Contributors
Jody Freeman
Serai editor Jody Freeman digs in to the Indigenous roots of blues and jazz.
This edition honours Maria Worton, a cherished Montreal poet and activist from Eau Secours and Échec à la guerre.
Struggles over recognition of personhood are rooted in the history of colonialism and private property. Indigenous worldviews of “Our Relations” – the land, and mountains and waters; the sky, sun, moon and stars; the trees, plants and rocks; the birds, […]
[Serai editor Jody Freeman interviewed Vice-Chief Sipi Flamand from the Atikamekw Council of Manawan in early January 2022. The Council of Manawan and the Atikamekw Nation Council spearheaded consultations in the Atikamekw community and the larger Québec community, […]
An interview with Roxann Karonhiarokwas Whitebean [Editorial note: Montréal Serai editor Jody Freeman interviewed Roxann Karonhiarokwas Whitebean in mid-May 2021, before the heart-rending discoveries of the unmarked graves of 1,148 children on the sites of former Indian residential schools.] Jody: […]
There is a vital energy pulsing through this winter issue of Montréal Serai. It radiates off the landing page, with the vibrant art of Leah Kanerahtaroroks Diome, who is from the unceded Kanien’kéha:ka Territory of Kahnawake. In her […]
Veteran war correspondent, Robert Fisk, speaking to a packed house at St. James United Church in Montréal in 2015, reflected on ISIS and the colonial history that has fomented justifiable resentment across much of the Middle East and […]
What we ask for is true justice: justice for ourselves, justice for our daughters, justice for our grand-daughters…
[This tribute to Art Solomon is an adaptation of a radio documentary written for Radio Canada International in 1995, a year and a half before he died. Now, twenty years after his death, his words and actions and powerful spirit […]
It was the shyness and shame in his voice that struck me full in the chest and had me weeping before I could even sit down.
Grant Munro, affectionately known as “Grantie” to his friends, is as beguiling and entertaining as ever, edging toward his mid-nineties.
Below is a poem by Nilambri Ghai that was inspired by the mural Above and below the fault line by Montréal Artist OMEN. Nilambri lives and writes in Ottawa, but […]
Generous Inuit throat singer, Nina Segalowitz, offers Montrealers an unforgettable experience: the joy of playing – using only their breath, voice and heart – and turning a roomful of strangers into a strange living creature that sounds like a… saw! […]
Farida by Naïm Kattan, translated by Norman Cornett and Antonio D’Alfonso, Guernica Editions, 252 pp. Canadian novelist, essayist and critic, Naïm Kattan, has penned more than 50 works including 30 published books, and is one of the best-known francophone writers […]
Portrait of Nina Simone, heart blazing, on Jeanne Mance St., by Montréal street artist (and jazz singer) MissMe, who describes herself as “an artful vandal.” For more on MissMe, go to her website at http://www.miss-me-art.com/. (Photo by Jody Freeman) —– Anonymous mural […]
Ellipse I am the chaos of my father’s order I am the conscience of his delight I am the fantasy of his prison I am the mirror of my father’s light I am the axis of his revolution I […]
On October 29, hundreds of men and women packed the public square at Place des Arts in Montréal for a vigil saluting the courage of the Native women of Val d’Or who have spoken out against police abuse, and honouring […]
Bombardier and refried beans The Québec government managed to pull $1 billion U.S. out of the ethers to bail out Bombardier, but for the 400,000 workers who “woman” our public education system, health and social services and the public service, […]
Mermaid Road, a handmade book; Louise Carson, Broken Rules Press, 2013 Mermaid Road is not a conventional imagining of a mermaid’s life. It is set along the shores of North America’s east coast and an unnamed land not unlike Greece. Inspired by […]
My Multi-Ethnic Friends & Other Stories, Cyril Dabydeen, Guernica Editions, Fall 2013,206 pages I waded into these short stories with no inkling of what shoreline I was leaving, what stones were underfoot, what spirits were alive in the water. […]
Girouard Avenue, copyright Stephen Morrissey 2009, Coracle Press (Montreal), 80 pages. The Girouard Avenue that Stephen Morrissey offers us is no mundane stretch of pavement and cold-water flats under a pale sky. It spans an ocean and centuries, reflecting […]
Blue Poppy, copyright Ilona Martonfi 2009, Coracle Press, 72 pages In Ilona Martonfi’s new book of poetry, the title offers us a riddle that we have to figure out for ourselves. The poppy is not red, it is some […]
