Free Times Cafe

Featuring:

Alvin Wong and Stanford Cheung "Alvin Wong is the senior editor of Inspiritus Press. He has poems published in Half a Grapefruit Magazine and Temz Review along with a short story in Ricepaper magazine. He co-authoured a chapbook with Stanford Cheung, We Could be Anything from Crevasse Press in Ibaraki, Japan. Stanford Cheung is the author of Structures from the Still, a book of poems released by Akinoga Press last summer. Among his chapbooks published include Any Seam or Needlework (The Operating System, 2016), Kite Extension (words(on)pages, 2017), and Comfort of Malice (Inspiritus Press, 2018). Born in Scarborough, he freelances as a musician and is currently based in Montreal."

Hana Shafi
Hana Shafi is a writer and artist who illustrates under the name Frizz Kid. Both her visual art and writing frequently explore themes such as feminism, body politics, racism, and pop culture with an affinity to horror. A graduate of Ryerson University’s Journalism Program, she has published articles in publications such as The Walrus, Hazlitt, This Magazine, Torontoist, Huffington Post, and has been featured on Buzzfeed India, Buzzfeed Canada, CBC, Flare Magazine, Mashable, and Shameless, Known on Instagram for her weekly affirmation series, she is also the recipient of the Women Who Inspire Award, from the Canadian Council for Muslim Women.Her first book, It Begins With The Body was recently selected by CBC books as one of the best poetry books of 2018.

Emilio Puerta
Emilio D. Puerta is a Toronto-based writer who has been striving for a name in the poetic backlots for over a decade, and still scrambling towards the light. Mentored by the best, he has won the hearts of the public, but oddly not the publishers, but is regardless willing to share all he has learned with anyone who's willing to listen. He can be found in the worldwide online community known as Writer's Café, where he has made a name for himself as a mentor to the world's most illustrious shadows. In August of 2018, he selfed his debut collection, Abre la Puerta, and is in the midst of compiling a second for whoever is interested.