Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Writer’s Block: Meg Todd
Meg Todd, ReLit Award shortlisted author for her short story collection Exit Strategies (Signature Editions), answers our questions on the book that started her on writing (eventually), how a perfect writing day might not look like there’s any writing at all, and her next book – a novel – in the works.
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In House: For the Love of Everything Speculative at ECW
ECW Press acquisitions editor Jen Albert talks about parlaying her passion for SFF and speculative fiction into a robust program at the publishing house – and gives us a sneak-peek of the exciting SFF titles to come for 2023.
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Poetry in Motion: Justene Dion-Glowa + Trailer Park Shakes
Sachiko Murakami says of queer Métis poet Justene Dion-Glowa’s collection Trailer Park Shakes (Brick Books) that their “voice crackles with frank, startling insight.” You’ll find the same with their video reading of “Ruts” from the collection, below.
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First Fiction Friday: Sombrio
Set on the outer coast of Vancouver Island, Rhonda Waterfall’s “vivid, hallucinatory” novel Sombrio (Gordon Hill Press) pits three men – and their wild ambitions – against what a lifetime of self-aggrandizing decisions have wrought for their children. See why this book needs to be added to your TBR below.
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Character Study: The Love Olympics
Claire Wilkshire’s writing chops are on full display in her short story collection The Love Olympics (Breakwater Books), a finalist for both the Alistair MacLeod Prize for Fiction and the BMO Winterset Award. Together with Claire, we cast two of the stories in the book, “House” and “The Dinner,” for a Character Study double-feature worthy of a…
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Top 10: Super-Sleuths for Mystery Week
It’s officially Mystery Series Week, and this edition of Top 10 is all about saluting the super sleuths among our mystery collection: read on to learn more about 10 gumshoes with gumption.
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Where in Canada: Junie
A vibrant, predominantly Black community in Vancouver called Hogan’s Alley was razed to make room for the Georgia Viaduct in the late 1960s. In her new novel, Junie (Book*hug Press), Chelene Knight plants her main character firmly into the heart of Hogan’s Alley, to breathe new life into the neighbourhood that was lost. She tells…
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Two Poems from The Oysters I Bring to Banquets
Prolific award-winning poet, writer, playwright, and editor Gary Geddes returns with a new collection, The Oysters I Bring to Banquets (Guernica Editions). We read two elegiac poems from the collection below, with introductions from the poet himself.
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T’seku Dawedah (Woman Sitting Up There)
We’re very fortunate to publish this excerpt from Antoine Bear Rock Mountain’s From Bear Rock Mountain: The Life and Times of a Residential School Survivor (Brindle & Glass/Touchwood), this Truth and Reconciliation Day. In the excerpt, he talks about visiting T’seku Dawedah, a sacred site where he went as a youth to reconnect with his Dene culture.
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Under the Cover: Five Stories of My Tics
Celebrated Ukrainian writer Ivan Baidak’s newest novel, (In)visible (Guernica Editions), hits particularly close to home: it chronicles the protagonist Adam’s tentative steps into public life after years of self-inflicted “invisibility.” Diagnosed with Tourette’s syndrome as a teen, Adam’s story mirrors Baidak’s own experiences with Tourette’s: ones he shares in this essay below.
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Character Study: This House Is Not a Home
A clarion call for land back, Dene author Katłįà’s unapologetic novel This House Is Not a Home (Roseway Publishing) follows a Dene family who’ve returned home only to find that their home is no longer there. Katłįà has likewise created an unapologetically awesome dream cast list for the novel’s movie adaptation – read on to see who she…
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Two Poems from This is a Stickup
Amber McMillan’s This Is a Stickup (Wolsak & Wynn) weaves together images of nature and wildlife in a gripping exploration of grief, loneliness, perseverance, and wonder. Elegant and bold, these poems inhabit tumultuous waters and confront dark crawl spaces. With this collection, McMillan curates a space for readers to linger in moments of both deep grief and…
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If You Liked x, Read y: Historic Canadians Edition
If you liked getting an insight into Canadian life through stories of some of its famous and not-so-famous citizens in The Promise of Canada, you might like to follow it up with Geoff Mynett’s River of Mists: People on the Upper Skeena 1821-1930 (Caitlin Press).
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Beautiful Books: Monument
MONUMENT by Manahil Bandukwala upturns notions of love, monumentalisation, and empire by exploring buried facets of Mughal Empress Mumtaz Mahal’s story, moving her legacy beyond the Taj Mahal. In this edition of Beautiful Books, the production team at Brick Books provides some insight into the evolution of the cover and interior design.
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Under the Cover: Immigration Journeys from the Courtroom to the Page
Writer Nancy Lam shares with us how advocating for her parents turned into advocating for immigrants in general in her capacity as an immigration lawyer, and then that going full circle; incorporating her mother’s stories and struggles as a new immigrant to Canada into her novel-in-stories, The Loyal Daughter (At Bay Press).
Got any book recommendations?