It Takes A Village to Grow Living Hyphen
A Note of Gratitude for a Milestone Moment
We are officially sold out of our inaugural issue, Entrances & Exits.
I’ve had to keep repeating those words to myself over the last week and pinching myself to make sure I’m not dreaming.
In just two and a half years, we’ve sold out two print runs of our beautiful first foray into Canada’s arts and literature scene. That means 1250 people across Turtle Island have had their hands on this jam-packed 124-page magazine. Probably more if you consider that we’re available in libraries from coast to coast, and all the book swaps we’ve been tagged in on Instagram!
How do I even mark a moment as big as this? In “normal” times, we’d throw a big ol’ party complete with a potluck celebration, storytelling, and the warmth and exuberance of our community. But alas, the times we’re living in won’t allow for that just yet and we’ll have to wait just a little bit longer to gather again in person. So in the meantime, I’ll pay homage to this milestone in the best way I know how — by writing about it.
A Look Back: Seeds of Insecurity and Doubt
Before launching our first issue of the magazine, I had absolutely no publishing or curatorial experience. But something inside of me knew that we were on to something special with this magazine and I felt such an urgency and zeal to bring it into the world. I knew deep down in my core that this was significant, that this publication would mean something to so many people.
But somewhere towards the end of the finish line as we were putting the final touches on the design files, I was suddenly overcome with insecurity.
I initially put in an order of 1000+ copies with our printers but changed my mind at the very last minute and cut the order down to 500. I suddenly doubted my gut and felt like I was getting way ahead of myself.
Why did I think this would be a success? Why did I think so many people would rush to get their hands on this no-name magazine created by this no-name person who has no experience in this space whatsoever? Do I even know a thousand people? How could I have created all this hype for myself? Was I delusional? Who did I think I was?
Friends and family tried to dissuade me from putting in the smaller order. They believed in this idea more than I did in those moments.
And sure enough, we sold out of those 500 copies within just a month of launching and had to reprint immediately. We had to host not just one launch party but two because the demand to attend and celebrate with us was just so high. Our launch was covered both in local and national news radio shows, TV broadcasts, and publications. Local independent bookstores, as well as big chain ones, offered to stock our magazine on their shelves.
And the wins and our growth have just been snowballing ever since…
The Future Has An Ancient Heart
“There’s a line by the Italian writer Carlo Levi that I think is apt here: “The future has an ancient heart.” I love it because it expresses with such grace and economy what is certainly true — that who we become is born of who we most primitively are; that we both know and cannot possibly know what it is we’ve yet to make manifest in our lives.” — Cheryl Strayed, Tiny Beautiful Things
This excerpt is from my favourite book, one that I’ve read multiple times throughout the years when I’ve felt lost in my creative process and purpose. The journey to manifest our dreams and visions is often long, convoluted, and uncertain. But we know the beauty that lies inside of us, that the world should know and see.
Living Hyphen was the thing I both knew and could not possibly know I would manifest into my life and into the world. When I trace back our steps to where we are today, it all makes so much sense. Everything was building towards this, I just couldn’t know it then. Not fully, at least.
If you asked me back then if I ever thought Living Hyphen would sell out two print runs, garner local and national media attention, be made available in bookstores and shops across the country, and grow to be even bigger than just a magazine, I would have laughed at the audacity of the suggestion but I would have also secretly known it to be true.
Notes of Gratitude
At the risk of sounding like we’re accepting an award and being exceptionally cheesy here, I’d like to thank the many people who have been integral to the success of our print publication. This is a reminder to myself, and to all of us, just how much more we can accomplish with the support of others. A reminder of how much we can really grow, expand, and deepen when we are held, carried, and uplifted by our communities.
They always say that it takes a village to raise a child, and Living Hyphen is proof of that.
And so, some notes of gratitude to all the people who have made this major milestone possible.
All our incredible contributors
Aba Amuquandoh, Aeman Ansari, Angela Aujla, Aquil Virani, Asad Chisti, Bushra Saleban, Calvin Santiago, Christina Hajjar, Clare Yow, Daniel Maluka, Erika Barrozo, Erin Kang, Florence Yee, Gelaine Santiago, Hannah Renglich, James Arteaga, Janice Liu, Jasmin Elysia, Jennifer Ha, Joelle Kidd, Julie Mai, Kanwal Rahim, Karen Lahura, Karen-Luz Sison, Kristina Corre, Lance Morrison, Linda Ozromano, Lourdenie Jean, Marius Masalar, Mary Joy Pascua, Micaela Pereira Bajard, Miguel Leandro Gamboa, Natasha Ramoutar, Nimra Bandukwala, Omar Ramirez, Pamela Dungao, Patricia South, Prachy Mohan, Prissy M, Rachel Evangeline Chiong, Robbie Ahmed, Rosel Kim, Samah Ali, Taha Tabish, Tanya Kan, Vanessa Hodja, Victoria Liao, and
Zaha Cheema.
