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Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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First Fiction Friday: The Melting Queen
Bruce Cinnamon’s debut novel The Melting Queen (NeWest Press), part of the Nunatak First Fiction series, combines history and magic to tell the story of River Runson – a gender-fluid ex-frat brother who is named Edmonton’s Melting Queen. After the century-old tradition of crowning only women is broken, warring factions rise up within the city, leaving River to…
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Writer’s Block: Ruth Daniell
We sat down with award-winning poet Ruth Daniell to talk about the writing process behind her first full-length collection of poetry The Brightest Thing (Caitlin Press), the problem with happily-ever-after narratives and and her hope that fairy tales will open a dialogue to explore more deeply love’s many shapes, forms and meanings.
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Character Study: Hilda’s Yard
With such a vivid cast of characters from playwright Norm Foster, how could Hilda’s Yard (Playwrights Canada Press) be anything but Netflix Original gold? Playwrights Canada Press had no issue pulling together this quirky cast of characters to bring this gem to life on the silver screen.
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Under the Cover: Too Dumb For Democracy
David Moscrop searches for the answer behind our irrational political decision-making by exploring the connection between psychology and political science in today’s democracy – the inspiration behind his first book Too Dumb for Democracy? (Goose Lane Editions).
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In Review: The Week of March 18th
This week we got MLB-ready with a roundup of heavy hitters (baseball books), went behind-the-scenes with LGBTQ publisher Metonymy Press, compared poetry to ice cream for World Poetry Day, and more.
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Five Questions for Poet Tom Dawe
As a multiple-award-winning poet and founding member of Breakwater Books, Tom Dawe is a treasure of the Newfoundland writing scene. His newest New and Collected Poems (Breakwater Books) gathers each of his published collections and uncollected poems to span five decades of poetic achievement. Below we chat with Tom about how his idea of poetry…
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Poetry is a Lot Like Ice Cream
In his collection of 35 short essays titled How a Poem Moves (ECW Press), Adam Sol speaks to reluctant poetry readers, the ones who are afraid they don’t “get” poetry to help guide them through poetry’s range and pleasures, going beyond the question of what a poem means. Below Adam explains how poetry might be…
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Four Home-Run Books for Baseball Season
It’s the unofficial first day of the 2019 Major League Baseball season and we’re heading full swing into it with a roundup of power hitters—books about baseball.
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In House: Metonymy Press
Montreal-based publisher Metonymy Press—the passion project of high-school friends Ashley Fortier and Oliver Fugler—got its start just a few short years ago. Publishing literary fiction and nonfiction by emerging writers, Metonymy produces quality books that appeal to queer, feminist, and social justice communities. As they say: “We really want to keep gay book lovers satisfied.”…
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In Review: The Week of March 11th
This week we welcomed spring (in our hearts and future reading piles) with our spring preview, rounded up some of our favourite fairy-tale-inspired books, discovered debut fiction, and more.
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First Fiction Friday: This is Agatha Falling
Longlisted for the 2017 CBC Poetry Prize, author Heather Nolan now debuts her first work of short fiction This is Agatha Falling (Pedlar Press). Wander through a dreamlike, smokey downtown St. Johns, where past and present collide.
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Poetry in Motion: Gender and Identity in Ali Blythe’s Hymnswitch
BC-based poet Ali Blythe is back after his debut collection Twoism with Hymnswitch (Goose Lane Editions)—a reflection on time, god, love, and the fluidity of gender identities. Read more below, and get a preview with the poem “More Reasons” from the collection.
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Fantastical fairy tales to spark your imagination
From that last story before bed to now, fairy tales have played a big part in many of our lives, creating a space for us to dream and a reason to wonder. They might look a little different now, but they certainly have not lost their place in storytelling across cultures. As they have always done,…
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Spring Preview 2019: Staff Picks
Cue the April showers because we’re ready to read cats and dogs this spring. Check out some of the books we’re excited about at ALU HQ.
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In Review: The Week of March 4th
This week International Women’s Day was a week-long literary affair on ALU with interviews, stories, reading lists, and a special cocktail. Read on for our recap.
Got any book recommendations?