Flo. Literary Magazine

Curious about the mini market at our launch this Thursday? 🤔🛍️

Join us in celebrating flo. Issue 06 | Solstice on September 5th at 7pm and check out our awesome vendors: Aurum Jewellery, Tsoa Raholison, CreativeBeana and the Q***r Zine Collective! 🤩

👑Laura (she/her) of Aurum Jewellery is a first year engineering student who has a passion for crafts, cake decorating and musical theatre! She started her business in 2020, selling jewellery to her high school peers, and has recently ventured into selling at craft markets and hosting workshops!

🎨Tsoa Raholison (pronounced Tsu) is a multidisciplinary artist who focuses her art on drawing, video and sometimes media installation. She often finds her inspiration through emotions and nature. And because she loves gardening, she aspires to be a plant or a butterfly fluttering in the meadows!

🖌️Karina (she/they) of CreativeBeana is a sociology major with a minor in Indigenous and sexuality studies. She started their business in the fall of 2023 to share her art with others. For fun, Karina likes rock climbing, baking, and doing drag!

📚The Q***r Zine Collective is a loose network of Ottawa zinesters whose work touches on themes of q***rness and q***r history. The collective often partners with the Ottawa Trans Library to bring q***r and trans art to markets across the city!

We can hardly contain our excitement…we’re just one week away from the issue 06 launch! Here’s another sneak peek of Solstice, an excerpt from Jillian Clasky’s “Aviva” 🌅

flo. issue 06 | Solstice explores all the ways we experience summer. Join us at Club SAW on September 5th from 7:00-10:00 PM to celebrate with us ✨🌻

Who else can’t wait for issue 06? Enjoy this excerpt from Emma Schuster’s “stepping river”🧚🏼

flo. issue 06 | Solstice explores all the ways we experience summer and will be launching in just over a week from today! We hope to see you at the launch 🌞🌈

🩷🐻👩‍🎨MEET THE ARTIST!👩‍🎨🐻🩷

flo. issue 06 | Solstice features incredible artwork by Alexandra Finkeldey! As our Visual Arts Editor Senka puts it: Finkeldey’s work carries an undeniable sense of playfulness. You can read more about her process in our artist’s interview in issue 06 and check out more of her work at

Alexandra Finkeldey is an illustrator based in Ottawa, on the unceded territory of the Anishinaabeg Algonquin People. She lives with her husband, my two cats (Mochi & Jo Bean) and her elderly gecko named Lenny.

What are you doing two weeks from today? 🤔📆

Join us in celebrating our sixth print publication at Club SAW on Thursday, September 5th! Doors open at 7:00 p.m. and readings begin at 7:30 p.m. All are welcome to stay until closing time at 10:00 p.m.

This all-ages event is free for everyone! We will have copies of issues 4, 5, and 6 available for purchase at the event at $15 each. SAW’s bar will also be open if you wish to purchase a beverage (non-alcoholic and alcoholic options available). There will be a mini market as well! Stay tuned for more information on all the amazing people reading and our incredible vendors at our mini market!

ACCESS: SAW is fully wheelchair accessible. Visitors enter SAW at 67 Nicholas Street through the paved courtyard, where a ramp and stairs lead to the entrance’s automated door. SAW’s entrance and Club SAW are located on Level 0. The accessible, all-gender washroom located in Club SAW on Level 0 is equipped with an adult changing-table. Club SAW also has an accessible stage that is equipped with a lift.

We also ask folks not to wear strongly scented products.

We can’t wait to see you there!! 🐻💕🌳

☀️ flo. issue 06 | Solstice is coming soon! ☀️

We thought you might enjoy an excerpt from one of the incredible stories featured in our upcoming issue! Today feels like the perfect day to share Dolly Roul’s take on what summer means to her. 🌊🌴

You can read more of “On My Mother’s Land” in flo. issue 06! 📖💕

Ready for issue 06? This excerpt from
rob mclennan’s “My Emily Dickinson” has us excited to read more! 📚

flo. issue 06 | Solstice explores all the ways we experience summer and will be launching soon! ☀️🌈

🌈🍉☀️🌳We have some very exciting news for you!🌳☀️🍉🌈

flo. issue 06 | Solstice will be available soon, but for now here’s a cover reveal to get you excited for our upcoming print publication! This issue features the work of 22 talented writers from the Ottawa-Gatineau area and beautiful art work by the incredible Alexandra Finkeldey

Keep an eye out on our socials where we’ll be announcing all things issue 06 and even giving you a few sneak peaks of what’s in store for you in our next issue!

UPDATE: This workshop is now being held in meeting room 1B.

📆 Clear your calendars folks! 📆 You’re invited to a flo. workshop with guest facilitator Ellen Chang-Richardson on May 16th!

flo. Literary Magazine is hosting a free poetry workshop for writers of all experience levels with award winning local poet Ellen Chang-Richardson! Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from a talented, award-winning poet and connect with fellow poetry enthusiasts. We can’t wait to write with you!

