Off the Map: Vancouver Writers With Lived Experience of Mental Health Issues aims to bring diverse and distinctive voices to the literary landscape. Works of creative nonfiction, fiction, and poetry on a wide range of subjects showcase unique storytelling styles and forms, offer fresh and fascinating perspectives, and are told with compelling honesty, inventiveness, and compassion.
Editors: Betsy Warland, Seema Shah, and Kate Bird
Published by: Bell Press, May 2025
Cover art: Seema Shah
Contributors: Kate Bird, Tove Black, James Boutin-Crawford, Jessica Cole, Crisi Corby, Gilles Cyrenne, Venge Dixon, Jaki Eisman, Christy Frisken, Merle Ginsburg, Angela J. Gray, Adishi Gupta, Jean Kavanagh, Yong Nan Kim, Justyna Krol, jerry LaFaery, Danica Longair, Harry McKeown, Neven Marelj, Quin Martins, Pari Mokradi, Ronan Nanning-Watson, Rye Orrange, Mary Phyllis O’Toole, Bruce Ray, Ingrid Rose, Beth Rowntree, Lenore Rowntree, Kim Seary, Seema Shah, Neko Smart, Amy Wang, Sandra Yuen
“Whatever heals or helps, it’s often not a straight-forward process and the 33 talented writers in Off the Map document the multifarious twists and turns to living, healing and destigmitizing mental health matters. Humour abounds in this multi-genre collection that packs surprise and insights within the circuitous strategies of literary craft.” – Kevin Spenst, author of A Bouquet Brought Back from Space
An extremely vital and intimate collection on living with mental illness, offering an abundance of insight and hope to readers. The writers of this anthology gift us their vulnerable and brave selves with astonishing honesty as they mime some of their darkest, most discomfiting moments of their lives for clarity. Off the Map is an orchestra of richness and compassion.
Lindsay Wong, author of The Woo-Woo and Tell Me Pleasant Things about Immortality