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Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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The Short of It: Mikka Jacobsen & Good Victory
Mikka Jacobsen joins us for The Short of It to discuss Good Victory (Freehand Books), her debut collection of stories that captures the surreal, often absurd experience of coming of age in the twenty-first century. Read our Q&A with Mikka and an excerpt from her book.
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Writer’s Block: Irena Karafilly
Writer Irena Karafilly is the latest to answer our Writer’s Block questionnaire: she tells us about the sad reality for many mothers that informs her new novel Tunes for Dancing Bears (Baraka Books), what she’d be doing if she wasn’t writing, and her advice for aspiring writers.
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“I think she made my job a lot easier” – An interview with Natalie Appleton
In her debut novel, the literary western I Want to Die in My Boots (Touchwood Editions), Natalie Appleton fictionalizes the little-known figure Belle Jane, a cattle rustler operating on the US-Canada border. We discuss fictionalizing facts, women in history, and the western as a genre ripe for subverting in this interview with the author.
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Under the Cover: Saad Omar Khan’s Drinking the Ocean
In this Under the Cover, author Saad Omar Khan shares the long and winding path that led to his debut Drinking the Ocean (Wolsak & Wynn), a novel about love, fate, and spirituality. What started as a quiet act of documentation eventually grew into something deeper and more meaningful.
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The Short of It: Gary Barwin & Scandal at the Alphorn Factory
Our next featured writer in our Short of It series is the inimitable Gary Barwin and his new collection of stories that blur the lines of genre and reality, Scandal at the Alphorn Factory (Assembly Press).
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Two Poems: Speech Dries Here on the Tongue
Speech Dries Here on the Tongue (The Porcupine’s Quill) is a collection of poems that brings together Canadian poets writing at the crossroads of environmental collapse and mental health. Grappling with big, often overwhelming questions—about the state of the planet, about our own inner worlds, and about how the two are deeply connected—the poems here…
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Beautiful Books: A conversation with the author and artist behind The Siren in the Twelfth House
Poet Victoria Mbabazi and illustrator Isabella Fassler chat the cover of Mbabazi’s debut collection of poetry, The Siren in the Twelfth House (Palimpsest Press). They discuss the vibrant, captivating cover of Siren and illustration in general, water signs, and more in this dialogue of artists.
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“Characters slowly define themselves”: An Interview with Bindu Suresh
Bindu Suresh’s new book, The Road Between Us (Assembly Press), is a moving, beautifully written novel that follows a cast of complex characters across countries, relationships, and emotional crossroads. Following her debut 26 Knots, she returns with a novel that’s both lyrical and gripping. We chatted with Bindu about her approach to character building and…
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The Short of It: David Carpenter + Hello
In the two novellas and seven short stories that make up his new collection Hello (Shadowpaw Press), veteran writer David Carpenter examines human frailty, and the connections people reach for in times of vulnerability. Read our interview with David and an excerpt from the book below.
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Writer’s Block: Jacob McArthur Mooney
We chat with Jacob McArthur Mooney about his new novel, The Northern (ECW Press)—a tender, coming-of-age story about baseball, belief, and growing up—books he can’t stop thinking about, and why writing nomadically is a good skill.
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Under the Cover: Connecting over Climate and the translation of Doreen Vanderstoop’s Watershed
When author Doreen Vanderstoop received an email from a student an ocean apart looking to translate her 2020 novel Watershed (Freehand Books), that first message sparked a correspondence that speaks to the universality of literature: one we explore in today’s Under the Cover.
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The House Absorbs Energies Within : An Interview with Heidi Wicks
In her collection of interconnected short stories Here (Breakwater Books), Heidi Wicks invites readers into a storied mansion on Circular Road in St. John’s, Newfoundland—a place that quietly absorbs the lives, tensions, and transformations of its inhabitants. Drawing on her deep ties to Newfoundland, Heidi blends history, memory, and a touch of the otherworldly to…
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The Short of It: Catherine Bush & Skin
For Short Story Month, we interview much-loved Canadian novelist Catherine Bush whose first short story collection Skin was just published by Goose Lane Editions. The stories in her debut pose burning questions about humanity’s reaction to the oncoming threat of climate-based disaster, the horror and absurdity of our new realities, and the hopefulness and complications…
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Under the Cover: “Retail apocalypse” – On writing The Very Good Best Friend
Writer Taryn Hubbard, fascinated by the increase of abandoned malls across North America, imagines sinister happenings beyond the security fence of the mall in her debut novel The Very Good Best Friend (NON Publishing). Read more about how Taryn developed her thriller’s arc (and see some photos of her own mall explorations) below.
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Tributaries: Adam Haiun + I Am Looking for You in the No-Place Grid
Adam Haiun’s forthcoming book-length debut poem
Got any book recommendations?