#zomfam

[kamalamackerel]

39 today 🌺 My parents called this morning and my mom asked whether I'd prayed (which I had). My dad asked whether I'd given thanks (which I had). As I embark on this 40th journey around the sun, I give thanks for love, for both the depth and abundance of love in my life. I give thanks for purpose, for the beauty of waking up every morning and living an intentional and fulfilling life. I give thanks for all the ways in which I am witnessed, seen and held, in all my complexities. And given that it's my birthday today and that I am away for a writing residency: If there are any special memories of us and/or things you like/appreciate about me that you want to share, these would be very welcome! #birthday #aries gratitude #artist #portrait #art #poet #performer #visualartist #writer #translator #author #femme #lgbt #lgbtq #queer #trans #transgender #zomfam #mauritius #montreal #lamackerel #kamalamackerel (at Pátzcuaro, Michoacán) https://www.instagram.com/p/CqTN-vCLkDw/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[kamalamackerel]

this just in & i am so overwhelmed, i have no words! 😭💖😭💖 THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU everyone who supported the birthing of #ZOMFAM immense gratitude to @writerstrust & the jury for seeing this work. congrats to @msxms & @jaye_simpson 🌸 what a testament to poetry! what a testament to BIPOC femme voices! my heart is bursting with love 💕 #Repost @writerstrust ・・・ @KamaLaMackerel is a 2021 #DayneOgilvie Prize for #LGBTQ2S+ #EmergingWriters fianlist! $10,000 winner announced online June 23. writerstrust.com/DayneOgilvie “Kama La Mackerel’s #poetry is a sensuous and fiercely political exploration of gender, familial love, and the intergenerational impacts of colonization. Their multilingual, lyrical poems entrance with hypnotic rhythm and tell a story that spans decades and borders. La Mackerel captures the power of connections maintained in spite of the blunt, relentless pain of distance. Wooing the reader with a carefully orchestrated, gentle lapping of words, they then jolt us with earned, splashy staccatos of euphoria.” — 2021 Dayne Ogilvie Prize jury (Daniel Allen Cox, Eva Crocker, and Danny Ramadan) Kama La Mackerel is a #MauritianCanadian multi-disciplinary artist, educator, writer, community arts facilitator, and literary translator. La Mackerel has exhibited and performed their work internationally and their #writing in English, French, and #Kreol has appeared in publications both online and in print. In 2020, their debut #poetrycollection #ZOMFAM was named a best #bookofpoetry by CBC, a #bestbook debut by The Globe and Mail, and was shortlisted for the Concordia University #FirstBook Prize. La Mackerel lives in tio’tia:ke (#Montreal). (at Writers' Trust of Canada) https://www.instagram.com/p/CPV8P1onnHR/?utm_medium=tumblr

[kamalamackerel]

it's now been more than 2 weeks since ZOM-FAM has been published.⠀ ⠀ i've spent most of the past 2 weeks hard at work, doing long hours in studio with my team of creative collaborators as we gear up for the premiere of ZOM-FAM, the interdisciplinary solo performance, at @mtlartsinter which is now just 2 weeks away. i haven't quite had the space to process the arrival of this book into the world.⠀ ⠀ i dedicate ZOM-FAM to both my grand-mothers. i haven't known any of them, as they passed away many years before i was born. but i don't think any these stories would have been written if it were not for them, if it were not for the parts of them that live in me. at the core of my trans-feminine identity, at the core of my gender travels lies the spiritual journey of honouring my grandmothers & the parts of them that live inside my breastbone. ⠀ ⠀ the little i know of Rita & Dana-Pakion is that they were two extremely resilient women who lived an endless life of woes & hardship under the colonial regime of plantation life & who died very young of a bruised heart. i can only hope that in writing this poetry, in healing my own femme bruised heart, i have managed to bring some peace & rest to their spirit, to the longings, hauntings & silences that have been passed on from generation to generation within the lineages of my family.⠀ ⠀ i am very happy i wrote this book. this is the book i have dreamed of birthing & i couldn't be more grateful for this 5+ years process. it fills my heart with joy & love, & i can only hope that you will read it too & that it will fill your heart with joy & love as well.⠀ ⠀ i have also been very blessed to have just the right people to accompany me, support me & bear witness along the years. & for that, for all of you, my heart is filled with gratitude 💖 ⠀ #zomfam #poem #poetry #poet #lyric #literature #canlit #storytelling #performance #performer #art #montreal #montrealart #mtlart #queermtl #indenture #mauritius #island #ancestors #queer #qtbipoc #lgbt #gay #transgender #femme #queerart #lamackerel #kamalamackerel #mauritian #gratitude (at Mauritius) https://www.instagram.com/p/CFpCFf4Ame_/?igshid=3t0oqtca4iic

