What better way to pay tribute to The LIAR’s 40th anniversary than with the theme of Memory?
Our past clings to us. The distortions, the harrowing truths, the lies we tell ourselves. Are we capable of forming a perfect image of the past, or are they just echoes?
Think of memory as nostalgia and commemoration. As the history that lives in your body. It can bowl you over like a tide, or drip into your subconscious late at night. Memory can be an obsession. A familiar smell, the taste of fruit, the beat of a song, the touch of sand.
What holds onto memory for you when life gets in the way – a place, a keepsake, a person? Where do you go to return to them? How do you get there?
Who do you wish you could forget? And who do you remember, nevertheless? Wonder: what is real, and what’s a mirage? Think about how these fragments create you, confuse you, challenge you, and coalesce into the world around you. What begs to be forgotten, preserved, rewritten?
Ask yourself what the land remembers. What stories it tells. What you’ve inherited. How do you honour your legacy?
We invite you to submit your original work – short stories, prose, poetry, creative non-fiction, visual art – and share what memory means to you. Convince of us your uncertainty. Your moments of making.
To celebrate 40 years of The LIAR, tell us:
What do you remember?
The LIAR respectfully acknowledges that we publish on the unceded territories of the səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and xʷməθkʷəỷəm (Musqueam) Nations.
Meet The Judges
Leah Bailly
Writing Judge
Leah Bailly lives on the unceded territory of the Coast Salish Nations in North Vancouver, Canada. She has degrees in writing and literature from the University of Victoria, University of Nevada, Las Vegas and University of Southern California. Her writing has appeared in CRAFT, LA Review of Books, PANK, Joyland, Prism International, subTerrain, Room, and on CBC and NPR Radio. Her work has won recognition from the Canada Council for the Arts, the BC Council for the Arts, Yaddo, MacDowell and Vermont Studio Centre. Her debut novel THE FOLLOWING will be published in April 2027 by ECW Press.
Steve Kitchen
Visual Media Judge
Steve Kitchen is a graphic artist based in Vancouver, Canada. Otherwise known as Combination 13, his award-winning designs have spanned illustration, graphic design, packaging art, gig-poster design, podcast cover artwork, and movie advertising the world over. Steve has two tuxedo cats.
David Geary
Multidisciplinary Judge
David grew up loving Māui trickster tales in Aotearoa New Zealand and is now honoured to live with the Coyote and Raven tricksters in Kanata. He has many hats, teaches in six departments at CapU, and believes in Ako – students and teachers learning from each other.
The LIAR respectfully acknowledges that we publish on the unceded territories of the səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and xʷməθkʷəỷəm (Musqueam) Nations.