Nisha Patel’s For the Record counts Alberta’s COVID-19 deaths in poetry

For the Record, the third poetry collection by Edmonton poet Nisha Patel, is scheduled for publication October 20, 2026, through Arsenal Pulp Press.

Photo credit: Arsenal Pulp Press

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Edmonton poet Nisha Patel has built her third poetry collection around a number that changed as she worked: the recorded deaths from COVID-19 in Alberta. For the Record, due October 20 from Arsenal Pulp Press, is a book-length poem whose 7,113 words correspond to the 7,113 deaths cited in the book’s description as of January 2026.

Patel will launch the collection three days early at Edmonton’s LitFest, joining fellow Edmonton poet Kathryn Gwun-Yeen Lennon for a double book launch on October 17. The event, titled Liminality, runs from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at the Muttart Theatre in the Stanley A. Milner Library.

The project has been growing for several years. Patel first performed a 615-word version for Edmonton City Council while serving as the city’s eighth poet laureate from 2019 to 2021. She subsequently expanded the poem as Alberta’s recorded COVID-19 death toll increased, making the work’s length part of its account of the pandemic.

According to Patel’s description of the book, the poem unfolds in two parts, each incorporating headlines recorded as events occurred. It begins with the death of Hiep Bui, a worker at the Cargill meat-processing plant, and moves through the public and personal circumstances of the pandemic. The birth of Patel’s first nephew provides a point toward which the work moves, while the text also includes her experiences of gig work as an artist and references to Formula 1 racing. The book’s treatment of political decisions and their consequences comes from Patel’s perspective.

The 7,113 figure is a historical marker within the book’s construction, dated to January 2026; it should not be read as a current Alberta public-health total. That distinction is especially important for a poem whose form depends on a toll that has changed over time.

Patel is an Edmonton-based poet and spoken-word artist who won the Canadian Individual Poetry Slam Championship. Her previous collections are Coconut, published by NeWest Press, and a fate worse than death, published by Arsenal Pulp Press. She also works with the Writers’ Guild of Alberta.

The October 17 event will pair For the Record with Lennon’s debut collection, Duckweed 浮萍, published by NeWest Press. After Edmonton, Patel has further appearances scheduled in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, London, Ontario, and Saskatoon through November, several alongside Lennon. Her tour schedule notes that dates may change.

For the Record publishes October 20, 2026. LitFest’s Liminality double launch takes place Saturday, October 17, at the Muttart Theatre, Stanley A. Milner Library, 7 Sir Winston Churchill Square, Edmonton.

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