I first met Léa Taranto at UBC in 2014 when we took an undergraduate workshop together in fiction. We bonded immediately over our shared Sino-diaspora heritage and love of speculative fiction. Since then, over the past decade, we have become close friends and sworn sisters who continue to do writing sprints, exchange for feedback, and support each other in our creative and personal journeys.
Léa is very multi-talented as a writer, her work spanning from personal essays to highly structured formal poetry to both realistic and speculative short stories and novels. I admire her focus on voice and the way that she explores powerful emotions through vulnerability and honesty. Instead of observing her characters from a distance, she invites readers to step into the characters and immerse themselves in the narratives. She loves to bring stories to life through incorporating vivid, embodied descriptions and depicting characters’ idiosyncratic worldviews.
I am so excited that her debut novel, A Drop in the Ocean, which she wrote as a part of her thesis for her UBC graduate degree, is now forthcoming with Arsenal Pulp Press in May. For A Drop in the Ocean, sinking into protagonist Mira’s skin required memory rather than empathy, as the YA novel is based on the journals Léa wrote as a teen certified on different psych wards for obsessive-compulsive and comorbid disorders. It’s been amazing to bear witness to her debut journey and her successful experience pitching the project to Arsenal through the Surrey International Writers’ Conference.
Beyond creating her own work, Léa has been a very active part of the local literary community in Vancouver, taking part in events such as volunteering in admin and setup roles for festivals and conferences, performing as a featured reader for Real Vancouver and Pandora’s Collective, working with youth and emerging writers as a literacy mentor, and helping to slush read for PRISM international. I can’t wait to celebrate Léa’s beautiful novel when it comes out in the world and see the impact it will have on readers, especially neurodivergent teens.
-Written by Yilin Wang
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Which neighbourhood are you in?
I live on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of the hən̓qəmin̓əm̓ and Sḵwx̱ wú7mesh speaking peoples in Burnaby, specifically Capital Hill. In 1951 my poh poh and gung gung were one of the first Chinese Canadian families to move there. Their house at the top of the hill is where I spent much of my childhood. It has a breathtaking view of downtown Vancouver, Burrard Inlet and the North Shore. Although the house is gone, my apartment is nearby. During spring the cherry blossoms bloom, fluffy as cotton candy, and during summer’s Celebration of Light, there’s no better spot to watch the fireworks.
What do you do?
I am a multi-genre author and member of PRISM International’s poetry board. My debut novel, A Drop in the Ocean, will be published by Arsenal Pulp Press this May. It’s based on my years of inpatient treatment for life-threatening OCD, depression and anorexia. While OCD can be contamination-themed, that’s just one theme of many that often change over a lifetime. Mine have shifted from religious self-harm behaviours to perfectionism OCD, where I repeat precise tasks for hours until they feel “right.” Writing has always felt right in an empowering versus compulsive way. On locked wards at sixteen, I wrote to cope, now I write hoping to empower others.
What are you currently working on?
Yesterday I finished an epistolary poem for my Grandmère, full of slant rhyme and playful Franglais. My long-term project is a historical speculative fiction novel set in BC’s Lower Mainland from the sixties onward. It follows sisters Meising and Meiji who can dream their way into the spirit world, inhabited by beings like the storm dragons in charge of rainfall. When Meising is institutionalized for bipolar, she meets other patients with their own spirit world connections. But what can dreams do against the waking world dangers of a healthcare system convinced hurting you is for your own good?
Where can we find your work?
You can preorder A Drop in the Ocean directly from Arsenal’s website. Or from your favourite local bookstores. Some of mine are Iron Dog Books, Massy Books, Upstart and Crow, Cross and Crows, Spartacus Books, and Book Warehouse. If you enjoy anthologies, check out Upon a Midnight Clear: More Christmas Epiphanies which features my memoir story, “2 South.” For personal essay fans, find my latest, “Dear Great Uncle John,” forthcoming in The Fiddlehead’s Summer 2025 issue. Discover more about me and my works on my author’s website.
