My Uncle Ryan Fitzpatrick is a poet and an author. He is amazing at what he does. One of my personal favourites is Coast Mountain Foot. He has about five books, and they are all amazing. He works very hard on them. He is a very funny and nice person.
He has two other siblings, and he grew up in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. His upcoming book is really good (I think you should read it). He is really cool. He plays video games with me a lot of the time. He also likes manga and anime — for example, Naruto, Demon Slayer, and so on.
He is the best uncle I could ever ask for. That’s why you should read his books! Once again, they’re amazing.
-Written by Clayton Lundgren
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Which ’hood are you in?
Sunnyside since this past summer! I recently moved back to Calgary after a decade and a half in other cities (Vancouver, Toronto, and Edmonton). Before I moved away, I lived in Banff Trail, West Hillhurst, and Ogden — the neighbourhood I grew up in. Briefly, I lived with my sister’s family in the far north suburb of Kincora.
What do you do?
I am a writer, primarily a poet, and a book editor. I currently work for the Vancouver small press Talonbooks. I am also a semi-lapsed academic, squeezed out by the lack of postsecondary jobs. (Fund public education at all levels!)
I’m currently trying to find my way back into the Calgary poetry scene, but in a previous life, I was involved with filling Station magazine and the Flywheel reading series, both still ongoing. I like to take walks around my neighbourhood and the city. I also probably play too many video games — the current obsession is Balatro, a weirdo roguelike pokerish game that I can play while I’m making dinner.
What are you currently working on?
I’m currently doing readings across the country for my recent poetry book No Depression in Heaven, a “poetry LP” of improvisatory pieces that works through the history and forms of country music.
I’m also in the (hopefully) final stages of a nonfiction book titled Ace Theory, an essay in fragments about asexuality and compulsory sexuality that, with any luck, will be out in late 2026 with Toronto’s Book*hug Press.
I’m just starting a manuscript project with the working title SLOP that takes on the rampant obscenity of our current ALL CAPS moment.
Where can we find your work?
With any luck, at any of the great independent bookstores in town — Shelf Life, Pages, The Next Page, or Owl’s Nest. The Calgary Public Library might also have a copy of my books in the stacks.
It might not seem like it, but checking a book by a Canadian author out of the library helps that author out because of the excellent Public Lending Rights program. Canadian authors get a cheque from the Canada Council for the Arts based on how their books are doing in libraries. (Authors, make sure you sign up!)
I also have a website that has some of my work.
