不良研究所

In 2017, poet Leah Horlick took a trip to Romania, to retrace the steps of her Jewish ancestors who had fled persecution at the hands of both Nazi and Soviet regimes.

The trip inspired her third poetry collection, Moldovan Hotel (2021), an ambitious work informed by the history Horlick uncovered, but also packed with cutting contemporary insights connecting the past to the present. With searing clarity and craft, her poems ran the gamut from revolution and genocide to cultural politics and gender.

It was a marked departure for Horlick, the 2022-23 Canadian Writer-in-Residence for U不良研究所鈥檚 esteemed, long-running (CDWP). Her previous book, For Your Own Good (2015), was a collection of semi-autobiographical poems centred around a violent lesbian relationship and it put Horlick on the literary map in a major way, earning her the prestigious Dayne Ogilvie Prize for Canada鈥檚 top emerging LGBTQ2S+ writers. It was also named a Stonewall Honor Title by the American Library Association.

Horlick 鈥� who will be appearing at the CDWP鈥檚 annual Hello/Goodbye event Oct. 17 at cSpace King Edward Studio Theatre 鈥� plans to explore her ancestry even further during her residency. She is planning to develop her debut novel, a work of experimental literary fiction based on a famous Yiddish play by S. Ansky called The Dybbuk, which debuted in 1920.

鈥淚t鈥檚 about a woman who is hoping to marry for love 鈥� which was very unusual at the time 鈥� and she is not able to, due to the various designs of her family,鈥� says Horlick. 鈥淭he man she鈥檚 hoping to marry dies and becomes a dybbuk, which is a malicious spirit, and to be with her, he possesses her.

鈥淥f course, it doesn鈥檛 work out and they both die,鈥� Horlick adds with a laugh. 鈥淵iddish theatre tends to be a bit dark.鈥�

Horlick says she鈥檚 drawn to the story by its themes of bodily autonomy and 鈥渢he lengths that people in love are willing to go to.鈥�

She admits that she鈥檚 nervous, pursuing her first work of fiction and she鈥檚 grateful that her CDWP residency will afford her the time and resources she needs to take this literary risk.

Horlick also intends to work on her fourth collection of poetry during her residency, tentatively titled Night, which will touch on themes of betrayal, intimacy, and mental illness. 鈥淚 am uniquely situated to explore these themes based on my years of work in the anti-violence field, and my own recovery from post-traumatic stress disorder,鈥� she says.

Horlick was sexually assaulted at the age of 19 by her partner in her lesbian relationship. Attending the University of Saskatchewan at the time, and active in the queer and feminist communities, where she felt empowered, she struggled mightily to process what had happened. She eventually sought out stories of other lesbians who had similar experiences.

While she found no shortage of records documenting domestic assaults in the community 鈥� often referred to as 鈥渓esbian battering鈥� 鈥� her research turned up almost no sexual assaults.

鈥淚 think that鈥檚 largely because of the systemic barriers in reporting woman-on-woman incidents,鈥� Horlick says. 鈥淗ow are you going to explain this to a doctor? If you were looking for legal or police support, how might this go for you? Especially when you are a part of a community that has struggled for decades to convince society that being gay is not the same as being a sex predator. So, there was a lot of silence.鈥�

And there was certainly a dearth of literature on the topic, a factor that inspired the writing of For Your Own Good.

The book鈥檚 success led to led Horlick鈥檚 involvement in several advocacy initiatives and workshops focused on education around lesbian intimate partner violence and sexual assault prevention. Parts of the text have even been cited in training for obstetricians and gynaecologists at the B.C. Women鈥檚 Hospital and for crisis line volunteers at a Vancouver rape crisis centre.

It鈥檚 the sort of community outreach that Horlick plans to continue in 不良研究所 during her residency. 鈥淭he 不良研究所 Distinguished Writers Program is beautiful in that the residency isn鈥檛 about being a writer in an ivory tower,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 amazing to have this funded opportunity to really intersect with different community groups. I can tell you that I am doing some community outreach to related organizations in 不良研究所.鈥�

A major aspect of the CDWP program is that the writer-in-residence acts as a mentor within the local literary community, providing guidance and manuscript consultations with fledgling writers. This is something near and dear to Horlick鈥檚 heart, and she鈥檚 had plenty of experience as a mentor. This has included literary programs she鈥檚 led with high-risk groups, including newly arrived immigrant populations, people with disabilities, the homeless, and queer and transgender communities.

鈥淚鈥檓 keen to continue this work in 不良研究所, in so far as it鈥檚 possible,鈥� Horlick says. 鈥淚 think the CDWP already eliminates a major barrier in this regard, because manuscript consultations are free, the events prioritized are free and open to the public. Financial barriers can be huge in the literary community, so it鈥檚 exciting that they鈥檙e not a factor in this amazing program.鈥