Okay, maybe I forgot a little. Once I published Please Rate Your Satisfaction and took a deep dive into the world of self-publishing, my personal reading got pushed to the backburner. It didn’t help that the novel I started reading around the same time just isn’t holding my attention. But more on that in a later post.
Whenever I wanted something to read that wasn’t that novel, I procrastinated by picking bit by bit at three copies of Event Magazine that I received for free. I entered one of their non-fiction contests about a year ago, and although I didn’t place (which is okay), just by entering I got a free subscription for a year. And I sure do love free things.
But how to make Event Magazine fit in with my reading list for 2021? After all, I am following an Indigo reading list this year to challenge myself. Well, it’s a bit of a stretch, but Event is counting as my non-fiction book by a Canadian author. Now, I do own a respectable amount of non-fiction books, and many of them are by Canadian authors, but I’ve already read them all. The only unread non-fiction books left on my shelf are by American authors. And yes, Event contains poetry, short stories, art, and beautifully photographed covers, but the magazine also contains book reviews and… You guessed it, non-fiction. As a bonus, one of the free issues I received contains the winners of that non-fiction contest I entered.
Given the variety of content in the magazine, as well as the fact that it’s all by different authors and artists, there’s really something for everyone. There were stories, poems, and non-fiction pieces that stuck with me long after I read them. Even reading the book reviews alerted me to novels I’d love to add to my collection. But there were also things I read that I didn’t enjoy, or didn’t even retain. Still, I’ve never really read much Can Lit outside of a university course, so it was nice to explore a genre I don’t usually gravitate towards.
But the Can Lit aspect of the publication is also one of the drawbacks. Anyone who’s ever taken a Canadian Literature course will know that works that fall under this genre deal with specific themes and tones. Canadian authors and indie authors like myself who write genre fiction don’t typically get included in the Can Lit umbrella. As a result, even though this magazine showcases the work of Canadian authors and writers, it’s a narrow view of the kinds of works being produced in this country. And there’s not necessarily anything wrong with that, every publication has it’s own niche, but this kind of work is not for everyone. The mere mention of Can Lit can often bring about an eye roll from people who have had to suffer through a mandatory course on the genre. I suppose that for me, a Canadian self-published author of genre fiction, it’s frustrating that this is the image called to mind when people talk about Canadian authors.
Overall, I enjoyed reading these three issues of Event Magazine. I didn’t love everything, but I found some nuggets in there that made reading through everything else worthwhile. Plus, I love the cover photos on all of these issues. Now, did I enjoy this publication enough to pay for a subscription? No. But I am grateful that I got the chance to read these.
