A reading by Rishi Midha to celebrate the release of his new book, We Are Busy Being Alive, joined by Kirti Bhadresa.
The Book:
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.
About the Authors
Rishi Midha’s short fiction has appeared in Best Canadian Stories 2026, subTerrain, and The New Quarterly. He has won or been a finalist for the LUSH Triumphant Fiction Contest and the the Peter Hinchcliffe Short Fiction Award. We Are Busy Being Alive is his debut story collection.
Kirti Bhadresa lives in Calgary, Alberta on Treaty 7 territory. Kirti has published fiction and non-fiction writing in literary journals including The Fiddlehead, Prairie Fire and Room Magazine. Her first book, a short story collection entitled An Astonishment of Stars was published in October 2024 by ECW Press. An Astonishment of Stars was on the CBC Most Anticipated list and went on to become an indie bestseller. It was a 2025 Writers’ Guild of Alberta Fiction Finalist, was longlisted for the 2025 Giller Prize, was a Shelf Life Books Staff Pick, and won the Alberta Short Story Collection prize in 2026.