And Sister nibbled her nails. Nibble, nibble, nibble, nibble.

The Berenstain Bears and the Bad Habit by Janice and Stanley Berenstain

Hello out there, Howdy, Bonjour—Bok! (That’s Croatian) My name is Shannon and I live in Toronto with my lovely family and two cats: Jenny Linsky and Olive. After a long time trying to figure out how to do so, and working up the nerve, I have finally decided to create a little newsletter. And here it is! I am a writer and writing keeps my heart and head afloat, so that’s what will mostly happen in this newsletter. I will share writing: poems, secrets, sorrows, jokes, mini-reviews of books and movies (maybe) and sometimes I will tell you about people, places and things in my life that inspire me. I love cooking and flowers so you might have to put up with some of that; I will also use this newsletter to let people know about book launches, poetry readings and anything like that. In the past I have sent out group emails, but I think this might be better because I will only be bothering people who want to be bothered! Or maybe I won’t be bothering you at all? Nibble, nibble, nibble—I am nervous about it, but I am darn nervous about everything all the time so this should be a walk in the park, right?

Robot, Unicorn, Queen: poems for you and me by Shannon Bramer and Illustrated by Irene Luxbacher is forthcoming from Groundwood Books in October 2023. Cover art above ©Groundwood Books & ©Irene Luxbacher 2023.