Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Time Capsule: The ’70s
ALU presents…time capsule! We’re digging up historical and literary dirt through the ages, like which books made waves back then (or hearken back to and capture the spirit of times gone by) and which publishers came on the scene. We started off in the fifties and sixties, and are making our way through the seventies,…
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Chappy Hour: A Shady Lady for Washing Off the Raccoon Eyes
Margo LaPierre’s debut collection Washing Off the Raccoon Eyes (Guernica Editions) contains the kind of poetry best paired with a shot of tequila. Full of portraits of gritty femininity (and set in my downtown neighbourhood), I’ve paired the collection with the Shady Lady cocktail—a double kick of tequila and citrus paired with the sweet caress…
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Time Capsule: The 50s & 60s
ALU presents…time capsule! We’re digging up historical and literary dirt through the ages, like which books made waves back then (or hearken back to and capture the spirit of times gone by) and which publishers came on the scene. We grouped together our first two decades: the fifties and sixties (to think that before this,…
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This Week in Lit Events: October 9-15th
Happy Thanksgiving! We’re thankful for a spate of literary events and festivals (five!) to go to this week.Are you hosting an event featuring an author whose titles are available on All Lit Up? Send the event details, including author, book, date, time, and address to hello@alllitup.ca to be included in our listings.
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In Review: The Week of October 2nd
The week started off with a roar when Michelle Winter’s I Am A Truck was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and continued its hot streak with even more indie books as finalists for the Governor General’s Literary Awards. We also took a field trip to poetry haven knife | fork | book, and a…
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First Fiction Friday: Through the Sad Wood Our Corpses Will Hang
Ava Farmehri’s debut novel Through the Sad Wood Our Corpses Will Hang (Guernica Editions), set in Iran, tells the story of twenty-year-old Sheyda Porrouya who after being accused of killing her mother is sent to one of the country’s most notorious prisons where she awaits her fate: release or execution.
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If You Liked X, Read Y: Sci-fi Edition
We entered a science-fiction bubble comparing two stellar reads: Douglas Adams’s classic The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Randal Graham’s newly published Beforelife (ECW Press), a novel in which an average guy finds himself navigating an alternate reality against his will.
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Field Trip: knife | fork | book in Toronto’s Kensington Market
Toronto’s poetry community found a home in knife | fork | book, a poetry-only takeover of the front of a cafe in the city’s vibrant Kensington Market neighbourhood. But when the cafe’s owners sold the property, k | f | b’s Jeff Kirby (known to everyone ’round here as Kirby) had to do his own…
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Where in Canada: Surprising Saskatchewan in Rick Hillis’ A Place You’ll Never Be
The Saskatchewan in Rick Hillis’ posthumously-published novel A Place You’ll Never Be (Coteau Books) is not the Saskatchewan you’d expect: his cast of reform(ing) convicts paddle through the rivers of Prince Albert National Park as part of a prison pilot project, taking in the decidedly not flat forested landscape. Even as it’s being ravaged by strange…
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This Week in Lit Events: October 2-8th
There are three major seasonal launches happening this week in Toronto, plus plenty more events in other parts of Ontario and Quebec.Are you hosting an event featuring an author whose titles are available on All Lit Up? Send the event details, including author, book, date, time, and address to hello@alllitup.ca to be included in our listings.
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In Review: The Week of September 25th
When the temperatures dropped outside, ALU HQ became a near-literal freezer and we floated around the idea of an ALU snuggie. (Yay or nay?) But at least things heated up on the awards front: Carleigh Baker’s Bad Endings (Anvil Press) was shortlisted for the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize; Ivan Coyote’s Tomboy Survival Guide (Arsenal…
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First Fiction Fridays: Two Roads Home
Daniel Griffin’s debut novel Two Roads Home (Freehand Books) describes the fallout of a group of eco-activists radicalizing their beliefs into violent political action. But it’s more than that: in this “powerful novel that never lets up,” Griffin examines the shortfalls of idealism (and the frightening means employed to make up the gaps), the tenuous unity of…
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Jules’ Tools for Social Change: F-Bomb by Lauren McKeon
Welcome to this month’s edition of Jules’ Tools for Social Change, a column that features a book, author or publisher whose work deals with issues of race, gender, sexuality, ability, colonialism, economic justice, or other social justice topics.
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Under the Cover: The More is more – Ronna Bloom and Beth Follett in Conversation
The relationship between author and publisher is a special one, and that of Ronna Bloom, author of poetry collection The More, and its publisher, Beth Follett of Pedlar Press, is no exception. In this literal “under the cover,” Beth and Ronna chat about how the cover for The More – specifically, the use of the Rothko painting “Yellow…
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Character Study: Outside
Paul Dunn’s play for young audiences Outside (Playwrights Canada Press) centres on three teens—Daniel, Krystina, and Jeremy—looking back on a traumatic event that drove them to different schools. It’s a play that asks, how do you talk about being gay as a young person; how do you support friends who are? In one narrative, Daniel…
Got any book recommendations?