Geist

Also in GEIST 133 “Yangbans of the Canadian Prairies” by JANE PARK “Inside the Storm” by DANIEL ZOMPARELLI “Empty Fountain, Unfound Smoke” by ZEENAT NAGREE “Monstrous Bodies” by EMMA CLEARY “Thirteen Portraits of Ishiuchi Miyako” by CHRISTINE LAI Cover art by RACHELLE WUNDERINK More artists in this issue: SONNY ASSU, DARIA BEER, APOORVA BISHT, HAYLEY CHIU, EIBLIN KOCH, TREVOR SLOAN, LAURENT GASCON and ISHIUCHI MIYAKO ‍ TABLE OF CONTENTS FEATURES Winners of the 2026 PolterGeist Writing Contest...

Long before a piece appears in Geist, it has already found its first readers and generated a lot of conversation in the office. From across Canada, members of our Reading Collective spend countless hours reading submissions to help us discover the best, weirdest, Geist-iest work that deserves to be shared. We’re excited to introduce you to a few more of the volunteers who help shape each issue of the magazine.

Geist is thrilled to present a two-hour writing workshop on August 19, 2026, facilitated by Minelle Mahtani, author of the memoir May It Have a Happy Ending and current Chair of Canadian Studies at the University of British Columbia. REGISTER on our Eventbrite page. Writing What We Cannot Fully Remember Do you ever feel that you can’t possibly write your story because, if you’re honest, you feel like you can’t remember everything? Well, don’t let that stop you.

Every submission Geist receives is read with care by members of our Reading Collective—a community of volunteers who give their time to reading new work and sharing their insights with the editors. We’re delighted to introduce you to a few more of these readers. Whether your favourite piece from a recent issue was a poem, essay, short story or comic, it was likely first championed by one of them. Saakshi Patel is a Mumbai-born poet and educator who lives in Vancouver, BC.

Behind every issue of Geist is a remarkable group of volunteer readers whose insight, curiosity and generosity help shape the magazine. Over the next few weeks, we’re introducing you to members of our Reading Collective, who devote their time to reading submissions and sharing their perspectives with the editors. If you’ve found a piece you loved in a recent issue, there’s a good chance it was one of these readers who recognized its potential from the very beginning.

Thank you to all the writers who sent us fact and fiction that ranged from uncanny to sublime, gesturing to the various meanings of geist, among them “spirit,” “wit,” and “ghost.” Congratulations to the six writers who made the shortlist! ‍ "As I wait for the TTC in High Park" by Ysh Cabana "Cryptid Studies: A Field Guide" by Terri Potratz "Let Me Be Your Acolyte" by Ella Pfalzgraff "The Underground City" by Benjamin Hollo "Night Drive" by Jacob Bachinger "Angela" by Emily Horton ‍ Stay...

The PolterGeist Writing Contest called for ghost stories of 500 words or less, in fact or fiction. A gesture to the various interpretations of geist, among them “spirit,” “wit,” and “ghost.” We looked for stories in the realm of the surreal and the sublime, of hauntings and horror, of spirit and satire.

Join Geist on Tuesday, July 21 to officially launch issue 132! This issue is about having the type of face that urges strangers to ask for directions. Uncovering the anatomical layers of a garden island. Oh, the skateboarder’s spiritual connection to a DIY quarterpipe. The point where the moon and morels intersect. Japanese street photography and the act of looking. It’s about many other things, too—discover it all here. Readings by Geist authors Alex Leslie, Christine Lai, and more.

Expressions that have been ruled unparliamentary during various sittings of the Canadian House of Commons. From Beauchesne’s Rules & Forms of the House of Commons of Canada by Alistair Fraser, W.F. Dawson and John A. Holtby, published by the Carswell Company Ltd. in 1989.

Before I get to the contents of George Bowering’s memoir, Pinboy (Cormorant Books),  I’d like to credit the interior text design. Pinboy’s chapter headings are like minimalist neon signs from the early 1950s, skilfully replicated and entirely suited to this tale of growing up in small-town British Columbia (specifically, Oliver, in the sizzling desert of the Okanagan). The narrator, to earn a little pocket money, sets up pins at the local bowling alley.