Alena Papayanis (she/her)

I was on CBC radio today talking about the mundane mixer I organized at the grocery store —- Metro Morning with David Common - Oct. 15, 2024: Looking for love in Toronto? Try your grocery store cbc.ca/listen/live-ra…

I’m beyond honoured to have made this shortlist for The International Amy McRae Award for Memoir. Not only is it a beautiful contest, but after a year of steady rejections, this feels particularly special. alisonwearing.com/2024-longlist?…

@westendphoenix @pawesterhof This was great, thank you for hosting and to @pawesterhof for sharing her insight!

Great turnout in Mimico for our free writers workshop at BMO! Thanks to @pawesterhof and to everyone who came out for it.

@westendphoenix @pawesterhof How do we rsvp for this?

EMERGING WRITERS! Saturday April 13th, we are holding a writers workshop with tips on how to get published in Canada with @pawesterhof at the Marine Parade branch of BMO. Space is limited, reserve your spot now.

@zoewhittall Six Feet Under!

I finished Mad Men, had never binged it before. Got SO much more emotionally invested than when i watched it week to week. Desperately need another show I can sink into like that. Recs?

Wrote this people about people-pleasing (and the gendered nature of it) for the Globe and Mail. Let’s be more honest and less “nice” in 2024 theglobeandmail.com/opinion/articl…

@AndreaStanley @marieclaire I live in Toronto! 👋 I’ve written for Chatelaine, Huffpost, FASHION, Globe and Mail, and Refinery29!!

I’m looking to broaden the geographic diversity of my writers. Tell me who I should hire to write features at @marieclaire who doesn’t live on a coast. Maybe that person is you?

Happening now for the #QTQ2023 Leadership Track: "How to Stop People-Pleasing at Work and in Life" with @APapayanis ✍️💡 "Some of us people-please because we felt small as kids. Others do it to feel needed. The goal is not to let guilt be our compass or to guide our decisions."

I’m starting an advice podcast called Dear Queer, and we’re taking your questions and comments. You can find us at dearqueer.ca or on Instagram at @dear.queer.podcast or you can just reply here!

@HanadiAlnawab Congratulations Hanadi! Very well deserved!!

Laughter makes life feel lighter and is one valuable way that @APapayanis processes both personal and societal woes. theglobeandmail.com/life/article-w…

@ShariGraydon @globeandmail Oh wow, thank you! Appreciate the positive feedback ☺️

@APapayanis @globeandmail I enjoyed — and made notes from (always a good sign!)— this piece

Why you should take comedy seriously, written for the @globeandmail #comedy #globeandmail theglobeandmail.com/life/article-w…

Thank you @APapayanis and @Chatelaine. It's a dream come true to be featured! 💖

Very grateful to have learned more about the person behind the @survivorcbs win in this @Chatelaine feature on @erika_cas chatelaine.com/living/culture…

Expectation can kill a relationship, whereas hope can sustain it. Expectation can break a heart, whereas hope can renew it.

Expectation applies pressure and holds on too tight, whereas hope has a gentle comforting grip; it’s the difference between being strangled and being held.

Been thinking a lot about the difference between hope and expectation. This is from a piece I’m writing about it right now:

@cityoftoronto What about the streets with bicycle lanes? Annette Street very much not plowed at the moment enough to allow cars to park without overlapping into bike lanes

Snow is in the forecast, #Toronto! We're on it. Plows will be deployed as soon as accumulation reaches 2.5 cm on expressways, 5 cm on major roads and 8 cm on local roads. Sidewalks and cycle tracks will be cleared at 2 cm of snow accumulation. More toronto.ca/snow

@jk_rowling Also, biology isn’t so black and white — it’s possible for women to have male chromosomes and not even know it and vice versa. Surprised that such a skilled writer can’t appreciate nuance!

@jk_rowling You are denying the trans experience in the same way that men deny the experience of women. You wouldn’t support men doing that so how can you as a cis- person do the same thing to trans people?

Men defining what a woman is, what women should and shouldn’t fear, what women should and shouldn’t say, what rights women should be fine with giving up and, of course, what constitutes ‘real’ misogyny: get a bloody mirror. That’s real misogyny, looking right back at you.