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Em

@em.cussen

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✌︎☻ | ᵕ̈꩜
also @em.is.cussen

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Look at these loaves! Toronto sourdough by @em.cussen. #gastonthesourdoughstarter

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Well, gosh. Have I got news for you!
I have a handful of these ZINES available if you would like one. $15! Wanna know what they're all about? Read what's in the slides AND what I've written below:

Back in April my dear dear friend @ashkurat started a poetry group. Poetry's something I've been engaged with to varying degrees for over a decade, and taking part in this poetry group amplified what has been a recent development in my life: of poetry as an increasingly flowering collaborative activity and method for making sense of the inner and outer worlds.

After a couple months of this, @em.cussen decided it was time to turn this group activity into a zine, and a few of us volunteered to be part of the first edition. I could say words and words and words about how grateful I am to be in such artful and compassionate company, and to finally have some of my poems out in the world in a substantial way. Wowza is all I can say for now. Making things rules.

Thank you Anna for starting the group, Em for spearheading and designing the Zine, and Ali Webb (not on Instagram) for being a supreme word magician. It's insanely lovely to call you friends.

Artwork done collaboratively by us four 💐.

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The Toronto Book Launch for ‘The Self is an Ocean’ was a BLAST!! 💙🌊

Shoutout to @anotherstorybookshop for hosting, y’all were amazing :) Thank you to @mary.ru.p for being the MC, @em.cussen for interviewing me, and to my other writer friends who shared their wonderful work :) @paul.edward.costa @kristen.wildfire @emilyjdeangelis and @stringhopperz 🤍

And lastly, the biggest thank you to all my friends and community members who came out to the event 😭 There’s no way I can tag all of you, but just know that I meant every hug I gave you 😘

Now, I shall go rest cuz ya girl is tired.

Love,
Cypher / சைஃபர்

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Meet the lovely folks who will be reading at our launch event this Thursday 🎟️ FYI We’re down to our last 15 tickets so grab your while you can! (link in bio)

Lindsay Peets (she/her) @disabledfairygodmother is a Toronto-based disability advocate, writer, model, accessibility consultant, and content creator. Through her platform, Disabled Fairy Godmother, she challenges ableism and fights for a world where disabled people are seen on their own terms. Her work combines storytelling, advocacy, and fashion to push for authentic disability representation and meaningful accessibility. When she isn't busy on Instagram, she also plays powerchair hockey and performs burlesque as Chairy Pie.

Cypher (she/her) @cypherspace_101 is a self-taught and community-taught brown and queer Tamizh diaspora writer living in Canada. Her writing is deeply musical, political, philosophical, and introspective. Cypher’s first full-length poetry collection - The Self is an Ocean - released in June 2026 with DarkWinter Press.

Em Cussen (they/she) @em.cussen is a radically tender writer and poet based in Toronto. In addition to their own authored works, Em is a silly & serious member of the Toronto zine community and a lover of all things Feels. Queer, genderfluid, and autistic – Em is a wish chip seeker and a curious creature.

Debra Waters @_watersworld_ lives in Brighton, UK, and works as a features writer. She has an MA in Creative & Life Writing. Debra writes short stories, autofiction, memoir and flash. In 2020, she won The Bridport Short Story Prize, which resulted in an interview on BBC R4's Woman's Hour. In 2024, she was co-winner of The Letter Review Short Fiction Prize and Fractured Lit's Anthology 5 Prize 2025. Online, Debra has had work published in Litro, LISP and Northern Gravy.

#zinelaunch #magazine #torontoevents #livereading #parkhangs

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Love n pride from recent times, i

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Our Hunger launch party warmed our hearts! Thank you to everyone who braved the cold January night to come out in celebration of our 25th issue.

Thank you to all our amazing performers (@lieslibrary, Kailey Cutillo, @cypherspace_101, Mackenzie (Mac) Gellner, and @food_feeling_zine aka Cordelia Shan Qing Ru); to Soul Chocolate for hosting us in their beautiful space; to Tim, who handled the bar like a pro and gave folks tours of the chocolate factory; and to @em.cussen for their amazing help with our sales table, setup, and teardown.

