THE FEM is a literary journal that publishes feminist, diverse, and inclusive creative works — from fiction and spoken word to interviews with writers, artists, and creators.

“I cannot mask, change, morph, or cloak my disease like a flaw in a painting. All I can do is give it a shape without a face.” How one fiction writer with depression turns his mental health challenges into monsters.

Literary journal minor literature[s] presents off-the-beaten-path poetry, essays, art, and reviews by emerging authors and creators.

Trish Hopkinson may describe herself as a “selfish poet,” but her site is an indispensable community hub for poetry lovers, with news and event listings, writing resources, and much more (including her own poems, of course).

The tighter you clamp your heart shut, the more you are constricting blood flow to your brain. Emotion has to go through your heart to get to your mind. Insight requires migration through your mind and back down to your heart.

“The scariest thing about these stories is not that they are lies, but that there is a tiny bit of truth to each of them. Dictatorships do not do away with veracity. They do away with proportionality.” Reflections from Tajikistan, within the captions of a photo essay, by Michael Hobbes.

“I will never give in to fear that is based on Twitter logic. I will never develop policy with bigots who masquerade as Twitter experts. I will not connect random dots between violence downtown and the brown neighbour next door.” Reflections on violence, Twitter, and politics, from a Canadian looking south.

Mandy Len Catron on her ongoing struggle: “And maybe a good way to think about my place in the world is to consider how often I am inconvenienced by injustice — to make space for it, to welcome it in.”