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Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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In Review: The Week of June 18th
This week we got our club wear (books, obviously) ready for ALU summer book club, proudly launched Indigenous Litspace, a site we’re dedicating to Indigenous works, and one of our staffers finally read Martha Baillie’s 2014 novel The Search for Heinrich Schlögel.
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First Fiction Friday: Hider/Seeker
Today, we follow the tracks of award-winning poet Jen Currin’s first work of fiction, the short story collection Hider/Seeker (Anvil Press). These stories take us over hill and dale, and what’s left to seek is human struggle and existence, rendered beautifully through Currin’s poetic turns of phrase.
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Introducing All Lit Up’s Indigenous Litspace
Over the last four years, we’ve been lucky enough to feature books and words by Indigenous authors on All Lit Up for you to discover. And with our ever-growing list, we had an a-ha moment: why not launch a showcase page highlighting all this essential, exciting writing? That’s where Indigenous Litspace picks up! Featuring colourful…
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Remembering Herb Belcourt
On July 5, 2017, just one day short of his 86th birthday, Herb Belcourt passed away peacefully at his home, surrounded by his loved ones, a month before the new edition of his memoir, Walking in the Woods: A Métis Memoir (Brindle & Glass) went to press. He is remembered as an entrepreneur and philanthropist,…
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ALU Summer Book Club is BACK for 2018!
Two things are certain here during the Summer at ALU’s Toronto headquarters: patios, and Book Club. Our third-annual instalment of book club brings you a wonderfully weird debut short story collection and a hilariously heartbreaking family novel from an award-winning author. What are they? Read on to find out (and get a 15% discount on…
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Poet Laureate Tina Biello on Pride Month
For Pride Month we asked Nanaimo Poet Laureate Tina Biello, author of Playing Into Silence, published by Caitlin Press’ new imprint Dagger Editions, what Pride means to her. Below we share her thoughts and a poem from her new collection, which is a “look back at a dry time in lesbian history.”
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In Review: The Week of June 11th
This week Father’s Day was on our brains, debut fiction was in our hands, and rum swizzle punch was the side to our poetry.
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First Fiction Friday: Small Predators
At the centre of Jennifer Ilse Black’s debut novel Small Predators (ARP Books) is the fallout between a group of Millennial-generation activists struggling to hope in the wake of climate doomsayers, when one of their own commits a violent political demonstration, and their activism turns toward and within their own bodies.
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Top 10: Books for Dads
For literary-minded dads to baseball-obsessed dads and ones who are both, we’ve got a top 10 list of books to gift your father and father-figures this Father’s Day.
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Chappy Hour: Rum Swizzle + That Light Feeling Under Your Feet
Inspire a tropical feeling with a cruise-worthy rum swizzle punch, inspired by Kayla Geitzler’s cruise worker-centred poetry collection That Light Feeling Under Your Feet, from NeWest Press’ poetry imprint Crow Said.
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Words of Strength from I Cannot Lie to the Stars That Made Me
Catherine Hernandez’s pair of plays, The Femme Playlist & I Cannot Lie to the Stars That Made Me (Playwrights Canada Press) are a powerful testament of strength and survival and a vivid portrait of a radical queer brown mother. Catherine’s characters share stories—stories they’ve heard and stories they’ve lived—that not only help their journeys but…
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Father’s Day: Staff Picks
After our Mother’s Day picks post in May, you didn’t think we were going to leave out the dads, right? Check out our top choices for the dad and dad-type figures in our lives (and snag a last-minute gift for your pop, if you still need one!).
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In Review: The Week of June 4th
This week we obsessively followed our hashtag #CarryOnBooks after our successful landing at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, got a taste of some new poetry, a follow-up read, and discovered a debut author.
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First Fiction Friday: The Philistine
Leila Marshy’s debut novel The Philistine (Linda Leith Publishing) finds a young woman casting off the tethers of her life in Montreal to search for her father in Cairo – and discovering her sexuality in the process – in a story that Ann-Marie MacDonald says “spans – and transgresses – sexuality, culture and countries.”
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Writer’s Block: Maureen Medved
When multi-talented author Maureen Medved wrote her first novel The Tracey Fragments she soon found an opportunity to write its film adaptation, which opened at the Berlin International Film Festival and won the Manfred Salzeber Prize for a film that “broadens the boundaries of cinema today.” Today she joins us to talk about her influences—from…
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