Homegrown 2.0: Even More Locally Produced Reads (October 17)

Find more Homegrown picks here.

DADDY by Jake Byrne (Brick Books)

Toronto, ON

All Lit Up: Does your community feature in your book in some way? How?

Jake Byrne: Few locations are specifically named, but DADDY was written partially at the Grosvenor Street YMCA, the Toronto Reference Library, the Black Eagle, Monarch Park, and Steamworks, and 131 McCormack.

I guess I’ve always enjoyed communal spaces. Or spaces designated for a specific purpose: one works at the library, works out at the gym, et cetera. The poems might get written at home, but the inspiration is always found elsewhere.

Click here to learn more about DADDY + purchasing options.

The Reeds by Arjun Basu (ECW Press)

Montreal, QC

All Lit Up: Does your community feature in your book in some way? How?

Arjun Basu: My book is set in Montreal, though in the parts of town I grew up in and not the parts I live in now. My previous novel, Waiting for the Man, started out as a story set in Montreal then over many drafts as the plot revealed itself the novel evolved into a story that was set entirely in the U.S. (For reasons too numerous to go into here.) The Reeds was never meant to be a Montreal novel but quickly became one, set in a part of the city that doesn’t appear too often in fiction; the city plays a large role in the thrust of the book. The creative process remains mysterious, full of surprises.

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Hiroshima Bomb Money by Terry Watada (NeWest Press)

Toronto, ON

All Lit Up: Is there any literary lore in your hometown/where you live? (e.g. a famous author of yore was born there, a legendary bookstore is there, etc.)

Terry Watada: My favourite bookstore was Albert Britnell Book Shop. It stood just south of the Central Library, north of Bloor and Yonge on the east side of Yonge. The place had all the charm of its 19th Century origins and its revitalization in 1919. I was so thrilled when I found my first book on the shelves. Unfortunately, it closed in 1999. Every time I pass by, I feel its presence so maybe it’s not gone forever.

Click here to learn more about Hiroshima Bomb Money + purchasing options.

Ox Lost, Snow Deep by Alice Burdick (Anvil Press)

Lunenburg, NS

All Lit Up: Do you have a favourite spot to visit in your hometown/where you live? Tell us about it. 

Alice Burdick: I love to walk on the Lunenburg Back Harbour section of the Rails to Trails (formerly train tracks). It takes me past leaning trees, dog parks, cemeteries, ravines, marshes, a wastewater plant, the back and front harbour of the Atlantic Ocean, innumerable deer, squirrels, and birds, peoples’ backyards, lupines in the summer, asters in the fall. If I keep going on its extension, I end up walking by the High Liner plant and along a beautiful precipitous cliff. I enjoy the scents, sights, sounds, the light of the route. A trail takes me on a companionable walk through this tiny part of a variable world and provides inspiration, rhythm, and lots of thinking time.

Click here to learn more about Ox Lost, Snow Deep + purchasing options.

The Anstruther Reader edited by Jim Johnstone
(Palimpsest Press)

Toronto, ON

All Lit Up: Do you have a favourite spot to visit in Toronto? Tell us about it.

Jim Johnstone: I used to spend a lot of time in the Junior Common Room (JCR) at University College when I was in my early twenties. The JCR is part of the University of Toronto, and I wrote many early poems there while I was working towards my BSc in human biology. It’s where my first small press initiative, Misunderstandings Magazine, was conceived with Ian Williams, and where I’d gather with other poets who were collecting their work in small books. These publications inspired me to expand my micropress activities, and now, celebrating ten years of Anstruther Press with The Anstruther Reader, I can’t help think of the energy that I feel in the moments when I step onto campus and head to the JCR with a coffee and danish in hand.

Click here to learn more about The Anstruther Reader + purchasing options.