Straggle

By (author): Tanis MacDonald

In this wide-ranging collection of essays Tanis MacDonald walks the reader down many paths, pointing out the sights, exclaiming over birds, sharing stories and asking questions about just who gets to walk freely through our cities, parks and wilderness. Deer move mysteriously through these essays, knowing just when they vanish from sight, as do predators, both human and animal. She walks to begin to understand the place she now calls home in Southern Ontario, catalogues the fauna around her in FaunaWatch and continues walking through illness. From a child spotting a snowy owl on her way to school in Winnipeg, to a young woman watching her own distinctive walk be imitated in an acting class, to a worried daughter helping her mother relearn how to walk after a bad fall on a busy road, MacDonald shares how walking has shaped her life and the lives of many others. Wry, smart, political and lyrical, these essays share the joy of walking as well its danger and uncovers the promise it offers – of healing, of companionship and of understanding.

AUTHOR

Tanis MacDonald

Tanis MacDonald writes, studies and teaches in Victoria, but roams the wild prairie like a bison whenever she gets the chance. Holding Ground was nominated for the League of Canadian Poets’ Gerald Lampert Award, and for the Eileen Sykes MacTavish Award at the Manitoba Writing and Publishing Awards in 2001.


Reviews

“This contemplative rendition on walking stands apart from what has come before it — books on fitness, pilgrimage, adventure. It is about walking the best one can in the circumstances. It is relatable and triumphant.”


– Winnipeg Free Press

“Bringing her keen poet’s eye to the essay form, her approach is lyrical and wide-ranging, examining the privileges and exclusions of the simple stroll, and asks us to consider who gets to navigate the world freely and who does not.”


– Quill & Quire

“A flaneuse for all seasons, MacDonald treks across much territory, walking the talk, and talking the walk. […] She writes through looking glasses, leaves, and grass, holding ground, lines, and lives of daughters who converge in elegiac and witty ways.”


– Miramichi Reader

“So much of what Tanis MacDonald’s Straggle: Adventures in Walking While Female does is make a reader think about how identity, personal agency, self-reflection, oppression, gender, violence, equity, diversity, and colonization can all be tied to the physical act of women walking, speaking, and taking up their rightful space.”


– periodicities

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Excerpts & Samples ×

In this wide-ranging collection of essays Tanis MacDonald walks the reader down many paths, pointing out the sights, exclaiming over birds, sharing stories and asking questions about just who gets to walk freely through our cities, parks and wilderness. Deer move mysteriously through these essays, knowing just when they vanish from sight, as do predators, both human and animal. She walks to begin to understand the place she now calls home in Southern Ontario, catalogues the fauna around her in FaunaWatch and continues walking through illness. From a child spotting a snowy owl on her way to school in Winnipeg, to a young woman watching her own distinctive walk be imitated in an acting class, to a worried daughter helping her mother relearn how to walk after a bad fall on a busy road, MacDonald shares how walking has shaped her life and the lives of many others. Wry, smart, political and lyrical, these essays share the joy of walking as well its danger and uncovers the promise it offers – of healing, of companionship and of understanding.

Reader Reviews

Details

Dimensions:

218 Pages
8.5in * 5.5in * 0.35in
325gr

Published:

June 14, 2022

City of Publication:

Hamilton

Country of Publication:

CA

ISBN:

9781989496534

Book Subjects:

LITERARY COLLECTIONS / Essays

Language:

eng

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