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Mahaila Smith (they/them)
@mahailasmith.ca
630 followers 570 following 110 posts
Co-Editor for The Sprawl Mag
Poet
Water-Kin (2024) with Metatron Press
Enter the Hyperreal (2024) with above/ground press
Seed Beetle (2025) with Stelliform Press
Mahailasmith.ca
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Mahaila Smith (they/them) @mahailasmith.ca · May 15
Today is the day! Welcome to the world little beetle :’)
stelliform.press Stelliform Press @stelliform.press · May 15
Today we're sending this little beetle out into the world. May it burrow into your hearts, in a nice way.

Congratulations to Mahaila Smith for this beautiful, innovative and tender collection of narrative science fiction poetry!

Now available everywhere!

www.stelliform.press...
Happy Book Birthday graphic for Mahaila Smith's Seed Beetle, published May 15 2025. Now Available Everywhere books are sold. With color blotches and beetles and a blurb from Tiffany Morris. “Truly cyborgian poetry.” - Tiffany Morris, author of Green Fuse Burning and Elegies of Rotting Stars
mahailasmith.ca
Introduce yourself with five concerts you’ve seen

Janelle Monáe for my 24th bday and the best show i have ever seen
FKA Twigs
Beach Bunny
Leith Ross
Fanclubwallet
pineapplefury.bsky.social Erin Rockfort (they/she) @pineapplefury.bsky.social · 4h
Introduce yourself with five concerts you’ve seen

Jann Arden (x2 I think - amazing show)
Walk Off The Earth
Journey
Avril Lavigne
Spice Girls
vriccithode.bsky.social Ness 🎃🇨🇦 @vriccithode.bsky.social · 4h
Introduce yourself with five concerts you've seen

System of a Down
Green Day
Metallica
Cancer Bats
Counting Crows 🤣
November 27, 2025 at 11:58 PM
mahailasmith.ca
hey look! it’s baby’s first pushcart nom!! 🥳
julianday.ca Julian Day @julianday.ca · 12d
This year, null pointer press has sent the following poems as its submission to the Pushcart Prize:

"B is for Brutus", @officialmchangpoet.bsky.social
"The Lies Overlap, Alongside the Years", BEE LB
"The Bugs Have Gone Away", @mahailasmith.ca

(cont)
November 16, 2025 at 2:29 AM
mahailasmith.ca
So thrilled to share that I have a new poem out in Strange Horizons!!!
strangehorizons.bsky.social Strange Horizons @strangehorizons.bsky.social · 14d
618 Days in Longsleep 
by Mahaila Smith @mahailasmith.ca

"The view is terrifying."

Link ⬇️
strangehorizons.com/wordpress/po...
POETRY by Mahaila Smith 618 Days in Longsleep  Quote "The view is terrifying." 10 November 2025 Strange Horizons
November 13, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Reposted by Mahaila Smith (they/them)
rachelgilmore.bsky.social
Mortifying and completely preventable.

www.cbc.ca/news/health/...
Canada loses measles elimination status | CBC
www.cbc.ca
November 10, 2025 at 4:36 PM
mahailasmith.ca
I got to hear a sneak peek of this audiobook at @canconsffh.bsky.social this year and am so looking forward to the full novel! You can go support it on Kickstarter: www.kickstarter.com/projects/sie...
The Heretic's Guide to Homecoming: An Orchestrated Audiobook
Help fund the long-awaited audiobook of this cult-classic fantasy novel, complete with musical accompaniment.
www.kickstarter.com
November 6, 2025 at 6:56 PM
Reposted by Mahaila Smith (they/them)
solarisbooks.bsky.social
8K GIVEAWAY!

Win books from @csecooney.bsky.social @voidcricket.bsky.social @emmanewman.bsky.social @natania.bsky.social an early ARC from @authortrmoore.bsky.social & more!

