Rachel Fernandes

Rachel Fernandes was raised in Ottawa, where she completed her Honours BA and MA in English at the University of Ottawa. She is now based in Kingston, where she is a PhD Candidate studying contemporary North American literature. Her research focuses on mixed race identity in various genres, including memoir, poetry, and the novel. Over the last decade, she has published a smattering of poems through small presses such as In/Words, Joypuke, Coven, and Feathertale, and served on the editorial boards of The Ottawa Arts Review and The Lamp Literary Journal. She loves reading even more than she loves writing, and is excited to share and discuss new Canadian work through The Miramichi Reader.

UnSpoken Truth by Angela Bowden

August 5, 2021 by Rachel Fernandes

Unspoken Truth is a bold collection of poetry highlighting the generational pain of Africans living in the diaspora.

Chiru Sakura-Falling Cherry Blossoms: A Mother & Daughter’s Journey through Racism, Internment and Oppression by Grace Eiko Thompson

June 6, 2021 by Rachel Fernandes

At eight years old, Grace Eiko Nishikihama was forcibly removed from her Vancouver home and interned with her parents and siblings in the BC Interior. Chiru Sakura--Falling Cherry Blossoms is a moving and politically outspoken memoir written by Grace, now a grandmother, with passages from a journal kept by her late mother, Sawae Nishikihama.

Fuse by Hollay Ghadery

April 7, 2021 by Rachel Fernandes

Drawing on her own experiences as a woman of Iranian and British Isle descent, writer Hollay Ghadery dives into conflicts and uncertainty surrounding the bi-racial female body and identity, especially as it butts up against the disparate expectations of each culture.

Beyond the Food Court Edited by Luciana Erregue-Sacchi

March 9, 2021March 8, 2021 by Rachel Fernandes

Beyond the Food Court: an Anthology of Literary Cuisines showcases 14 recognized authors from all over the world who call Canada home.

The Fool by Jessie Jones

February 14, 2021 by Rachel Fernandes

The Fool is Jessie Jones’s first collection of luminous poems. When reading The Fool, I was struck with the same feelings I get when I read the poetry of Arthur Rimbaud; images bloom in each line, like dreams, making me want to reread each poem just to experience them a while longer.

it was never going to be okay by jaye simpson

February 7, 2021 by Rachel Fernandes

it was never going to be okay is a collection of poetry and prose exploring the intimacies of understanding intergenerational trauma, Indigeneity and queerness, while addressing urban Indigenous diaspora and breaking down the limitations of sexual understanding as a trans woman.

Warrior Life: Indigenous Resistance and Resurgence by Pam Palmater

December 21, 2020 by Rachel Fernandes

Warrior Life: Indigenous Resistance and Resurgence is the second collection of writings by Palmater. In keeping with her previous works, numerous op-eds, media commentaries, YouTube channel videos and podcasts, Palmater’s work is fiercely anti-colonial, anti-racist, and more crucial than ever before.

Small, Broke, and Kind of Dirty: Affirmations for the Real World by Hana Shafi

November 18, 2020 by Rachel Fernandes

Drawing on her experience as a millennial woman of colour, and writing with humour and a healthy dose of irreverence, Shafi delves into body politics and pop culture, racism and feminism, friendship and allyship. Through it all, she remains positive without being saccharine, and hopeful without being naive.

Policing Black Lives: State Violence in Canada from Slavery to the Present by Robyn Maynard

February 14, 2021November 14, 2020 by Rachel Fernandes

Policing Black Lives is the work of Montreal-based Black feminist activist and educator, Robyn Maynard. Maynard brings her considerable expertise to this book, which is packed with information about the history and continued oppression of Black people in Canada.

Afraid of the Dark by Guyleigh Johnson

May 22, 2021July 10, 2020 by Rachel Fernandes

Through prose and poetry, Guyleigh Johnson tells the story of sixteen-year-old Kahlua Thomas. An absent father and an alcoholic mother leave Kahlua feeling neglected, but her real pain stems from being black.