Sharing Our Stories: An Invitation to Reflect and a Gift

A Time to Love

Humans are storytellers. We make sense of our inner and outer worlds through narrative, through the stories we tell ourselves, and those we tell each other. We speak (and write and read) our grief, our pain, our love, our joy. And in the telling of these universal experiences, we make sense of what it means to be. These days, however, it feels like we’ve lost the plot. 

Without question, these are challenging times. Our collective narrative feels confused and fragmented, our voices divided and competing. To move beyond the limits of language, beyond the fraught pronouns us and them, we would do well to return to our shared storyline: How do we hurt? How will we heal? How can we help?

Our feature story for Issue 27 is ‘The Lover Snake’ by Canadian author, playwright, and composer Tomson Highway. Through the telling of a singular relationship, he beautifully articulates the universal aches of love and loss. Originally published in 1989, it encourages us to reflect on the past. On all that has changed — and all that has not. Stories find us when we need them, and we need them now more than ever.

In honour of Pride Month, in celebration of National Indigenous Peoples Day this Sunday, and in solidarity with Indigenous and Black Lives Matter, we are delighted to share the digital version of Issue 27 with you absolutely free until the end of June.  Order your copy here.

In reading the stories of others, we are encouraged to rewrite our own. And to create a new, shared narrative with dignity, representation, and justice for all.

Happy Juneteenth, Happy National Indigenous Peoples’ Day, and Happy Pride Month,
with love from all of us at Pulp Literature Press