DETAILS: 👇👇👇
This FREE in-person event will be held on Thursday, May 16th from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. in Meeting Room 1B at the Ottawa Public Library’s Sunnyside branch at 1049 Bank Street. This venue is wheelchair accessible and has all-gender washrooms. This workshop is recommended for teens and adults.

There is limited space available so be sure to register at the link in our bio! Tickets will be available until 2:00 p.m. on May 16th.

Another Friday, Another Writing Prompt!

Got cozy weekend writing plans? This prompt may help!

This week’s prompt is “Write about a summer camp experience that affected how you view the world.”

We’ll be posting writing prompts every Friday while submissions are open so follow our socials to keep up to date with our writing inspo!

UPDATE: This workshop is now being held in meeting room 1B.

📆 Clear your calendars folks! 📆 You’re invited to a flo. workshop with guest facilitator Ellen Chang-Richardson on May 16th!

flo. Literary Magazine is hosting a free poetry workshop for writers of all experience levels with award winning local poet Ellen Chang-Richardson! Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from a talented, award-winning poet and connect with fellow poetry enthusiasts. We can’t wait to write with you!

DETAILS: 👇👇👇
This FREE in-person event will be held on Thursday, May 16th from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. in Meeting Room 1B at the Ottawa Public Library’s Sunnyside branch at 1049 Bank Street. This venue is wheelchair accessible and has all-gender washrooms. This workshop is recommended for teens and adults.

There is a limited number of spaces available so be sure to register at the link in our bio! Tickets will be available until 2:00 p.m.

Our issue 06 theme is Summer Camp! Need a little inspiration to get the creative juices flowing?

Here’s how our fiction editor Kat interprets the theme:
She says “Summer laughter is the lightest I’ve ever felt. It’s like dancing barefoot across the grass with the flower-scented breeze and floating with the clouds as they brighten with flashes of lightning. That effortless laughter formed with strawberry-drenched lips is what happiness tastes like when it bubbles from the chest. It echoes in songs sung by campfires and whispers about the stars, seeping into the earth and getting lost in the trees. When the laughter lingers in every nose crinkle and every inch of chlorine-scented skin while crickets lull the world to sleep, I am nothing but soft golden light. This is what I mean when someone asks, “how are you?” and I answer with ‘good.’”

We’ll be posting more inspiration for this issue and a few writing prompts during our submission period!

☀️flo. is open for submissions for our sixth print issue! ☀️

we are seeking work by writers residing in/with a connection to the Ottawa-Gatineau region from April 1-May 31 on the theme of Summer Camp. we’re talking stories and poems about lakes and sunburns, ghost stories and urban legends told by the campfire, stargazing, friendships that begin and end in one summer having a lifelong impact, being away from home for the first time, the passionately hated mosquito, camp songs, NOSTALGIA!

thanks to funding from the Ontario government and the Arts Council of Ontario , we are able to offer an honorarium for each accepted piece. check out all the information including submission guidelines at the link in our bio!

Happy Valentine’s Day! 💘💘

We’ve made some extra special Valentine’s day cards to celebrate the occasion. Feel free to share them with your special someone 💕

Who’s excited for issue 05?

This excerpt from Sojourns and Odysseys comes from Jesse Keith Butler’s poem “On Overlooking the Prehistoric Champlain Sea.” Be sure to stop by Avant-Garde on February 23rd to hear Jesse read his poem at our upcoming launch event!

📣 ISSUE LAUNCH PARTY ALERT!! 📣

Join flo. in celebrating our fifth print publication! Sojourns and Odysseys explores movement in all its forms, featuring the beautiful words of 24 local writers and photography by Linh VH Nguyen .ca

Enjoy a refreshment as you listen to our contributors share their prose and poetry from the latest issue of flo. Doors open at 7:00 p.m. and readings will take place from 7:30 p.m. to about 10:00 p.m. All are welcome to stay until closing time at 2:00 a.m.

The flo. team gratefully acknowledges Avant Garde’s generosity in hosting this event. We would also like to extend a HUGE thank you to the Ontario Arts Council and the Government of Ontario for the funding that supports flo.’s operations!

Please note!! Due to circumstances beyond our control, we have changed the venue and date for our upcoming launch party from its original planned date to February 23rd at Avant-Garde.

MEET THE CONTRIBUTORS

flo. issue 05 features the work of 24 Ottawa-Gatineau writers and art by Linh Vh Nguyen!

