Reviews

Unshaming: A Memoir of Recovery, Relapse, and What Comes After

In 2013, Jowita Bydlowska released her groundbreaking memoir Drunk Mom, an unflinching account of how new motherhood sparked her full-blown return to alcoholism. The book was a vital addition to literature on the topic of ... Read More »

February 24, 2026 | Filed under: Memoir & Biography

Smash and Grab

By Mark Anthony Jarman

The first line of “The Bailiffs Arrive with Their Grey Eyes,” the last story in Mark Anthony Jarman’s latest collection, compares the incidents about to unfold to “some forgotten folk tale.” It’s a particularly appropriate ... Read More »

January 28, 2026 | Filed under: Fiction: Short, Reviews

★ Villain Hitting for Vicious Little Nobodies

By Lindsay Wong

Villain Hitting for Vicious Little Nobodies, the debut adult novel from Winnipeg writer Lindsay Wong (author of the acclaimed memoir and Canada Reads finalist The Woo-Woo), opens with a moment that is at once casual ... Read More »

January 21, 2026 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels, Reviews

The Unravelling of Ou

By Hollay Ghadery

Hollay Ghadery’s debut novel opens with a frazzled, middle-aged Minoo running down a hospital hallway with a handmade sock puppet slipped over her hand. Her daughter Roya has just given birth to a baby girl, ... Read More »

January 14, 2026 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

The Garbage Poems

By Anna Swanson and April White (illus.)

Poetry is not often celebrated for its literal use of language, but there is a charming literality to the title of Anna Swanson’s second volume of poetry. The Garbage Poems is a collection built by ... Read More »

November 26, 2025 | Filed under: Poetry, Reviews

★ The Tortoise’s Tale

By Kendra Coulter

In a perpetually online, frenzied, and FOMO-driven world that celebrates hustle culture, demands efficiency, and, in ways, eschews true connection, “slowing down” is often held up as a self-care goal, but one that is rarely ... Read More »

November 19, 2025 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels, Reviews

★ Other Evolutions

By Rebecca Hirsch Garcia

Rebecca Hirsch Garcia’s fiction resists labels. In her work, human ordeals and the fantastic can intersect to poignant effect. Other Evolutions, the O. Henry Award–winner’s first novel, fuses a coming-of-age story with a family tale and ... Read More »

November 12, 2025 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels, Reviews

★ Book of Lives: A Memoir of Sorts

By Margaret Atwood

There’s an old joke that goes something like this: How many people do you know who went to Harvard? If you’re not sure, the answer is zero, because anyone who went there will make certain ... Read More »

November 4, 2025 | Filed under: Memoir & Biography, Reviews