Ficus by Kate Brooks

Ficus is a collection of autofiction vignettes that follows the process of care between a daughter and her dying father.

Taking place over the course of a visit that the daughter makes from Toronto to Halifax in order to care for her father following a chemotherapy treatment, it is a vivid meditation on the rhythm of their days—watching football, reading, sharing meals—all tinged with mourning.

Centered around the image of a thirty-year-old ficus tree in her father’s office, it is an exploration of the banality of grief, the mundane nature of care, and the beauty in impermanence.

About the Author

Kate Brooks is a writer living in Toronto. Her work has been longlisted for the Room Magazine Fiction Contest, the Hope Prize, twice for the CBC Short Story Prize, and shortlisted for the Malahat Review Open Season Award, Metatron Press’ Prize for Rising Authors, and Eavesdrop Magazine’s Queer Joy Poetry Contest. Her writing has been published in the Hemlock Journal, Yolk Literary Journal, In The Mood Magazine, and the Toronto Review, among others. Ficus was originally published digitally through Metatron Press and her subsequent chapbook Everything was published by Folly House Press.