Love Me True: Writers Reflect on the Ins, Outs, Ups & Downs of Marriage

Edited by Jane Silcott and Fiona Tinwei Lam 

What keeps us together? What breaks us apart? In Love Me True, 26 creative nonfiction writers and 20 poets explore how marriage and committed relationships have challenged, shaped, supported and changed them. The stories and poems in this collection delve deep into the mysteries of long-term bonds. The authors cover a gamut of issues and ideas–everything from everyday conflicts to deep philosophical divides, as well as jealousy, adultery, physical or mental illness, and loss. There’s happiness here too, along with love and companionship, whether the long-term partnering is monogamous, polyamorous, same-sex or otherwise. From surprise proposals, stolen quickies, and snoring to arranged marriage, affairs, suicide, and much more, the wide-ranging personal stories and poems in Love Me True are sometimes funny, sometimes harrowing, and always engaging as they offer their intimate and varied insights into the complex state that is marriage.

Editors Jane Silcott and Fiona Tinwei Lam have assembled work from notable authors across Canada, both well-known and up-and-coming, including Luanne Armstrong, Joanne Arnott, Jagtar Kaur Atwal, Donna Besel, Ronna Bloom, Lesley Buxton, Mandy Len Catron, Kevin Chong, Lorna Crozier, Michael Crummey, Eufemia Fantetti, Jane Eaton Hamilton, Maureen Scott Harris, Maureen Hynes, Michelle Kaeser,  Chelene Knight, Evelyn Lau, Ellen McGinn, Lauren McKeon, Monica Meneghetti, Jane Munro, Susan Musgrave, Lorri Neilsen Glenn, Juliane Okot Bitek, Susan Olding, Elise Partridge, Miranda Pearson, Toni Pieroni, Tana Runyan, Rachel Rose, Andreas Schroeder, Karen Shklanka, Anne Simpson, Kara Stanley, Chris Tarry, Rob Taylor, Yasuko Thanh, Russell Thornton, Ayelet Tsabari, Betsy Warland, Bronwen Wallace, Gina Leola Woolsey, Samra Zafar, and others.

• Wax Poetic Interview on Vancouver Co-op Radio with Fiona Tinwei Lam and Jane Silcott, editors of the anthology Love Me True: Writers on the Ups, Downs, Ins & Outs of Marriage (March 14, 2018)
• CKNW Interview with editors Jane and Fiona on Feb 11/18
• LMT Excerpt of Jagtar Kaur Atwal’s piece, “Finding a Way Out” published in The Tyee Feb 14/18
•  LMT Excerpt of Lesley Buxton’s piece “Are You Still Married” published on 49th Shelf Blog Feb 12/18
• Quill & Quire Interview with editors Jane and Fiona on Feb 14/18
• CBC North by Northwest Interview with contributor Mandy Len Catron (“On Anniversaries”) and Fiona on Feb 11/18 (at 1:51:25 mark)
• LMT Excerpt of FTL’s piece, “What we mean when we talk about marriage” published in The Tyee on Sept 19/18
• LMT Excerpt of Jane Silcott’s piece, “Cooking Class and Marriage Lessons” published in The Tyee on Sept 21/18
• Write magazine, Editing Marriage, Summer 2018

“Such a wonderful collection. Funny, sad, poignant, diverse: this is an eloquent and entertaining exploration of the ways we wed, break up, find ourselves and one another.”
—Deborah Campbell, author of A Disappearance in Damascus

“Love Me True features stories and poems written by men and women who push and tug at love, struggle to stretch it around their own unruly hearts. Some are pioneers, venturing on gay marriage or polyamory. Some escape from arranged marriages or infidelitous ones. Some are brave, loving on despite tragedy, loss and the vicissitudes of ageing. I was impressed by the unflinching honesty of these writers—their utterly candid account of intimacy and their feelings about it.”
—Claudia Cornwall

“Fifty percent of marriages end in divorce, which makes the institution half as safe a bet as this terrific collection of brightness and darkness — to have, hold, and read, in sickness and in health.”
—Charlie Demers, comedian & author of The Horrors

“Jane Silcott and Fiona Lam have put together the best book on marriage I’ve read—and I’ve read a bunch! It’s an anthology of voices from writers of diverse cultural backgrounds, life experiences, and romantic and sexual orientations. So much writing about marriage aims for depth over breadth (and focuses on heterosexual monogamous commitment by default)—and what I love about this anthology is that it somehow achieves both depth and breadth. I’m so happy to be a part of it—alongside a whole bunch of writers I really admire.”
—Mandy Len Catron, author of How to Fall in Love with Anyone

Reviews

• “Love Me True, an anthology of essays and poems by Canadian writers on love and marriage, provides ample evidence of what extraordinary writers Canada has produced. Here are forty-seven voices writing sensitively about human relationships, free of cant, cliché, or false sentimentality—often with humour and irony….  [C]ourage, candour, and strong writing with eloquent resonance—makes this an anthology to treasure.”
  – Graham Nicol Forst, Canadian Literature (Fall 2018)
• Dessa Bayro, Raspberry Magazine (Summer 2018, pp 48-51) “Crock or Crockery: Is Marriage Worth It?”