TORONTO BOOK LAUNCH: We Are Busy Being Alive by Rishi Midha

​Come celebrate the launch of my debut story collection!

​I'll be reading some work from the collection and having a conversation with Claire Foster, who is an author, translator, kind human, and bookseller at TYPE. The book will be available for purchase on-site.

​There will be an afterparty nearby. Details TBA.

​About the Book

​Set in a North American milieu of detachment and alienation, the stories in We Are Busy Being Alive document the attempts of disillusioned characters to re-enchant themselves with a seemingly indifferent world. Their flailing quests after a sense of purpose are equal parts tragic, absurd, frivolous, and touchingly human.

​A drug-fuelled romance with a stolen painting; a sexual awakening at the dentist’s; a crisis of personality from the months-long haze of a forest fire. Small spectacles dangle outside the confines of the everyday, keeping the restless characters reaching.

​The stories are a nudge out the door and into the lonesome night, with a wink and a shrug as if to say—what else to do? Through each quiet inflection of hope, mischief, and despair, We Are Busy Being Alive reacquaints readers with the magical qualities of their miserable, monumental lives.

​Author Bio

​Rishi Midha’s short fiction has appeared in Biblioasis Press’ Best Canadian Stories 2026, subTerrain, and The New Quarterly. We Are Busy Being Alive is his debut story collection.

​Pre-orders?

​Thanks for asking! Should you wish to pre-order the collection, you can find all the details via my website: https://www.rishimidha.com/

​Poster artwork credit: Rafael Goldchain. Nocturnal Encounter, Comayagua, Honduras, 1987. Chromogenic print (Konicacolor)