In Review: The Week of May 11th

On the Blog

~ B.A. Thomas-Peter discusses the centrality of place within the immigration story of the Russian Doukhobor culture, the topic of his latest book, The Kissing Fence (Caitlin Press): “It is hard for those travelling the road to New Denver and camping by the lake to imagine the turmoil and harm done here, much less understand that those events of seventy years ago continue to rumble through time […]”~ The editors of Becoming Our Future (ARP Books) share words on Indigenous art practices: “Many of us come with the colonial baggage of our geographic region but at the same time we carry the strength and knowledge of our families, communities […]”~ For Jewish History Month, Tamar Rubin shares  Tablet Fragments (Signature Editions), about the impossibility of putting back together that which is broken, and the human need to try.~ First Fiction Friday is a cinematic, darkly humorous cross between Kafka’s The Castle and Nabokov’s Lolita:  The Transaction (Guernica Editions) is one man’s Kafkaesque descent into deviancy where perception and reality collide. 

Around the Web

~ The finalists for the third annual Indigenous Voices Awards were announced this week — congratulations to all the deserving nominees.~ In other awards-related news, the 2020 Trillium Book Awards finalists were announced. ~ Tiny book YouTube is the intersection of ASMR and antiquarian books.

ICYMI (last week)

In House: Working from Home with Mawenzi House

Marketing Assistant Maria Zuppardi shares what the shift to working from home has meant for her (and her new co-worker!) and how Mawenzi House continues to bring creativity forward in these difficult times:”My workday has changed drastically since working from home. Like many of you, I’m sure we suddenly find ourselves with new, unpaid coworkers—who might not be too happy about that! Juggling work with an overly hyper 7-month-old puppy, Charlie, is my biggest hurdle during the day. Zoom meetings and puppies just don’t go well together (I apologize to the authors who had to deal with loud barking during said meetings).”