In Review: The Week of February 19th

On the Blog

~ We took a Field Trip out west to the second-annual Growing Room Festival, a women’s literary festival in British Columbia. After Chelene Knight‘s great piece on the festival, we too are feeling the “Roomie Love.”~ Our Jules’ Tools this month was all about Catherine Hernandez’s Scarborough (Arsenal Pulp Press) and the city – and community – it’s named after.~ Friend Aruna Srivastava and publisher Kegedonce Press gave a heartfelt tribute to late Métis poet Sharron Proulx-Turner.~ We were charmed to bits by poet Catherine Graham’s story of a young fan inspiring the name of her poem “Winterhill” in her new collection The Celery Forest (Wolsak & Wynn). (On Twitter, Doyali Islam called the piece “definitely worth my time & attention.” Thanks, Doyali!)~ You might say we come for wickedly funny premises like our First Fiction Friday feature, Kim Clark’s debut A One-Handed Novel (Caitlin Press) – where the protagonist, 40ish and living with MS, is diagnosed with six remaining orgasms for the rest of her life.

Around the Web

~ Sunday marks the start of Freedom to Read Week, and our friends at 49th Shelf have rounded up a big list of challenged Canadian books.~ If you’ve ever sat down to watch all of the Lord of the Rings movies in one sitting, British writer Nate Crowley has done God’s work in designing a 15-course meal to accompany your next viewing. More like Lord of the Napkin Rings, amirite?~ A company called Advanced Tech Services has costed out Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. It’s over $224 million dollars, or the price of a three-bedroom house in Toronto and Vancouver.

What Else We’re Reading

We’re so stoked for Bridget Canning’s BMO Winterset Award nomination, we’re re-reading her nominated, debut novel The Greatest Hits of Wanda Jaynes (Breakwater Books).