What role do bystanders play in the lives of others?

My latest essay “Don’t Ignore the Ashes” published at Hippocampus Magazine, explore the harm looking away does to victims of violence.

Recently I read a craft essay on memoir about finding your lane and staying there. The author’s words stuck with me because my collection deals with a variety of subjects.
What’s my lane? I wondered. Does trauma count as a lane?

Recording the audio became an unexpected gift for my essay “Look Away.”

At a recent event, a kid got me thinking about narrative, and how invested we get in the stories we hear, and we tell, whether those are our favourite fairy tales or the stories of our own traumas.

“Happily Ever After” is the next of my fairy tale memoir essays and published at Two Hawks Quarterly.

Persephone is my favourite myth to retell - there are so many things to unpack in the familiar version. Carmina Magazine published my retelling. Details here.

Exploring why women in abusive relationships return, interwoven with the story of Hansel and Gretel.

My retelling of the Princess on the Glass Mountain Fairy Tale is now out at Crow and Cross Keys.

Do rejections make better origin stories? Or is the real blessing that I can worry about my writing in the first place?

Beginner's mind is what we must come back to every time we sit down and write. said Natalie Goldberg, and after years of writing I’m finding myself a beginner again.

Last Friday I was invited to a pop-up dance performance on a local beach. My friend manages a retreat centre that I’m lucky enough to borrow a few hours a week, and when she told me I should come see the dancers, I listened.

Alison Colwell Receives Canada Council Grant
”One of the best parts of working with writers is celebrating their successes. Over the last few years, Alison Colwell has published several stories that started in workshops at The Storied Imaginarium…” Carina Bissett

What roles do fathers play in fairy tales? Fairy Tale Fathers juxtaposes those tales against my relationship with my father. Unlike the mothers and stepmothers found in the Grimm's stories, who are often portrayed as harmful, the Grimm brothers portrayed the fathers more kindly. But are they? Or do they abdicate responsibility just when they’re needed most?

Published in the Humber Literary Review June 2023

Exploring the relationship between anorexia and the cultural pressures girls face on their bodies.

Published in The NonBinary Review March 2023

Learn about setting your writing goals for the year.

Published in Wordworks Magazine December 2022

Retelling Hansel and Gretel - in drabble form!

Read the interview about why “Eight Reasons for Silence” was important to me here.

Eight Reasons for Silence, my retelling of the The Six Swans Fairy Tale.

Published in Tangled Locks Journal - Fall 2022

Reflections on making Jam with my grandmother.

Published in The Fieldstone Review September 2022

Read my latest short story on what it takes to become a weather witch.

Published in Flash Fiction Magazine - May 2022