Like, follow, repost and drop a book 📙 in the comments to enter! Ends 23:59 GMT on 13/10/25. Open to UK & IE, CAN & US only.
A stack of the giveaway books against an orange fabric background. The books are: 💀 SAINT DEATH'S DAUGHTER by C. S. E. Cooney 💫 AN UNBREAKABLE WORLD by Run Hutchings ☠️ THE VENGEANCE by Emma Newman ☂️ SINOPHAGIA edited by Xueting C. Ni 👑 QUEEN OF FURY by Natania Barron 🐲 A COVENANT OF ICE by Karin Low 🚀 THE GANYMEDAN by R. T. Ester 🌊 THE DOOR ON THE SEA by Caskey Russell AND... A hardcopy ARC of 🐺 THE GODS MUST BURN by @authortrmoore! At the bottom, white text: "8K Giveaway!" Against an orange and black fabric background, white text: A hardcopy ARC of Below, the books cover for THE GODS MUST BURN by T. R. Moore!
November 1, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Reposted by Mahaila Smith (they/them)
amandaearl.bsky.social
Policing Black Lives (2nd ed) - Book launch with Robyn Maynard
Time and Place: October 29 at 7:00 pm. SAW Centre, 67 Nicholas
Email: [email protected]
Policing Black Lives: State Violence in Canada from Slavery to the Present
October 29, 2025 at 1:05 PM
mahailasmith.ca
So thrilled to share that Water-Kin has won second prize in the Elgin Chapbook award! Congrats to all the nominees and my fellow chapbook authors, Katherine Quevedo and @bugthewriter.bsky.social! You can read Water-Kin for free online here: metatron.press/digipub/wate...
October 2, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Reposted by Mahaila Smith (they/them)
charlieangus104.bsky.social
Brit Griffin and I have obsessed about the landscape and history of Cobalt for 30 plus years. We have walked its scarred hills, researched its wild history, written its dark stories.
It's all in her new book The Haunting of Modesto O'Brien.
Join us for a conversation.
Oct. 9
Perfect Books Ottawa.
September 27, 2025 at 11:36 AM
mahailasmith.ca
Purple prose ;)
September 26, 2025 at 6:23 PM
mahailasmith.ca
Guys!!! I made it!!
stelliform.press Stelliform Press @stelliform.press · Sep 18
Thrilled to see 3 Stelliform authors and lots of friends on the TOC for the Year's Best Canadian F&SF volume 3!

Find these works published by Stelliform in this year's Year's Best:
"Our Time and Space" by @mahaila.bsky.social, and
"Desolation Sounds" by @geoffreywcole.bsky.social

🎉
ourmankoto.bsky.social Stephen Kotowych 🇨🇦 @ourmankoto.bsky.social · Sep 18
I need a timeline cleanse. How about a table of contents announcement! That’s right—despite the world being on fire, it’s time to reveal the TOC for Year’s Best Canadian F&SF Volume 3! It was VERY hard to narrow the list down but it's all killer, no filler. The book launches October 14. Enjoy! 1/2
September 18, 2025 at 9:59 PM
Reposted by Mahaila Smith (they/them)
paulvermeersch.bsky.social
Ladies and gentles, animals and machines, and everyone in-between . . . . we are ONE WEEK away from the launch of NMLCT! I'd love it if you could join me to celebrate!
Wed, Sept 24, 2025
at The Piston
937 Bloor Street West,
from 7 to 10pm
[festivities included]
September 17, 2025 at 8:15 PM
Reposted by Mahaila Smith (they/them)
augursociety.bsky.social
TO ENTER:
☑️ Post a piece up to 50-100 words to your feed on a public Instagram OR Bluesky account
☑️ Use the hashtag #AugurMicros2025
☑️ Tag @augursociety
☑️ Follow Augur Society on Bluesky and/or Instagram

