Quill and Quire

Reviews

By David Szalay

“There’s something terrible about the way normality asserts itself.” The statement, placed in the close third-person consciousness of István, the protagonist of Montreal-born David Szalay’s latest novel, could serve as a thesis for the entire ... Read More »

March 5, 2025 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels, Reviews

By Manahil Bandukwala

Manahil Bandukwala’s second collection of poems, Heliotropia, shares its name with a unisex perfume by Swedish luxury brand Byredo. Like the scent’s floral note of jasmine, a flower that opens at night, the works in ... Read More »

December 11, 2024 | Filed under: Poetry, Reviews

By Annick MacAskill

Annick MacAskill’s Votive, the anticipated follow-up to her 2022 Governor General’s Award–winning collection Shadow Blight, combines themes of intimacy, privacy, eros, and queerness, while the transgressive and the religious infuse this collection. Of course, votive ... Read More »

November 27, 2024 | Filed under: Poetry, Reviews