Writing News

Blank Spaces is one of my favourite Canadian magazines. It covers Canadian art, photography, and literature, and each issue is a beautiful object to hold and to read. They have a very long submission queue and I'm delighted to have a piece entitled Discord at the Concerto in the September 2025 issue.

 

 

About that long submission queue: I sent in my piece in January 2024 and I received a lovely email from editor-in-chief Alanna Rusnak in June 2025 asking if it was still available. It was—Blank Spaces was the only place I'd sent it. I knew it was perfect for them and, frankly, couldn't think of any other place for it. I simply forgot about it while waiting for its acceptance or rejection.

 

So, like my recent story in The New Quarterly, this feels to me like quite an old piece, written at an earlier stage in my development as a writer. It's also the first time I've had a piece of non-fiction published, or more accurately, a piece of creative non-fiction. Each of the individual components of it are factual, but I blended them together in a creative way. I'm happy to see it out in the world, and I'm looking forward to having the magazine in my hands. 

 

Here's the link for discounted pre-orders for the September 2025 issue, open until noon on August 27th.

 

Postscript:

I was asked for more details about the performance of the concerto that I describe in the piece. It took place at Place-des-Arts in Montreal on September 30th 2021. Ravel's Piano Concerto in G major was performed by the Metropolitan Orchestra, conducted by Yanick Nézet-Séguin. The pianist was Hélène Grimaud.