Read the content policies laid out by the platform and in Augur’s subs guidelines -🔗in bio! 👀
🧵
A purple background with a light yellow textbook in front of it. The text box reads: how to enter, 1. Post your microfic to your public Instagram or Bluesky account 2. Use hashtag #AugurMicros2025 3. Tag us: @augursociety 4. Follow us: @augursociety, Enter by September 30, 2025 to be selected as one of three microfiction winners. All winners will receive $75 and be published on the issue page for the next released issue of Augur Magazine." A purple text box in the middle of the image reads "Read more @ link in bio"
September 5, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Reposted by Mahaila Smith (they/them)
thesprawl.bsky.social
So happy that the folks in Seattle got to see this excellent poem! Read The New Knights here or in our inaugural issue 🗡️🗡️🗡️
lynnesargent.bsky.social Lynne Sargent @lynnesargent.bsky.social · Aug 7
So delighted to share this beautifully illustrated reprint of my poem "The New Knights," in this year's @seattlein2025.org souvenir program (originally printed in the @thesprawl.bsky.social ).
A poem "The New Knights" is to the left of a sepia-toned illustration of a knight jousting from dragonback. The text of the poem is as follows: The New Knights by Lynne Sargent Chivalry didn’t die, it just needed a little more hopepunk: Gawain crafts fake-ids for immigrants, implants bio-hacked RFIDs to help them through the scanners. Morgana white-hat hacks for the climate resistance making sure there is still a dream of paradise before Avalon. Merlin is playing butler to the billionaires biding xyr time until xe flips the switch make the mansions go dark and the money disappear. Gwen and Lance are still there too, they’ve figured out their ethical sluttery and lead a polya farming commune, because what’s a romance without a lot love? Galahad has gone to craft a new grail, and I promise you he knows it isn’t on Mars. he knows it’s in same place chivalry lives, where it has always lived in the hearts of those who care for others, who know that code, love, and craft, that service, labour, and art all can be swords against the darkness.   "The New Knights" originally published in The Sprawl Mag October 2022.
August 26, 2025 at 2:02 AM
mahailasmith.ca
I’m very grateful to have a story in this anthology and among such talented conpany!
joannemerriam.bsky.social Joanne Merriam @joannemerriam.bsky.social · Aug 25
1/5 Daily(ish) #SmallPress #books mini-thread about Stasis, edited by Libby Graham @okaylib.bsky.social (@bellpressbooks.bsky.social) (who also edits @thesprawl.bsky.social), & related folks. Stasis contrib Harper Walton is also the editor of Carnival... (Buoy Press).

#DSPBposts 💙📚 #BookSky
Book cover for Carnival at the End of the World edited by Harper Walton (Buoy Press), with a pencil drawing of lines and circles. Photo from Buoy Press's Linked-In account of several copies of the book lined up on a sales table. People metamorphose into birds, vows of silence become clown eras, hallucinogenic visions are plentiful, language and form disintegrates and evolves, drugs unlock psychogeography, sex and gender fluctuate and threaten to explode, bodies open and close, toilet queues stretch on for infinity, and streams of consciousness are polluted. In our contemporary moment of poly-apocalyptic anxiety, can we find a rugged sense of optimism? Or perhaps it is already too late, with nothing left for us to do but dance into the flaming rubble. Contributors Olly Barrett, David Dobson, Jack Houston, Nick Maynard, Alice Musgrove, Luke Reilly, Maria Robinson, Lily Steve, James Tilden, Harper Walton, and Alfie White. https://buoypress.sumupstore.com/product/carnival-at-the-end-of-the-world Book cover for Stasis: An anthology of retrofuturisms edited by Libby Graham (Bell Press‬‬‬‬), with a person with flowing long hair floating in futuristic scuba gear in a tank filled with liquid, against a backdrop of a space ship and viewing port showing a blue planet. This collection of short stories looks to the future but is inspired by the science fiction of the past. A waitress, her lover, and a retro diner take off from Roswell, New Mexico. A storyteller uses poetry as a tool for colonial resistance. A single chess match determines the future of humanity. You’ll never know where you end up as the adventuresome tales of Stasis send you to the far reaches of time and space! Contributors: Roxane Llanque, Harper Walton, Antoinette Rydyr, Anthony Boulanger, Angela Acosta, Gregory Lawrence, Stephanie Osuji, Charles Chin, Adrienne Stevenson, Mélodie Langevin, Pauline Barmby, Mahaila Smith, and Marc Fleury. https://bellpressbooks.com/product/stasis/
August 25, 2025 at 11:46 PM
Reposted by Mahaila Smith (they/them)
lynnesargent.bsky.social
This is your chance to see @mahaila.bsky.social in #HamOnt!!
wolsakandwynn.bsky.social Wolsak & Wynn @wolsakandwynn.bsky.social · Aug 16
Hamilton friends, the first Lit Live of the season is coming up soon featuring many great writers, including our own James Cairns!
August 16, 2025 at 10:43 PM
mahailasmith.ca
Come celebrate!
stelliform.press Stelliform Press @stelliform.press · Aug 14
Hamilton folks! Come to the first Lit Live of the season at The Staircase. Hear Mahaila Smith read from SEED BEETLE, and many other wonderful writers read from wonderful works!

