Author: ALU Editor
-
Where in Canada: A history of Toronto’s cultural scene
The Student (Freehand Books) is a snapshot of the history of Toronto and the development of the city’s cultural scene from 1957 to 2000. This provides the backdrop for the novels main character Miriam, who readers follow from youth to old age as she navigates and contributes to the movements that would ultimately lead the…
-
Short Story Month: Elise Levine’s This Wicked Tongue
Short Story Month concludes with Elise Levine’s This Wicked Tongue (Biblioasis), a collection that takes an honest and wry look at our inner psyche’s and explores our ability to transform ourselves. Below, Elise shares more about the beauty of brevity and shares a story from the collection titled ‘The Association.’
-
Under the Cover: Butterfly
Author John Delacourt takes us behind the scenes of the design process for the cover of his latest novel Butterfly (Linda Leith Publishing), functioning to tell the story of the novels main character Natasa, who is forced to flee after the Toronto artist she models for is suddenly murdered.
-
Writer’s Block: Perparim Kapllani
Growing up in communist Albania, Perparim Kapllani, author of The The Thin Line (Mawenzi House Publishers) discovered his love for reading and poetry. Perparim joins us on the blog to talk more about the influence of his own favourite authors and books and how his writing is born out of the quiet moments of a…
-
In Review: The Week of May 20th
From baking and eating chocolate fudge to cheering on the finalists of the Amazon First Novel Award, we were on a high this week. Scroll on for the bookish happenings this week.
-
Test Kitchen: Vegan Chocolate Fudge
Calling all vegans to the table: Newfoundland’s original trailblazing vegan chef Marian Frances White is back with a bounty of beautiful plant-based recipes in Island Vegan (Breakwater Books). For vegans of all kinds — from staunt to starting out — these recipes include everything from soups and salads to mains to desserts. (Plus: eat easy knowing all the…
-
Short Story Month: Janet Trull’s Hot Town and Other Stories
In her debut collection, Hot Town (At Bay Press) Janet Trull imagines stories about Canadian “town” life, the private life of the seemingly ordinary. Stephen Leacock Award-winning author Terry Fallis says “By turns dark, quirky, powerful and uplifting, Janet Trull knows her terrain — emotional, social, and physical — and holds the reader close for a wild ride.” Scroll…
-
Quoted: Louise Ells’ Notes Towards Recovery
Author Louise Ells shares with us the reason she opens Notes Towards Recovery (Latitude 46), a short story collection about loss and the spaces around it, with a quote from Alice Munro.
-
If You Liked x, Read y: Historical Fiction Heroines Edition
Heroines after our own hearts: the protagonists in A.J. Pearce’s Dear Mrs. Bird and Hannah Moscovitch’s What a Young Wife Ought to Know (Playwrights Canada Press) are the kind of women we admire, the ones who don’t let society dictate their desires. Jessica Lewis at Playwrights Canada Press lays it out for us, telling us…
-
In Review: The Week of May 13th
This week we celebrated many things: finalists of the Trillium Book Award and the Indigenous Voices Awards, Asian Heritage Month, Short Story Month, and read a new novel that’ll evoke When Everything Feels Like the Movies.
-
First Fiction Friday: Difficult People
There’s something about a #FridayReads recommendation before a long weekend that feels just a little bit sweeter. Put your feet up with Catriona Wright’s Difficult People (Nightwood Editions), a collection of dark and wicked-funny stories that remind us that, while we may think we’ve left the difficult people of our work-week slog behind for a few…
-
Short Story Month: Terry Doyle’s DIG
In his collection DIG (Breakwater Books), NLCU Fresh Fish Award-finalist Terry Doyle crafts twelve page-turning short stories about an assortment of characters—from a young social activist whose work is constrained by selling puppies on the internet to a blue-collar worker whose future is tied to a suspicious coworker—over the backdrop of a gritty downtown St. John’s. We…
-
Under the Cover: A Cowherd in Paradise
We’re diving under the cover of May Q. Wong’s A Cowherd in Paradise (Brindle & Glass Publishing), which follows the story of May’s own parents, forced to live apart for 25 years during their marriage due to a Canadian law (between 1923 and 1947) that prevented Chinese immigration to Canada. May shares more about how,…
-
Two Poems from Love in the Chthulucene (Cthulhucene)
Love in the Chthulucene (Cthulhucene) (Wolsak and Wynn) is a collection of commanding poems that examine pain, while also exploring a passage of hope. Written by seasoned poet Natalee Caple, the collection grapples with #MeToo, motherhood, climate change and political turmoil, striving for a way forward in our charged times. With her fierce lines and…
-
In Review: The Week of May 6th
This week we rounded up books for two important events: CMHA Mental Health Week and Mother’s Day; continued our interview series for Short Story Month, and got TCAF ready with a new graphic novel.