DEBUT BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT
My story collection WE ARE BUSY BEING ALIVE is now available for pre-order in Canada and the US!
Good morning from NYC!
The birds are chirping and the streets are buzzing and my debut story collection, We Are Busy Being Alive is now available for pre-order in Canada and the US!
The collection, forthcoming with Anvil Press in June 2026, features sixteen stories written over ~five years. Ten will see the light of day for the first time. The others were previously published in Biblioasis Press’ Best Canadian Stories, The New Quarterly, and subTerrain.
ADVANCE PRAISE:
With bone-dry humour and the precision of a lens, Midha finds humanity in our increasingly distracted and perilous world.
—Bill Gaston, author of Tunnel Island
Below is an image from when I locked myself in my childhood-bedroom-turned-3-year-old-niece’s-playroom for several hours to map out the story order. I can’t wait to tell her, in a decade or so, that Rishi mama’s BREAKOUT AWARD WINNING DEBUT was plotted & schemed on her little easel.
The order above still holds, though while waiting for my editor’s feedback I’ve been manically second-guessing the story that will appear in the coveted first slot. The current choice ranks in my top 3 favourites and best captures the book’s dominant tone and themes. My fear is that it’s too quiet and moody to kick things off; the other top contender opens with a bang, is more absurd and comical, but offers less emotional payoff at the end. In the spirit of my previous letter, in which I wrote about letting an art project run free, perhaps I should leave the decision with you, readers:
For the cover, I selected the oil painting Night Walker by Toronto-based artist Matt Thomas. This painting has been saved in an Instagram folder called “If I ever write a book…” since 2023. I think it perfectly captures the searching, dreamy quality of the stories. As my closest reader and most trusted editor said, beautifully, of We Are Busy Being Alive: “There’s melancholy but there’s also magic. It’s a book that loves the world.” He could have just as easily been describing Matt’s painting.
The book description ties in nicely with the artwork:
Set in a North American milieu of detachment and alienation, the stories in We Are Busy Being Alive document the attempts of disillusioned characters to re-enchant themselves with a seemingly indifferent world. Their flailing quests after a sense of purpose are equal parts tragic, absurd, frivolous, and touchingly human.
A drug-fuelled romance with a stolen painting; a sexual awakening at the dentist’s; a crisis of personality from the months-long haze of a forest fire. Small spectacles dangle outside the confines of the everyday, keeping the restless characters reaching.
The stories are a nudge out the door and into the lonesome night, with a wink and a shrug as if to say—what else to do? Through each quiet inflection of hope, mischief, and despair, We Are Busy Being Alive reacquaints readers with the magical qualities of their miserable, monumental lives.
Friends—please pre-order! Booksellers and media outlets look to pre-order volumes when deciding which books to stock and support. Here are the links to place an order through your local indie bookstore in Canada + US:
Perhaps you’ve had the thought, in your time reading welktober—once, twice, hopefully more—that Damn, it’s nice to receive these sweet spiritual nothings, nuggets of whimsy and silliness, and thoughtful reflections on art and life, to my inbox. If so, this book is for you! You will love it. Perhaps you’ve even gone so far as to pledge a paid subscription to welktober—as many of you have with zero solicitation on my end (you guys f*cking rock)—but have not seen a charge to your credit card because I haven’t switched on payments, and you’ve thought, Damn, welktober is generous with his time and words, I wish there were a way to compensate him for his efforts. Here is your chance! A pre-order would be a more-than-sufficient thank you for any letters you’ve enjoyed.
Launch events in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Vancouver to be announced soon.
I’ll leave you with a pic of the elusive little man I am chasing after when I write. He has all the answers.
𝓧𝔁,
Rishi