We are also happy to report that thanks to your PWYC contributions, we were able to raise $197.50 for @skippingstoneca

Launching a zine takes a tiny village and we’re so grateful each time we get to gather with you all in person and celebrate creativity together. Thank you!

Tap the image to get your issue 🍅

#launchparty #zinelaunch #newissue #torontoevent #chocolate

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some 2024 reads, excluding library and borrowed copies :) top faves are tied between wojnarowicz' close to the knives and rooney's intermezzo. read a lot in 2024 thanks to being heavily influenced by coworkers' recommendations and talking books for many hours each week. we're holding bread in pic 4 even though you can't tell it's bread

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I completely forgot to post these cute photos from my remix EP release party at @juicetoronto with @austra ✨ Can’t believe so much has happened in a single year!

Merci bcp to all my buddies who came out and lit up the dance floor 🥲 and also, of course, to @mystmilano @vicsanointedfavourites @plush_records_inc @austra for their singular remixes. I literally don’t think I’ve ever had more fun DJing, I was in an ecstatic yet focused goblin mode all night 🤭 and also a huge shout out to @halocline_trance and @_slver for the beautiful “Mars” video that we got to screen that night, starring @moteldaze, @aniegao, @setatan___, @nadinealexeev, @longfxce some of whom I got to meet that night!

(IDs in alt text, most of these taken by Samuel Dzierzawa) Black and white photograph taken on a disposable camera. Stefana DJs with CDJs.

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More copies of PERIOD PIECES by our friend @em.is.cussen / @em.cussen are here! Super limited stock.

✿ With heavy vulnerability and light humour, Period Pieces is a breakup letter to the taboo, a reminder that we still have a long way to go, and an invitation to connect through our shared experiences. 12 poems, 20 pages.

#EmCussen #PeriodPieces #QueerLit

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SOME COOL THINGS IN THE SHOP LATELY:

Period Pieces by @em.is.cussen / @em.cussen:
✿ With heavy vulnerability and light humour, Period Pieces is a breakup letter to the taboo, a reminder that we still have a long way to go, and an invitation to connect through our shared experiences. 12 poems, 20 pages.

Prairie Edge by Conor Kerr:
✿ Grey, once a passionate advocate for change, has been hardened and turned cynical by an activist culture she thinks has turned performative and lazy. One night, though, she has a revelation, and enlists Ezzy, who is hopelessly devoted to her but eager to avoid the authorities after a life in and out of the group home system and jail, for a bold yet dangerous political mission: capture a herd of bison from a national park and set them free in downtown Edmonton, disrupting the churn of settler routine.

Femme Art Review: Issue 3 Censorship @femmeartreview
✿ Feminist, queer, and trans art reviews!

Smithsonian: Timelines of Everything (approx. ages 9-12)
✿ From dinosaurs and Vikings to the history of robots and espionage, discover incredible world history in this lavish collection of timelines.

Shotgun Seamstress: An Anthology by Osa Atoe
✿ A cut & paste celebration of Black punk and outsider identity, this is the only complete collection of the fanzine Shotgun Seamstress, a legendary DIY project that centered the scope of Blackness outside of mainstream corporate consumerist identity.

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It is our 7th birthday!

Thank you to everyone who's come through our doors, hung out with us at our book clubs both virtually and in-store, let us meet their dogs, collaborated on events and literary festivals alongside our team, and all-in-all shared their love of reading with us!

We have some very exciting events and collaborations to announce in the next week, including details about our *Independent Bookstore Day* celebrations on Saturday, April 27th—stay tuned!

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New item just dropped!

This beautiful zine created by Em Cussen takes us on a humour-filled journey of living with a period. Every poem strives to break social taboos, create conversation, and connect period-havers through a shared experience.

Pick up your copy at our storefront or find it in our online shop (link in bio).

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