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Author: ALU Editor

  • Under the Cover: Reversing Time

    Under the Cover: Reversing Time

    Charlotte Mendel’s Reversing Time is Greta Thunberg meets YA fantasy. The odds are stacked against Simon, but with the discovery of a talisman and the power to time travel, his actions begin to affect time. Simon is soon charged with a mission: to prevent the inevitable effects of climate change. Mendel joins us on the…

  • Staff Picks: What We’re Reading in 2022

    Staff Picks: What We’re Reading in 2022

    The new year is here, and while it’s feeling a lot like a flashback to 2020 chaos right now, we can always rely on a fresh new season of books to keep our spirits afloat. Here are just some of the reads that our All Lit Up staff are living for right now.

  • Two Poems from Pebble Swing

    Two Poems from Pebble Swing

    Isabella Wang’s hotly anticipated debut collection Pebble Swing (Nightwood Editions) is an insightful look into identity and place that pieces together a family history in the resonant aftermath of the Chinese Cultural Revolution that took the life of Wang’s grandmother. Below, we share two poems from the book: “Ghazal for Heirloom Family Recipes” and “Expecting.”

  • Pick your favourite holiday reading room!

    Pick your favourite holiday reading room!

    It’s time to get cozy! Pick your favourite holiday reading room and check out some of our book recommendations to help make the moment special.

  • Medicine and Memoir: An Interview with Margaret Nowaczyk

    Medicine and Memoir: An Interview with Margaret Nowaczyk

    As a teenager Margaret Nowaczyk immigrated to Canada with her family from Communist Poland, determined to fit into a new culture and equally determined to become a doctor. Making her way through medical school at the University of Toronto, Margaret worked her way to becoming a clinical geneticist. In her memoir, Chasing Zebras: A Memoir of Genetics,…

  • Poetry in Motion: Aurore Gatwenzi + Gold Pours

    Poetry in Motion: Aurore Gatwenzi + Gold Pours

    In her debut collection of poetry Gold Pours (Latitude 46 Publishing), Aurore Gatwenzi illuminates the experience of being young and Black in northern Ontario, with poems that “talk about God, identity, heartbreak and passion.” Below, we share two pieces from the collection, read by Aurore.

  • 2021 Gift Guide: Nic Brewer

    2021 Gift Guide: Nic Brewer

    Last but certainly not least, our final gift guide recommendations are brought to you by Suture-author Nic Brewer who shares compulsively readable and transformational book picks for just about everyone on your list. 

  • 2021 Gift Guide: Amanda Leduc

    2021 Gift Guide: Amanda Leduc

    Today we get gift-guided by Amanda Leduc—author of The Centaur’s Wife and communications coordinator for the Festival of Literary Diversity—who shares recommendations for Dune-heads, baseball appreciators, eco-conscious young people, and more. 

  • 2021 Gift Guide: Eddy Boudel Tan

    2021 Gift Guide: Eddy Boudel Tan

    Named a 2021 Rising Star by the Writers’ Trust of Canada, Eddy Boudel Tan is today’s All Lit Up Gift Guide recommender sharing five thoughtful must-read picks for “the dreamer who imagines what might be possible if only society would collapse” to “anyone who’s ever felt victimized by dating apps” and more. 

  • 2021 Gift Guide: Maria Zuppardi of readingmaria

    2021 Gift Guide: Maria Zuppardi of readingmaria

    Our first gift guide recommendations are brought to us by the passionately bookish Maria Zuppardi who runs the popular bookstagram readingmaria. “For those who love a good snow-themed winter getaway” to “the ones who need a literary hug for the holidays,” Maria’s book picks will satisfy all sorts of lit-picky readers on your list. 

  • Unwrap Indie: Brick Books

    Unwrap Indie: Brick Books

    Our final Unwrap Indie book picks are three recent recommendations published by Brick Books, a fiercely independent press that expands the definitions of what poetry is and can do. Through beautifully designed books, Brick Books amplifies urgent voices in poetry and brings moving words to readers—it’s where “poetry is home.”

  • Unwrap Indie: Guernica Editions

    Unwrap Indie: Guernica Editions

    In today’s Unwrap Indie feature, we’re highlighting the work of Guernica Editions—an Ontario-based press that takes a daring, diverse, and cutting-edge approach to the titles they publish with the aim of making the world a better place. Scroll on for three powerful selections for the giftee who throws peace signs instead of shade.

  • Unwrap Indie: Metonymy Press

    Unwrap Indie: Metonymy Press

    Today’s Unwrap Indie book picks are three of our recent faves from Tiohtià:ke-based (Montreal) publisher Metonymy Press, an indie that specializes in beautiful literary books by emerging writers and who in their own words “[w]ant to keep gay book lovers satisfied.” Scroll on for three picks that will appeal to the queer, feminist, and social justice-minded reader. 

  • Unwrap Indie: Pow Pow Press

    Unwrap Indie: Pow Pow Press

    Today’s Unwrap Indie selections are brought to you by the inimitable Pow Pow Press, an indie graphic novel publisher based in Montréal that packs a punch with its bold style and comical humour. This humble press brings the big energy and unique artistry of Québec cartoonists to English speaking audiences. Below we share our three…

  • Unwrap Indie: J. Gordon Shillingford

    Unwrap Indie: J. Gordon Shillingford

    Today’s Unwrap Indie book haul is for the curious and dramatic reader on your list. Gift them our choice plays and non-fiction from J. Gordon Shillingford, a Winnipeg-based publisher supportive of marginalized voices and local literary talents that makes entertaining and inspiring books available to readers everywhere.