Michael Ondaatje’s latest collection is impossibly good. It is the work of a mature poet at the zenith of his talent. T. S. Eliot wrote, “The mature poet, in the operations of his mind, works ... Read More »
Eynhallow, one of the smaller Orkney Islands, is a rugged, inhospitable place. Seventy-five hectares in size, it is a mere speck in the North Atlantic, now preserved as a bird sanctuary. As Toronto writer Tim ... Read More »
March 13, 2024 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels
Seven years after #MeToo rocked global consciousness and Time named Silence Breakers their Person of the Year, sexual violence survivors face a bleak landscape of rising femicide rates, online misogyny, and an increasingly unbelieving culture ... Read More »
March 6, 2024 | Filed under: Media, Politics & Current Affairs, Reference, Reviews, Social Sciences
All That Grows is a charming picture book, written and illustrated by Jack Wong, about a little brother and big sister who go on neighbourhood walks together, smelling and picking flowers. They also cultivate plants ... Read More »
March 6, 2024 | Filed under: Kids’ Books, Picture Books
Interesting Facts about Space, the sophomore novel from Emily Austin (Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead), orbits Enid, an information architect at the Canadian Space Agency, who – true to the book’s title ... Read More »
February 28, 2024 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels, Reviews
Khadija and the Elephant Toothpaste Experiment offers an example of what happens when, contrary to conventional wisdom, you try something at home. The picture book illustrates how children can find their passion through play, and ... Read More »
February 28, 2024 | Filed under: Kids’ Books, Picture Books
At first glance, the valley is inviting, deeply so. Verdant with orchards and vineyards that overlook a lake, and situated in a leisurely era before cellphones, Instagram Stories, and overtourism, the unnamed region appears idyllic, ... Read More »
February 21, 2024 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels, Reviews
On at least one book website you will find Gary Clement’s debut graphic novel, inspired by the writing and childhood of Franz Kafka, tagged under “Social Themes: Self-Esteem; Self-Reliance.” It’s a classification that almost certainly ... Read More »
February 21, 2024 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction, Kids’ Books
Jessica J. Lee’s debut picture book, A Garden Called Home, is a love story for children of the diaspora. This picture book explores the precious bond between a mother and daughter, and also asks, where ... Read More »
February 14, 2024 | Filed under: Kids’ Books, Picture Books
Canadian literature is a multilingual territory, and I will admit that my first introduction to the work and life of French-Canadian poet Marie Uguay comes with the recent publication of her journals in translation. As ... Read More »
February 7, 2024 | Filed under: Memoir & Biography, Poetry, Reviews