About coming out and coming of age.

In Catch and Release, twenty-one-year-old Lucca looks back on her childhood and adolescence as she comes to terms with both her sexual orientation and her mental illness. When she falls in love with the brilliant and beautiful Adèle, Lucca is forced to acknowledge not only that she is not and never has been straight, but also that her relationship with a teacher in high school was not as harmless as she might have thought.

Liana Cusmano (they/them/iel/lu), aka Luca and BiCurious George, is a writer, poet, spoken word artist and filmmaker. They are the 2018 and 2019 Montreal Slam Champion; runner up in the 2019 Canadian Individual Poetry Slam Championship. They have performed at Montreal’s Pride and in the "I See You" tour. A participant in the 2019 Spoken Word Residency Program at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Liana has presented their work in English, French and Italian across North America, Europe and Asia. Liana Cusmano wrote and directed the film Matters of Great Unimportance (2019). They also wrote the film script for La Femme Finale, screened at the Cannes Film Festival (2015). Liana created « Peuple, Poésie, Politique » in the television documentary series Vivre ensemble (2021). Through writing that focuses on heritage, queerness and mental health, Liana aims to help others feel seen and safe. They ran in the 2019 federal election and were Interim President of the Green Party of Canada (2020-21). A graduate of McGill University, Liana is a member of The League of Canadian Poets, The Writers’ Union of Canada and the Association of Italian Canadian Writers. Catch and Release is their first novel.

Liana Cusmano's profile page