Spotlight: CAROUSEL

a donor to the crowd funding campaign

CAROUSEL is donating 5 of its final print issues to the AngelHousePress Caring Imagination Crowd Funding Campaign. CAROUSEL no longer publishes print magazines and is now online. Its tagline is “hybrid literature for mutant readers,” and I’d say that sums its aesthetic up aptly. I have always loved CAROUSEL’s mix of content, which includes poetry, fiction, comics, reviews and contemporary art. It’s a hodge podge of good stuff in full colour.

CAROUSEL pays for publication, which is an important and vital action that I heartily support. Check out its calls for submission here.

One of the issues they are donating is issue 42, which includes a great section on queer lit, including a reading list, a fascinating interview of 5 queer writers by Jade Wallace entitled “How Do You Know When the Poem You Are Reading is Queer.” “Bänoo Zan, poet and organizer of Toronto’s Shab-e She’r (Poetry Night) reading series, takes the simple but radical position that, ‘Poetry by its very nature, is queer. It deconstructs narrative. It is the product of a mind that can imagine lives not lived.”

“CAROUSEL (est. 1983) is an exquisitely produced hybrid literary/arts magazine representing new & established creators, with a focus on positioning Canadian talent within an international context. This innovative journal — now exclusively released online as of December 2020 — prides itself on presenting work across many genres: if it’s original & engaging, we want to give it a home!”

Every adventurous issue of our bi-annual journal features:

CANADIAN & INTERNATIONAL WRITING

presenting a hefty selection of new poetry & fiction — in all moods, styles & formats

PAGEWORKS

providing a platform for grey areas, we embrace great ideas that make innovative use of the printed page

ARTIST FEATURES

focusing on searching out the uncommon, we take pride in unveiling provocative new art works”

I have enjoyed participating in its initiatives, including the CHAIN: Response poems, where someone writes an initial poem and people use it as a prompt and so forth. CAROUSEL also publishes experimental reviews #USEReview, which offer creative takes on the concept of the review, engaging with a work with all forms of commentary, including graphic comics and visual poems.

CAROUSEL is a community-building, creative force. Please support the AngelHousePress 2023 Crowd Funding Campaign and choose from a variety of perks, including CAROUSEL’s bundle of 5 gorgeous print issues.