Susan Sanford Blades (first name: Susan, last name: Sanford Blades) lives on the traditional territory of the lək̓ʷəŋən speaking people–the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations (Victoria, BC). Her debut novel, Fake It So Real, won the 2021 ReLit Award in the novel category and was a finalist for the 2021 Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize. Her short fiction has been anthologized in The Journey Prize Stories 32: The Best of Canada’s New Writers, and has been published widely in literary magazines across Canada, as well as in the United States and Ireland. Excerpts of her second novel-in-progress have been published in Gulf Coast, The Malahat Review, and The Master's Review.