included is our first installment of Jonathan Ball’s Haiku Horoscopes (wild divination whipped into 17 syllables!). UNRULY features the truly unruly, shrewdly brilliant (with undertones both lewd and rude!) artwork of Montreal artist Adrian Norvid. Contributors:
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All Over The PlaceGrain Volume 37 No 4, 2010 Editor: Sylvia Legris ALL OVER THE PLACE, Summer 2010. Grain's summer issue unpacks a literary carry-on bag of duty-worthy souvenirs, with writings that touch down in Tel Aviv, Calgary, Mount Kilimanjaro, Portland, Reykjavik, and Beijing. Includes non-fiction by Audrea Lim, Moez Surani, Jeramy Dodds, Chuqiao Yang; fiction by John Duncan Talbird, Ayelet Tsabari, Almeda Glenn Miller; poetry by Darren C. Demaree. Featuring the striking pinhole photographs of renowned artist Dianne Bos. Remarkable writing and art—all over the map! Congratulations to Chuqiao (Teresa) Yang whose non-fiction piece "Beijing Notes," which appeared in ALL OVER THE PLACE, took first prize in two categories of the 2011 Western Magazine Awards: Student Writing and Gold Awards Best Article–Saskatchewan. Contributors:
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SlipstreamGrain Volume 37 No 3, 2010 Editor: Sylvia Legris Get caught in the forward suction of Grain's Spring 2010 issue, SLIPSTREAM. The cover is lush with the provocative artwork of Bulgarian-transplant Biliana Velkova, SLIPSTREAM's featured artist. Inside you'll find cutting-edge poetry and fiction by Kevin A. Couture, Sarah Fletcher, Colin Fulton, Sandy Pool, Avi Silberstein, Steven Ross Smith, Brenda Schmidt, D.E. Steward, Jennifer Still, Diana Tegenkamp, D.W. Wilson, Jan Zwicky, plus Tamara Bond's Illustrated Horoscope. It's impossible not to get pulled into SLIPSTREAM's remarkable momentum—right through to the last page! SLIPSTREAM garnered a nomination for the 2010 National Magazine Awards! Congratulations to D.W. Wilson, finalist in the fiction category. Contributors:
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TrophyGrain Volume 37 No 2, 2010 Editor: Sylvia Legris Grain’s Winter 2010 issue, TROPHY, features the winners of Grain’s 21st Annual Writing Contest, judged by Tonja Gunvaldsen Klaassen (Poetry) and Elise Levine (Fiction). Includes 1st and 2nd Prize fiction and poetry winners Matthew Heiti, Marilyn Gear Pilling, Danny Jacob, and Medrie Purdham. TROPHY also features the provocative images of artist Lee Henderson, with new fiction by Segun Afolabi, and Zsuzsi Gartner, and new poetry by Ronna Bloom, Jonathan Ball, Concetta Principe, Paul William Zits. Congratulations to Zsuzsi Gartner, whose short-story collection, Better Living Through Plastic Explosives, has made the 2011 Giller Prize short list! "Floating Like a Goat," one of the stories included in Better Living Through Plastic Explosives, was first published in TROPHY! Contributors: Featuring the winners of the 21st annual Short Grain (with variations) Writing Contest: Fiction: judged by Elise Levine Poetry: judged by Tonja Gunvaldsen Klaassen
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ConversationGrain Volume 37 No 1, 2009 Editor: Sylvia Legris Every component of the collective conversation in Grain's Fall 2009 issue possesses a singular poise and beauty. In concert, a mobile image of balance. This issue features the gorgeous artwork of Beijing artist Jiang Jie, a translation of a long poem by Beijing poet Xi Chuan, poetry in translation by Wang Jiaxin, and new work by Sue Goyette, Steven Hayward, Tim Lilburn, Eleanor Wachtel, Don Domanski, Chuqiao Yang, Warren Heiti, Dani Couture, Myrna Kostash, and more. CONVERSATION received two 2009 National Magazine Awards nominations! Congratulations to Don Domanski and Warren Heiti, both finalists in the poetry category. Check out this great review of CONVERSATION by Sima Rabinowitz at NewPages.com! Contributors:
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LudditeGrain Volume 36 No 4, 2009 Editor: Sylvia Legris Grain LUDDITE is a celebration (cue the kazoos!) of the desire to make art or writing using methods and materials that are lower-tech and messier, with a process that happens in real time, under available light. Includes stunning artwork by Sonya Adams, poetry translations by Griffin Prize nominee Jeramy Dodds, non-fiction by filmmaker Guy Maddin, poet Betsy Warland, and cultural critic Jeanne Randolph, artist Tamara Bond's Illustrated Horoscopes, new poetry, new fiction, puzzles and more! Check out this "exemplary" review of LUDDITE here at NewPages.com! Contributors:
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MeltGrain Volume 36 No 3, 2009 Editor: Sylvia Legris Congratulations to Krista Foss whose story "The Longitude of Okay" was selected to appear in the prestigious Journey Prize Stories 22, available in stores September 28, 2010. Krista's story was originally published in MELT, Grain's Spring 2009 issue. Contributors:
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TransitionalGrain Volume 36 No 2, 2009 Editor: Sylvia Legris Contributors: Featuring the winners of the 20th annual Short Grain Writing Contest: Non-Fiction: judged by Sheri Benning Prose Poem: judged by Billeh Nickerson Postcard Story: judged by Yann Martel Dramatic Monologue: judged by Lisa Moore
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After SummerGrain Volume 36 No 1, 2008 Editor: Kent Bruyneel Contributors:
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