In Review: The Week of September 23rd

On the Blog

~ Get your earbuds in! Author Lauren Carter pairs a perfectly ’90s (and ’80s) playlist to go with her gripping novel This Has Nothing to Do With You (Freehand Books).~ Fiona Tinwei Lam tells us about Pablo Neruda’s influence in Odes & Laments (Caitlin Press): “[Neruda] advocates for poetry that is accessible, democratic and unpretentious, and that acknowledges readers’ thirst and hunger for meaning, wonder, delight, and solace.”~ Debut fiction from J.R. McConvey (Different Beasts) combines the emotional depth and playfulness of Margaret Atwood’s Wilderness Tips with the paranoia and cosmic horror found in the works of Thomas Ligotti.~ Publisher and designer Ingrid Paulson chats with us about Gladstone Press where she redesigns covers of classic novels for contemporary readers.

Around the Web

~ And because good book design includes all genres, publisher of Promontory Press Bennett R. Coles lays out five guiding principles for good nonfic design.~ The Writers’ Trust announced its 2019 Fiction Prize shortlist which included some ALU faves: Shut Up You’re Pretty by Téa Mutonji (Arsenal Pulp Press), Days by Moonlight by André Alexis (Coach House Books), Season of Fury and Wonder by Sharon Butala (Coteau Books)~ In somewhat obvious news, celebrity book clubs are actually selling books.

In Case You Missed It (last week)

The Girl Who Stole Everything

We explored Vancouver’s east-side streets, which set the backdrop for Norman Ravvin’s The Girl Who Stole Everything (Linda Leith Publishing) a novel that deals with the relationship between prewar Polish shtetl life and Jewish lives today.