When asked, "But where are you really from?" Daniela Elza responds with a challenge: "How much time do you have?"

Is This an Illness or an Accident? is a profound exploration of belonging, identity, and the question of home. Drawing on the bleak and occasionally absurd moments encountered in being forced to label oneself on document after document, Daniela Elza's evocative memoir challenges the conventional narrative of cultural integration, focusing instead on the concept of the world citizen. Elza's allegiance is not to a single country, but to the land, the trees, and soil of our shared planet, pushing back against the rising tides of nationalism and tribalism. The way nature cannot be hacked into its parts and expected to function, this book captures an ecology of being and identity. Not only do the facets of who we are need to collaborate within each of us in an ecosystem of being and thought, but we also need to collaborate amongst each other for our survival.

This book explores the conflicts and contradictions of what it means to belong, to work, and to find home. It questions societal practices, challenges the status quo, and insists on the complexity of our identities. With a curious and critical eye, Elza captures the beauty of the moment while refusing to be confined by others' definitions.

Through her unique perspective, Elza reframes the conversation around identity, urging us to see ourselves as wholes, far more interesting and intricate than our separate parts. Is This an Illness or an Accident? is a timely and necessary read for anyone grappling with the notions of belonging, identity and symbiosis in an increasingly divided world.

Daniela Elza grew up and lived on three continents before immigrating to Canada in 1999. Her poetry collections are the weight of dew (Mother Tongue Publishing, 2012), the book of It (2011), and milk tooth bane bone (Leaf, 2013). the broken boat is her fourth book. In 2011, Daniela earned her doctorate in Philosophy of Education from Simon Fraser University. She continues to contribute to the field of Poetic Inquiry. Her Masters degrees are in English Philology, and Linguistics (TESL/TEFL). In the literary community, Daniela facilitates writing workshops, mentors emerging writers, edits, and performs. She coordinates and hosts a reading series (Twisted Poets Literary Salon at Hood29 on Main St.), that shines a light on hundreds of published and emerging writers. Used to crossing geographic, cultural and semantic borders, Daniela’s work often dwells in liminal, and in between spaces between word and world, and the inherent possibilities for transformation through the attention. Daniela's poetry has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net Anthology, and has won numerous contests. Her essay Bringing the Roots Home was nominated for the 2018 Pushcart Prize. She is currently exploring her passion for the personal and lyric essay. Daniela lives in Vancouver, and works at the Bolton Academy for Spoken Arts.

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