About this Event
Conyer Clayton’s third poetry collection, the lake-shaped excuse, is a book about grief and so, like most grief books, it is ultimately a book about love. The voices of a long-dead mother and a still-living daughter merge and twin and separate in a series of long poems that mirror yet fall apart from one another, much like the speakers' lives. In these poems the reader is guided through the window to the lake, into the body, away from the body, into remembering then unremembering. We see the toad in the firepit, the neighbour picking wildflowers in the front yard, their mother's hands, rubbing their eyes to sleep. the lake-shaped excuse is a conversation beyond endings, where laughter and silence reflect on the still surface of the water.
Conyer Clayton is a writer from Louisville, a dual US-Canadian citizen living between Ottawa and Kentucky. They are the author of three books of poetry, most recently the lake-shaped excuse (Buckrider Books, Wolsak and Wynn).
Sanna Wani is the author of Lantern (House of Anansi Press, 2026). She loves daisies and her dog, Juniper.
Cassidy McFadzean is the author of three books of poetry, most recently Crying Dress (House of Anansi, 2024). Her fiction has appeared in Joyland, Hazlitt, and The Walrus, and her debut novel Giant Mother is forthcoming in May 2027.
Natasha Ramoutar is the author of two poetry collections, Bittersweet and Baby Cerberus, and an editor with Wolsak & Wynn.
EJ Kneifel is in process. They have written about, to, for; they have co-created theatre, gatherings, place. These days, EJ is slowing down to gear up -- turning to the centre of gravity of the world as we will need to make it.
Event venue & nearby stays
Another Story Bookshop, 315 Roncesvalles Avenue, Toronto, Canada
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups — all the happenings, one place.