A Safe Girl to LoveCasey PlettArsenal Pulp Press, 2023 Review by Roz Milner For a few years, Casey Plett’s first book, A Safe Girl to Love, was hard to find. Originally published by Topside Press almost a decade ago,...
Interview by Jessica Johns
Hello friends! Meet Casey Plett, author of Little Fish and A Safe Girl to Love and co-editor of the anthology Meanwhile, Elsewhere: Science Fiction and Fantasy from Transgender Writers. She is the winner of the Lambda Literary Award for Best Transgender Fiction and received an Honour of Distinction from The Writers’ Trust of Canada’s Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ Emerging Writers.
During my volunteer role at Room Magazine’s 2018 Growing Room Literary Festival, I had the great pleasure of hearing Casey read from Little Fish and getting to know her in-between events. In addition to admiring her work and discussion during the panels, Casey’s behind-the-scenes demeanor was something that has stayed with me. She offered a kind of warmth, humorous levity, and generosity to the volunteers and audience members that I think goes above and beyond the expectations of writers at events, especially during a time where authors and volunteers alike are stressed, exhausted, and usually running on fumes. It is something that usually flies under the radar to the comparatively large-scale attention given to readings and panels, but one I think is important. Yesterday, I started reading Little Fish. And already the humour, care, and depth that I saw during that weekend, I’m finding everywhere in her storytelling. If you get the opportunity, get this book and go hear her read. It’s so damn worth it.
Casey’s debut novel Little Fish is out now with Arsenal Pulp Press and you can find her on Twitter at @caseyplett and at her website, https://caseyplett.wordpress.com/.
Casey will be reading at the Vancouver Public Library for Incite: Celebrating Arsenal Pulp Press Amber Dawn, Casey Plett, and Joshua Whitehead on May 23 at 7:30 pm. Do not miss it!