Rayya Liebich is a poet and educator based in Nelson, B.C. She grew up in Montreal to a Lebanese mother and Polish father. Her debut collection Min Hayati is a response to her mother’s sudden death. Liebich earned a bachelor degree in English literature from McGill University and a B.Ed. from the University of Victoria.
Poetry
Min Hayati
Toronto: Inanna Publications, 2021.
Publisher’s Synopsis (From its website)
This collection travels through a daughter’s childhood memories in Montreal, her mother’s homeland of Lebanon, and the dark realities of grief across borders. Min Hayati uncovers the well of sorrow and the depth of love discovered only through loss. Poetry pays homage to the author’s maternal lineage, her mixed ethnicity, and the ways in which “mother” transcends all aspects of life.
Min Hayati advocates for a radical change in our approach to grief and the (still) taboo subjects of death, dying, and grief. Poems speak in particular to motherless-daughters around the world. Most importantly, the poet’s Arab roots sets her apart as a Canadian poet with a different story.