[kamalamackerel]

ZOM-FAM, my debut collection of lyric poems, finally goes to print today! ✨🌻🌛⠀ ⠀ The past week has been busy, as we ran a last fine-tooth comb through the manuscript & adjusted the very last details in the book. In exactly 8 weeks from now, this baby will be out into the world & I cannot wait! 🌱🌾🌿⠀ ⠀ I have to say: getting to hold the Advance Reading Copy in my hands & reading it through cover-to-cover has been a surreal & magical experience. I am indeed very much in love with this work. I think it's absolutely beautiful!⠀ ⠀ But more than anything, reading this book, I asked myself: is this the book that I have dreamt of putting out into the world? The answer is yes, absolutely, yes, yes & yes!⠀ ⠀ At this point, there is nothing else I can ask for. I do think of my work as an artist, as a writer, as being that of walking in my light & honouring my truth, however complex, shifting & uncomfortable that can be. And I think ZOM-FAM does just that: it honours my life trajectory, it celebrates the child in me, & it does justice to the long & ongoing journey of coming into myself & finding my most honest artistic voice. 🌺🌸🌹⠀ ⠀ I hope you will enjoy reading this book! It's available for pre-order (link into bio) & on Sept 10, you'll be able to grab it from any bookstore.⠀ ⠀ If you are a reviewer who wants an Advanced Reading Copy, please get in touch with @metonymypress at [email protected]⠀ ⠀ Immense gratitude for Ashley & Oliver, my publishers @metonymypress, for being such superstars! And for @aun_li and @kaiyunching threading their love for me into this book cover ❤️⠀ ⠀ #zomfam #poem #poetry #poet #lyric #literature #canlit #storytelling #performance #performer #art #montreal #montrealart #mtlart #queermtl #indenture #mauritius #island #ancestors #queer #qtbipoc #lgbt #gay #transgender #femme #queerart #lamackerel #kamalamackerel #mauritian #mauritianlit (at Montreal, Quebec) https://www.instagram.com/p/CCd5QdUg83N/?igshid=12chpugjlnqk3

[kamalamackerel]

Immense gratitude to everyone who witnessed ZOM-FAM's wonderful opening at @buddiesto last night. I can't believe this is the work I get to do, and that I get to do it for 3 more shows this weekend. Tonight's show will be followed by an artist talk-back with @sortofbilal, tomorrow's show with a conversation with @kaichengthom, and Sunday's matinée will be a relaxed performance. There are a few tickets left. Link in bio! Photo credit: @mimnagh.ca #zomfam #performance #performer #interdisciplinary #show #spokenword #poetry #dance #art #artist #queerartist #queermtl #queerart #queerperformance #mauritius #mauritian #buddies #toronto #lgbtq #lgbt #queer #trans #femme #kamalamackerel #lamackerel #transmauritius #queermauritius (at Buddies In Bad Times Theatre) https://www.instagram.com/p/CkjfkB1LzBI/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[kamalamackerel]

