Memoir & Biography

Antigone Undone: Juliette Binoche, Anne Carson, Ivo Van Hove and the Art of Resistance

Among the great Greek tragedies, perhaps no other has spawned as many successful adaptations and critical reflections as Sophocles’s Antigone. Novelist Will Aitken reminds readers why Antigone remains such a universally accessible play in this ... Read More »

January 18, 2018 | Filed under: Art, Music & Pop Culture, Memoir & Biography

Dead Reckoning: How I Came to Meet the Man Who Murdered My Father

By Carys Cragg

“The world stops caring, and we all fall down.” This sentiment lies at the heart of Carys Cragg’s gripping and immersive memoir, Dead Reckoning: How I Came to Meet the Man Who Murdered My Father. ... Read More »

January 12, 2018 | Filed under: Memoir & Biography

The Long Way Home: A Personal History of Nova Scotia

By John DeMont

In August 2017, the bitter strike between the Halifax Typographical Union and the city’s newspaper, The Chronicle Herald, ended after 19 lengthy months. The paper’s most beloved journalist, John DeMont, was one of the strikers. ... Read More »

January 8, 2018 | Filed under: Memoir & Biography

All We Leave Behind: A Reporter’s Journey into the Lives of Others

By Carol Off

In early 2002, when the world’s attention was aimed at the war in Afghanistan, CBC Television journalist Carol Off landed the thing people in her profession live for – a good “get.” In Kabul, Off ... Read More »

January 8, 2018 | Filed under: Memoir & Biography

The Way it Is: The Life of Greg Curnoe

By James King

In the 1960s and ’70s, Greg Curnoe was the undeniable “bad boy” of Canadian art, actively courting controversy while also embracing his hometown of London, Ontario, as a key part of his artistic practice. His ... Read More »

December 4, 2017 | Filed under: Memoir & Biography

★ Beautiful Scars: Steeltown Secrets, Mohawk Skywalkers and the Road Home

By Tom Wilson

Generally speaking, the readership for a musician’s memoir is drawn almost entirely from the subject’s established fan base. The higher the musician’s profile, the larger the potential audience. So what are we to make of ... Read More »

November 30, 2017 | Filed under: Memoir & Biography

Lightfoot

By Nicholas Jennings

How does a biographer say something new and insightful about well-known public figures who have already had large dollops of ink spilled on their behalf? Authors David Yaffe and Nicholas Jennings take distinctly different approaches ... Read More »

November 6, 2017 | Filed under: Memoir & Biography

A Brief History of Oversharing: One Ginger’s Anthology of Humiliation

By Shawn Hitchins

Shawn Hitchins dedicates his debut collection of essays to two people: “Harrison Ford, for making me gay,” and “my father, for making me a comedian.” That salty-sweet-salty combination is Hitchins’s go-to mode in A Brief ... Read More »

October 17, 2017 | Filed under: Memoir & Biography

Claiming Anishinaabe: Decolonizing the Human Spirit

By Lynn Gehl

In the Anishinaabe culture, “Mino-pimadiziwin” means “the good life.” In context, Mino-pimadiziwin can be understood as a wholistic life, one that includes fostering a relationship to land and community, and sharing knowledge with others. Lynn ... Read More »

October 16, 2017 | Filed under: Memoir & Biography