This idea, this magazine, this community would not be in existence without you. It is your stories that underpin the success of our magazine. It is your stories that have moved so many people. Through your poetry, short stories, essays, comics, photography, and illustrations, so many people have found themselves reflected in ways they haven’t ever seen before. You provided a language and a vocabulary for so many people to understand their own hyphenated experiences. You’ve also served as a gateway for understanding this hyphenated experience for the many others who might not live in between cultures themselves.
You are the bridge that has created empathy, understanding, critical thought, and allyship. This magazine would literally be nothing without you.
Every person who has ever submitted a story to us
Thank you for entrusting us with your deeply personal, vulnerable, honest, and precious stories. Your stories delve so deeply into some of the most timeless and universal questions around home, identity, belonging, and what it means to be human. Know that regardless of whether or not we publish your story in the magazine, we are always rooting for you and looking for ways to amplify your voices. This letter is for you.
Everyone who has ever purchased the magazine, gifted it to friends, or requested their libraries to put us on their shelves
Thank you for giving the pages of our magazine a home in your home. Thank you for squashing that seed of doubt and insecurity in my mind. Thank you for appreciating the beauty of our stories and for choosing us out of all of the books and magazines that are out there.
Thank you for making this milestone happen.
All the independent bookstores, Canada’s biggest bookstore, all the cafes, flowers shops, and community spaces that gave us a home
Thank you for believing in our magazine, for appreciating the diverse voices within our pages, and for putting us on your shelves. You’ve given us a warm home in so many different places across the city, province, and country to be found by others.
Our friends at our local Canada Post
We didn’t expect to make new friends at the post office from this endeavour, but seeing your faces on a regular basis has given us a sense of community in a real, physical sense. You’ve worked tireless every day, but especially during this pandemic, to get these pages out and we are so grateful for the work that you do for all of us.
The Pluma Collective
To my friends and fellow writers at Pluma*, thank you for lifting while you climb, for always sharing Living Hyphen’s work while promoting your own. A special thank you to Eric Tigley and Yves Lamson who carried our magazine across Turtle Island to share it with other Filipinx communities they were meeting along the way. Your generosity is an example I want to emulate always.
*For those of you who are uninitiated, Pluma is a collective of Filipinx-Canadian writers whose work spans genres and generations.
Our Patreon supporters and everyone who has donated to subsidize our printing costs.
Thank you for believing in the importance of our work and giving us an alternative source of funding to keep on doing it. You’ve helped us go from exclusively family-funded to community-funded, and that is a huge milestone for us in and of itself!
Reporters, bloggers, and podcasters who have shared our story
While the media is one that still suffers from the same systemic racism that the Canadian arts and literature space does, we are grateful to the individual journalists, bloggers, and podcasters who found something powerful in our story and chose to share it widely with their audiences. Thank you for amplifying our voices in the same way we hope to do for others.
To everyone who has given us a rating or written a review for us on Goodreads.
Thank you for telling us how our magazine has moved you and, by extension, telling countless others too!
Every person who has sent a DM or email just to let us know how much they love our work!
We read and save every single email, DM, comment, and tagged post that you’ve written about us or for us. To know that we are impacting so many people’s lives is something that we will always cherish being told. It is truly what keeps us going and why we keep doing what we do!
Growing, Expanding, and Deepening Our Work
Over the last few months, I’ve had to update so many of Living Hyphen’s bios or “about” sections in various places around the Internet. Instead of “we are a magazine…” I’ve had to rewrite that statement to say, “We are a community…”. Because we really are so much more now.
We aren’t just a magazine anymore.
We are a podcast. We are a resource centre for anti-racism and allyship. We are writing workshops. We are storytelling nights. We are a community — both online and offline.
And we’re only just getting started!
If you want to stay updated on all things Living Hyphen like our upcoming issue on Resistance Across Generations, our podcast, writing workshops, or storytelling nights sign up for our newsletter today!
Want to support Living Hyphen’s financial sustainability while also maintaining artistic independence? Support us on Patreon today!
