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Author: ALU Editor
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Under the Cover: Poet Phil Hall on the evolving art of self-portraiture
Poet Phil Hall discusses the cover artwork on his latest collection Niagara & Government (Pedlar Press) and the evolution of his own self-portrait and artwork – from edgy, ’80s Elvis Costello vibes to watercolour and collage – and the eternal nature of a pair of classic black-framed glasses.
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Writer’s Block: Katia Grubisic
Montreal-based writer and translator Katia Grubisic—whose most recent translations include Daughter of Here and Little Girl Gazelle (Linda Leith Publishing)—sat down Q&A-style with us to chat about her ideal writing day in a pandemic (a forest, water, books), her upcoming translation (A Cemetery for Bees), and a standout writerly moment at the age of three.
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In Review: The Week of September 28th
With the chaos of the presidential debates in full swing, we turned our sights to things that soothe us: books! Scroll on to find out what we were up to this week.
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In the height of quarantine, I reverted to my teenage self: An essay by Hana Shafi
After a trip to see my grandparents in Dubai was cancelled—a wise decision by my mother—just days before Ontario went into a state of emergency, I opted to stay with my parents in Mississauga during quarantine instead of in my small one bedroom apartment in Toronto. In doing this, I found myself feeling sixteen-years-old again. Stuck…
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Indie Reading Room: Heidi Wicks
This week in the Indie Reading Room is Newfoundland-based author Heidi Wicks whose debut novel Melt (Breakwater Books) is one our top picks this year for anyone looking for a story about friendship growing pains and the ups and downs of being an adult. In the novel, we follow the lives of best friends Jess and Cait…
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Character Study: The Lightning of Possible Storms
Jonathan Ball’s The Lightning of Possible Storms (Book*hug Press) is a collection of short fiction that blends humour, horror, and straight up sci-fi in a multi-faceted literary ride that’s pretty perfect for a wonderfully weird trip on the big screen. That’s why we collaborated with author Jonathan Ball who imagined a celebrity cast to make this adaptation a…
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Beautiful Books: Forgotten Work
We think you’ll agree that book designer Ingrid Paulson’s work on Jason Guriel’s rock ‘n’ roll cli-fi novel Forgotten Work (Biblioasis) is off the charts: a peek into a time-tripping work of spec fiction, this is a cover that is anything but forgettable. Below, Ingrid tells us about the creative process and inspiration behind her cover and why she…
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In Review: The Week of September 21st
This week on the blog: the ALU Indie Reading Room, author interviews, a stunning debut, and more.
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First Fiction Friday: Always Brave, Sometimes Kind
Katie Bickell’s debut novel Always Brave, Sometimes Kind (Brindle & Glass) is a loving, gritty ode to everyday Albertans through an era of social and political change in the province. Told in a series of interconnected stories that span the cities and rural reaches of the Wild Rose Country, Bickell’s debut is for anyone in need of…
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Indie Reading Room: Mark Sampson
This week’s Indie Reading Room features Mark Sampson, author of All the Animals on Earth (Wolsak and Wynn), a satirical post-apocalyptic novel that imagines a world both like and unlike our own that has been severely depopulated simply because people aren’t having children anymore. An entertaining and wry social commentary, All the Animals on Earth sweeps you up…
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Treetalk: An interview with Ariel Gordon
For National Tree Day, we chatted with Ariel Gordon about her latest collection TreeTalk (At Bay Press), a project born out of a two-day poetry writing spree at downtown Winnipeg’s Tallest Poppy that assembles 234 poems—111 by Gordon, 107 written by passersby, and 16 from other sources—into a long/found poem that asks: what does it mean to live…
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Writer’s Block: Kate Braid
Drawing from her own lifetime of experiences as a construction worker, Kate Braid brings us her newly published collection Hammer & Nail: Notes of a Journeywoman (Caitlin Press). We welcome Kate to the ALU blog and chat more about how working in construction sparked her initial interest and desire to write, having tough conversations with Fear, finding…
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In Review: The Week of September 14th
This week we turned SIX and threw ourselves a blog party with a look back on memorable moments and books, launched this season’s Indie Reading Room, treated ourselves to Chocolate Almond-Butter squares from Jessica Mitton’s new cookbook, and more!
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Test Kitchen: Chocolate Almond-Butter Squares
Last year we served up some nutritious Newfoundland dishes from Jessica Mitton’s first cookbook and we’ve been ready for dessert ever since. In her latest Some Good: Sweet Treats (Breakwater Books), Jessica offers up chocolate treats, muffins, cakes, cookies, and more that are not only tasty but also healthier and more nutritious. Read on for a chocolate recipe…
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Indie Reading Room: Fall 2020
The All Lit Up Indie Reading Room is open for another season with more authors and new books! If you tuned into our first iteration of IRR, you’ll remember we hosted live readings via Zoom all May long. This time we’re taking it to the gram with a lineup of ten fantastic authors from now…