Sunday Sept 7-9pm
At The Staircase, 27 Dundurn N, Hamilton
PWYC $10 INCLUDES BEVERAGE
Theme: ✨ Mystery/Clarity/Light✨
Lit Live Readings Premium High Quality Literature 30th Year Sunday Sept 7-9pm The Staircase 27 Dundurn N, Hamilton PWYC $10 INCLUDES BEVERAGE Theme: Mystery/Clarity/Light FEATURING: Mahaila Smith Zalika Reid Benta James Cairns Chyana Marie Sage
August 15, 2025 at 2:52 AM
Reposted by Mahaila Smith (they/them)
robmclennan.bsky.social
TONIGHT! the above/ground press 32nd anniversary reading/launch/party! tickets still available! (and might there even be a new Stuart Ross chapbook on-hand? / @mreid.bsky.social @razovsky.bsky.social @jasonchristie.bsky.social @linarvitvideopoet.bsky.social ;
robmclennan.blogspot.com/2025/07/the-...
the above/ground press 32nd anniversary reading/launch/party! August 7 at RedBird,
celebrating THIRTY-TWO YEARS of continuous activity (and nearly fourteen hundred publications), Ottawa publisher above/ground press presents...
robmclennan.blogspot.com
August 7, 2025 at 4:48 PM
mahailasmith.ca
Thanks so much for sharing! It’s so nice to see Seed Beetle in the wild 💚
teresa-ardrey.bsky.social Teresa Ardrey (She/Her) @teresa-ardrey.bsky.social · Aug 4
It is a great day when @stelliform.press orders show up! Origins of Desire in Orchid Fens by @lynnhutchinsonlee.bsky.social and Seed Beetle by @mahaila.bsky.social.
August 5, 2025 at 9:34 PM
mahailasmith.ca
“It’s high-concept science fiction, but it all feels painfully relevant to today. Easily one of my favorite books of the year. (I enjoyed the electronic review copy so much I bought it in hard copy.)”

Thank you so much @johnrplatt.bsky.social! I’m so happy you enjoyed Seed Beetle
July 31, 2025 at 3:14 PM
mahailasmith.ca
Thanks for the shout out :’)
lynnesargent.bsky.social Lynne Sargent @lynnesargent.bsky.social · Jul 26
Since this is getting some uptake, it may not be from a big publisher, but y'all should check out @mahaila.bsky.social 's SEED BEETLE out now from @stelliform.press!!

www.stelliform.press/index.php/pr...
July 31, 2025 at 8:08 AM
mahailasmith.ca
I met André Alexis tonight at the All in a Day book club, and truly want to recommend this book! There are so many layers of literary excellence. Stories on parents, childhood, Trinidadian culture, and all slightly uncanny which, he said, was intended to put the reader in the mind of the immigrant.
jeffvandermeer.bsky.social Jeff VanderMeer @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social · Jul 16
Reading Other Worlds by André Alexis and it's spectacular. The first, long story "Contrition: An Isekai" is a work of genius, I think. Absolutely perfect in its canny uncanniness and also beautiful evocation of an immigrant experience in such a fresh and insightful way. Funny, deep, compassionate.
Against a patterned green cover with red in lower left, Other Worlds: Stories, André Alexis, winner of the Giller Prize.
July 17, 2025 at 3:26 AM
mahailasmith.ca
Thank you @yukondawn.bsky.social for taking the time to read a review Seed Beetle, I truly appreciate it!
yukondawn.bsky.social Dawn Macdonald @yukondawn.bsky.social · Jul 13
"This is a twisty ride, at the level of the line and of the narrative arc."

New review of Mahaila Smith's sci-fi poetry collection Seed Beetle:

reviewsofbooksigotforfreeorcheap.substack.com/p/mahaila-sm...

@stelliform.press
Mahaila Smith's Seed Beetle
Resistance and regrowth
reviewsofbooksigotforfreeorcheap.substack.com
July 13, 2025 at 5:16 PM