“Alison Gadsby, a first-generation Canadian writer and literary chatterbox, currently living in a multigenerational home on Treaty 13 land in Tkaronto/Toronto. Author of story collection Breathing Is How Some People Stay Alive (Guernica Editions, 2026), other short fiction appears in Literary Heist, Blank Spaces, The Temz Review, The Ex- Puritan, Blue Lake Review, and more. Her novel, Dreams of the Weary is forthcoming (Palimpsest Press, 2028). She holds an MFA from the UBC, and a degree in English Literature & Creative Writing from York University. She is the host of Junction Reads, a prose reading series, and co-host on the literary radio show, HOWL on CIUT. Find out more at www.alisongadsby.ca and www.junctionreads.ca.

1- How did your first book change your life? How does your most recent work compare to your previous? How does it feel different?
Breathing Is How Some People Stay Alive is my first book of stories and to say it's been a long time coming may be an understatement. I've been writing stories since abandoning my dream of becoming a professional actor/sketch comic and then moving to the UK with a dude I just met (we're still together). I turned a few sketches into stories and thought, when I get back to Canada, I'm going to become a celebrated author. My first story was published in 2019.”

“I met Alison Gadsby many moons ago at the Toronto Junction Reads Prose reading series she’s been curating and hosting for nearly two decades now. Alison is a bright light in a big city, passionately shining her light on prose writers, offering them a friendly stage in which to read and share and sell their books. Not only does Alison curate and host, she also delivers thoughtful, well-written book reviews…which she’s been doing for years as well. She is avid and attentive on social media, and hosts Live on Instagram – The First Thirty a monthly conversation with writers. She’s the kinda gal you witness and think ‘how the heck does she do it all?’!”