Asli Mahdi | Cara Goodwin | Cole Henry Forster | Emily Cerantola | Jesse Keith Butler | Karen Massey | Katerina Obscura | Kiran Niet | Kirsty MacLellan | Lana Crossman | Laura Hebert | Lawrence Aronovitch | Maya Meloche | Mekyle Ali Qadir | Mercedes Bacon-Traplin | Mila B. | Myriam Legault-Beauregard | Pamela Mosher | Rey Duff | Sean B. Muncaster | Sierra Duffey | Susan Johnston | Tazi Rodrigues

MEET THE CONTRIBUTORS

flo. issue 05 features the work of 24 Ottawa-Gatineau writers and art by !

Asli Mahdi | Cara Goodwin | Cole Henry Forster | Emily Cerantola | Jesse Keith Butler | Karen Massey | Katerina Obscura | Kiran Niet | Kirsty MacLellan | Lana Crossman | Laura Hebert | Lawrence Aronovitch | Maya Meloche | Mekyle Ali Qadir | Mercedes Bacon-Traplin | Mila B. | Myriam Legault-Beauregard | Pamela Mosher | Rey Duff | Sean B. Muncaster | Sierra Duffey | Susan Johnston | Tazi Rodrigues

💛we are so lucky to get to feature so many incredible pieces in our upcoming issue💛

This excerpt comes from Mekyle Qadir’s poem “Plea for Amritsar, my Parted Sister” from flo. Issue 05 Sojourns and Odysseys. We can’t wait for you all to get your hands on a copy of issue 05 so you can read the rest of this poem!

Keep an eye out for a full list of our issue 05 contributors coming very soon!

MEET THE ARTIST: LINH VH NGUYENca

flo. issue 05 | Sojourns and Odysseys features a photoseries by Linh VH Nguyen taken in Autumn 2022 in Vietnam. 📷

Nguyen says “My intention during my trip back to Vietnam in 2022 was to root myself better in my family history. Being part of a diaspora and living in Canada means constantly juggling identities and also sometimes dealing with the grief of discontinued stories, and frayed connections...
The physical places exist long before and long after the stories we tell about
them (the mountains have cycles in millions of years), but the spaces we
construct/reconstruct in our minds with specific locations, both through
memories and imagination, seem even more visceral. They can also be tools to
juxtapose the different selves we’ve experienced”

Portrait credit: Jaime Nesrallah

💌 Are you as excited for flo. issue 05 Sojourns and Odysseys as we are?💌

This issue is centred around movement and features the beautiful words of 24 Ottawa-Gatineau writers as well photography by .ca

This excerpt comes from .massey.925 Karen Massey’s poem “Soft Melody for Resilience” featured in issue 05!

We can definitely relate to this! 👷‍♂️

Are you as pumped for this upcoming issue as we are? This excerpt comes from Sean B. Muncaster’s short story “Men at Work” featured in flo. issue 05 Sojourns and Odysseys!

The cover reveal for flo. issue 05 is finally here!!

Sojourns and Odysseys will take you on a journey that explores movement in all its forms. Editor-in-Chief Senka Stankovic describes this issue as a collection of “stories of resilience, recovery, love, and adventure told through the ways we move, both literally and metaphorically.”

This issue features incredible works from 23 Ottawa writers and beautiful art by .ca

Cover Art: Cảnh núi Tây Bắc | Mountains, Northwest Vietnam, 2022 by Lina VH Nguyen

To kick this week off, we’re sharing Asli Mahdi’s poem ourstrollingshadows ii inspired by Nas’ “The World is Yours” (1994) from flo. issue 05. This piece encapsulates the issue’s desire to depict movement in our city and what that means for each of us both individually and collectively. 💌

(Asli recommends playing “The World is Yours” for the ultimate reading experience of this poem and we couldn’t agree more!!)

Keep an eye out on our socials for exciting news about our upcoming issue! 👀

We just couldn’t wait to share a sneak peak of issue 05 with you! 👀

The theme of our upcoming issue is ✨movement✨and we’ll be posting excerpts on our socials to give you a little taste of this issue before you can get your hands on a copy! We’ll have more exciting details for you about this issue in the weeks to come!

This post’s featured quote is a line from Mercedes Bacon-Traplin’s poem “To Forget, and To Remember”

Need some last minute inspiration for your submission to flo. issue 05? The theme of our upcoming print issue is movement!

Poetry editor ‘s inspiration is Rita Wong and Fred Wah’s collaborative poem and art installation “beholden: a poem as long as the river.”

Jen says This interdisciplinary project incorporates literary and topographic visual art in a 114-foot long joining of pages to emulate the shape of the Columbia River. The poem depicts a message of the sacredness of water in Indigenous epistemologies as well as the memories and resources that are moved by it. As Wong puts it, “generation by generation as blood memory, cell memory, is river memory.”

Ottawa represents a confluence of great rivers and the city is marked by both natural and artificial waterways. How do we move along these waters? How do these bodies of water move us? 🌊