Biography

Jennifer Hosein was born in Montreal, Canada. She is a writer, visual artist and English as a Second Language teacher, living and working in Toronto, Canada. She holds an Honours BA in Visual Art, French and English Literature from the University of Toronto. Her poems, short fiction and a play have been published in magazines in Canada and Europe.  Her artwork has appeared on book covers, in magazines and in solo and group exhibitions in Toronto. Her collection of poetry, A Map of Rain Days, published by Guernica Editions, was long listed for the League of Canadian Poets 2021 Pat Lowther Memorial Award. The book features her artwork on the cover as well as in the interior of the book.  

Author statement

I was always an avid reader. Before I could read the big girl books, my aunt read them to me: Black Beauty, The Black Stallion, and more. When I was six years old, the Peter, Paul & Mary song “Puff the Magic Dragon” broke my heart so badly that I decided to write a short story transforming the dragon Puff into a dog whose beloved boy returns to him. That was the beginning of my writing life. By the time I was in high school, I was journaling every day to get through the tragedies of adolescence.

My writing and art have always been intertwined. Often a painting is inspired by a poem or story I am working on, and vice versa. My poems and stories address the beauty and shadows of life while navigating the realities of racism, addiction, suicide, rape, abuse and death. Ecstasy and loneliness, romance and terror are juxtaposed. Love is brutal and intoxicating, adolescence is “the carcass of youth.” Yet still we live and love and come out kicking.