Aaaand, here we are! ZOM-FAM previews for the first time at @buddiesto in Toronto tonight! Immensely grateful to have been able to find my way back to this work, to this absolute labour of love ❤️💙💛💚 The show runs Nov 1-6. There are still tickets available (for as cheap as $10!) Link in bio! And if you really cannot afford a ticket and want to see the show, send me a DM and I will put you on the guest list. My heart is filled with gratitude for everybody who supported me in bringing this show here and in mounting it, in spite of multiple hurdles encountered along the way. Un grand merci au @lecalq aussi qui soutient cette tournée à travers une bourse de Circulation d'œuvres hors Québec. Photo credit: @vanessafortinphotographe #zomfam #performance #performer #interdisciplinary #show #spokenword #poetry #dance #mauritius #mauritian #buddies #toronto #lgbtq #lgbt #queer #trans #femme #kamalamackerel #lamackerel (at Toronto, Ontario) https://www.instagram.com/p/CkaxERhrUuL/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[kamalamackerel]

It's been a year since ZOM-FAM has been out into the world. I had only one dream for this poetry: That she would make her way into people's hearts. (Well two dreams: I also *really* wanted this book to make the CBC books preview list 'coz I have lil'immigrant dreams like that, y'know?) 🌸🌊 The way these stories have been received in the world has exceeded all my expectations: It not only made the CBC books preview list, but became a CBC Best Book of Poetry, a Globe & Mail Best Book Debut, a finalist for both the QWF Concordia University First Book Award and the Writers' Trust of Canada Dayne Ogilvie Prize! 💫🌱 #ZOMFAM has also been featured on CBC Books, CBC Arts, Radio-Canada, CityNews, Fugues, Revue Jeu, Spirale, Autostraddle, Xtra & so much more, with reviews in Canthius, Arc, Montreal Review of Books, Room, & World Literature Today called it "a milestone in Mauritian literature." It's presently being taught in universities in the UK, the US and Canada 😭✨ In January, ZOM-FAM went into its 2nd print run, which I still can't believe. This means that 1,000+ copies of this book have made their way onto people's bookshelves 🤯🤯 But more than anything, the greatest joy has been when the book landed in Mauritius this July. This was the true homecoming. True, expansive joy, like I never thought possible ♥️💙💛💚 So gratitude is in order: first of all for my wonderful, dedicated & diligent publishers @metonymypress. For all the indie bookstores that have stocked & promoted this book (& the many who hosted me for online readings & talks!) For everyone who invited me to teach, read, meet students, run workshops! Everybody who has read, shared, reviewed, made an IG story & generally celebrated this poetry in their life. This means so much 🌻🙏🏾 @aun_li & Kai Yun Ching, again, for this dreamy cover that still takes my breath away 😘😍 And all the queer, trans & racialized writers out there who supported me over the past year, taught me the ropes of "the industry," supported me so I could sustain myself through this journey & still find joy, & still remain true to myself, my heart, my values. THANK YOU! 🙏🏾💫🌱💖 Photo credit: @___sel_de_mer https://www.instagram.com/p/CT5t6NvLtKM/?utm_medium=tumblr

[kamalamackerel]

#𝐌𝐀𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐔𝐒 𝐏𝐀 𝐑𝐀𝐓 𝐒𝐀!! #𝐈𝐆𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐯 𝐙𝐎𝐌-𝐅𝐀𝐌 I’m gonna be performing excerpts from #ZOMFAM and taking questions this 𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝟗 𝐨𝐧 𝐈𝐆 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞, 𝟔-𝟕𝐩𝐦! J’espère vous y voir! ❤️💙💛💚 #mauritiusisland #queermauritius #transmauritius #mauritiuslife #artist #artistic #artistsoninstagram #artistsofinstagram #artista #artistlife #artiste #transgender #trans #transisbeautiful #zomfam #kamalamackerel #lamackerel (at Mauritius) https://www.instagram.com/p/CRFmVpLHUg5/?utm_medium=tumblr