Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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This Week in Lit Events: November 7-13th
This week kicks off with one of our favourite literary parties: the unstoppable Giller Light Bash! You can still buy tickets for this fantastic event, but if you’re busy, don’t you fret – there’s tons of season launches and author readings this week, and the second annual Naked Heart Literary Festival for LGBTQ writing.Are you hosting…
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In Review: The Week of October 31st
If you’re getting ready for a weekend of praying to whatever shrine of Obama HOPE posters and #ImWithHer candles in advance of the coming US Election next Tuesday, take a lit break to catch up on what we got up to on All Lit Up this week, and maybe discover a book to shield your…
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Do-Lit-Yourself: Literary #notd Giller Edition, 2016
Believe it or not, this is our third-annual Literary #notd (nails-of-the-day, to the unacquainted)! Our first year began almost by accident, as the ALU crew painted our nails while watching the longlist announcement at our desks. The second year, with three books on the shortlist, you’d bet we were nails-ing in a toast to our nominees. This year,…
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In House: ECW’s 30-day Water Challenge keeps them from the Boiling Point
ECW Press laid out the facts this past October: Canadian water facts, that is. Armed with the revelations in Maude Barlow’s incisive book, Boiling Point: Government Neglect, Corporate Abuse, and Canada’s Water Crisis, they embarked on a 30-day water challenge (#30daywaterchallenge) to try and curb their own use. With Barlow leading the charge on the Boycott…
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Character Study: Gabe Samsung, from Jettison
Our featured character today hails from the peak of his self-described “Mount Psychosis”: Gabe Samsung is alternately spooning mental health facility poundcake into his mouth and former girlfriends in his bed, all the while torturing himself with fantasies of his ex-girlfriend. Read up on Gabe to get a taste for both poundcake and Nathaniel G.…
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Top 10: Winners in Our Books
It’s peak book award season, and between the Giller Prize, Governor General’s Awards, Writers’ Trust Awards, we thought it was high time to hand out some awards of our own: books from this year we think may have been looked over by the juries (no blame to juries: they have to pick just a handful…
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This Week in Lit Events: October 31st-November 6th
Happy Halloween! If you don’t have plans, check out the scary-good events happening this week, including Wordstock Sudbury!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 28th
We had a busy week with our Boos & Books event but the holiday festivities continue this weekend in the lead up to Halloween on Monday. If you’re also spending your weekend at Halloween festivities, you can get caught up on the week’s book news in a snap with our Review and also get a…
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First Fiction Fridays: The Captain of Kinnoull Hill
Dennis Duckworth is widely considered the least-likeable person on the Chicago music scene. Divorced, friendless, and apathetic, Dennis’s only goal is to land a music contract for a band he represents at a major label in New York. When his routine flight from New York back to Chicago mysteriously alters its path, he finds himself…
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Do-Lit-Yourself: Play a CanLit Monster Card Game this Halloween!
It’s official: we have some scary books for sale here on All Lit Up. With all of the monsters, legendary creatures, and semi-spooky protagonists featuring in these books, we thought pitting them against each other in a card game was the logical next step (but again, we’re one of three people still playing Pokemon GO). Print…
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(Women’s) Writer’s Block: Margaret Christakos
For Women’s History Month, we’ve saved Wednesdays for highlighting Canadian women writers, their latest work, and their writing process. This final October Wednesday, we have an interview with poet and writer Margaret Christakos, author most recently of Her Paraphernalia: On Motherlines, Sex, Blood, Loss, & Selfies (BookThug), a book of personal essays examining the age-old relationships between…
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Poetry in Motion: The Essential D. G. Jones
The Essential D.G. Jones is the latest in The Porcupine’s Quill’s series highlighting Canadian poetic voices, some forgotten but always essential. Editor Jim Johnstone, also a celebrated poet himself, kindly shares with us some of the mastery of D.G.’s poetry and where he sits in the cannon.
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This Week in Lit Events: October 24-30th
Going down this week there’s the Ottawa International Writers’ Fest, heaps of launches and readings, and the LPG Boos and Books Halloween IFOA party!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 17th
It was a busy week of party planning (let’s see how many times in one review we can mention we’re having a Halloween party next week with IFOA!), including treat bag construction, spooky party game imagining, and decoration DIY’ing, but alas it’s not done… Team ALU is spending the weekend organizing our costumes for Tuesday.…
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First Fiction Fridays: Redheaded Stepchild
Redheaded Stepchild will take you right back to middle school, into a world where pre-teen angst fills the halls, where the popular kids and bullies are still pulling the strings and the misfits are looking for ways to express themselves.
Got any book recommendations?