A poet’s playful, “intellectually vigorous” pastiche “left me inquisitive, sometimes to the point of being bewildered, but this bewilderment is a good thing. It provides us with existential insights that, for one thing, are a counter-language to the blithe and frenetic thoughtlessness of our own profoundly unpoetic administered world,” writes Peter Babiak in his review of Recombinant Theory, by Joel Katelnikoff (Calgary: U Calgary Press, 2024) $26.99 / 9781773855790
Elegant, careful, sparse, and yet complex verse that is “a dense, rich reflection on the natural world and the human impact” presents a poet who is “a walker, a watcher, a muser, a recorder.” —Steven Ross Smith reviews The Middle, by Stephen Collis (Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2024) $18.95 / 9781772016420
“Of course, throughout the book Butler wrestles with the degree of knowledge a non-Indigenous person requires to have a truly culturally informed appreciation of Coastal Peoples’ artwork. As a reader, I was somewhat enmeshed in this wrestle at first, then found a kind of community in Butler’s struggle in the knowledge that I was not alone in my wish to be respectful and culturally informed.” Trevor Marc Hughes reviews What Is This? Who Am I? Culturally Informed Appreciation of Coastal Peoples’ Artworks by Richard Butler (Victoria: A&R Publishing, 2024) $12.65 / 9798339967507
In “Poets’ Pastime Paradise,” an “essay in play format about poetry” that’s set in a cemetery at midnight, author Sarah Freel corrals modernist poets, an American rapper, and a poetess named Reiko to versify while they debate over literary politics.
2024 donors to the British Columbia Review, a thank you from Richard Mackie.
“The enduring image provided by Manthorpe – one that bookends On Canadian Democracy – is the comparison of the state of Canada to that of the official home of its Prime Minister. The reader is brought to ponder the neglected crumbling façade of 24 Sussex, overgrown by weeds, infused with mould, and seemingly abandoned by its caretakers.” Matthew Downey reviews On Canadian Democracy by Jonathan Manthorpe (Toronto: Cormorant Press, 2024) $19.95 / 9781770867543
“Consider the evocative words of the book’s subtitle: ‘A Year Inside the Life of a Chronic Adventurer.’ The three key words? ‘inside,’ ‘life,’ and ‘chronic.’ Why? As much as this is the account of three long expeditions, it is also a frank and supercharged self-portrait. Holding back is not something Wolf does. On the contrary.” Theo Dombrowski reviews Two Springs, One Summer: a year inside the life of a chronic adventurer, by Frank Wolf (Victoria: Rocky Mountain Books, 2024) $28 / 9781771606844
Ambitious poetry volume “illustrates the evils of human nature, the predatory elites, and social engineers,” but is marred by soapbox rhetoric and ‘poetsplaining.’ —Joe Enns reviews Pole Shift & Other Poems, by Sean Arthur Joyce (Victoria: Ekstasis Editions, 2024) 9781771715560 / $23.95
“Rhenisch jam-packs his songs with ideas, zooming and spanning, yet with the grace of a skilled composer; a song might jar and rattle while at the same time carry a croon that compels. A reader cannot help but be swept and stilled simultaneously in the lyric experience.” —Steven Ross Smith reviews The Salmon Shanties: A Cascadian Cycle, by Harold Rhenisch (Regina: U Regina Press, 2024) $19.95 / 978177940154
“Going to Seed is prefaced with an introduction that effectively situates the reader around Neville’s central thesis— consider what ‘being constantly occupied’ does to both an individual’s quality of life and the collective health of a community, society, and natural environment.” Natalie Virginia Lang reviews Going to Seed: Essays on Idleness, Nature, & Sustainable Work, by Kate J. Neville (Regina: University of Regina Press, 2024) $30.95 / 9781779400000
Thoughtful volume, a long poem and “book of praise,” presents an argument about myth, spirituality, and evolutionary progress via luscious imagery and rolling metrical rhythms. —Harold Rhenisch reviews The Making: A Poem, by Brian Day (Eugene: Resource Publications, 2024) $30.00 / 9781666779479
“…this bounty of a missive both reflects on our contemporary crises and what, practically, can be done to bring health and healing to local communities again.” Ron Dart reviews Save Your City: How toxic culture kills community & what to do about it by Diane Kalen-Sukra (Toronto: Municipal World, 2024) $22.80 / 9780228810872
Memorable debut poetry collection offers “poetry of the ordinary” while also examining masculinity and personal ghosts. —Harold Rhenisch reviews Little Bit Die, by Jason Emde (Barrie: Bolero Bird, 2023) $20.00 / 9781775330073
“…understanding how everything in a way has life. Inanimate objects, human made things, people of course, and everything else as well. This is how Marks extends her ideas. It’s an incremental change of many philosophical ideas.” Thomas Girard reviews The Fold: From Your Body to the Cosmos, by Laura U. Marks (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2024) $29.95 USD / 9781478030119
Reissued edition of the acclaimed, award-winning volume also reflects on the pandemic and MAID.—Jodi Lundgren reviews In the Slender Margin: The Intimate Strangeness of Death and Dying, by Eve Joseph (Vancouver: Anvil Press, 2023) $22.00 / 9781772142150
Novelist sets out to “destroy it all … and start over with a handful of survivors, to see if they could build something better,” and then imagines the fraught next steps. —Dana McFarland reviews Post Civ, by Julianne Harvey (Surrey: Ruby Finch Books, 2024) $25.00 / 9780987797841
A debut collection of occasional verse reveals a “happy fool” who takes “the wind out of Death’s sails.” —Harold Rhenisch reviews Blowing Up Growing Up, by John Givins (Cambridge: Askance Publishing, 2024) $25.00 / 9781778225062
Terrific essay collection covers agri-business, beans on toast, a century-old family recipe for trifle, gender politics, potatoes, and a whole lot more.
—Brett Josef Grubisic reviews Hearty: On Cooking, Eating, and Growing Food for Pleasure and Subsistence, by Andrea Bennett (Toronto: ECW Press, 2024) $24.95 / 9781770411
Poetry volumes highlight a poet’s “impeccable way of seeing the grieving, dreaming world” as well as another’s “no readily-digested messages.” —Catherine Owen reviews Distractions, by Eve Joseph (London: Baseline Press, 2023) $15.00 / 9781928066873 and Signal Infinities, by Melanie Siebert (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 2024) $22.95 / 9780771013980
“I’m writing this in part to address the request from readers of my other typography texts to write about Bringhurst, or perhaps pursue a retrospective. Both of these requests are solid and probably long overdue, so in this I attempt to take a first look at this pursuit.” Thomas Girard reviews two earlier books by Robert Bringhurst of Quadra Island, bringing readers a discussion on these influential titles: The Elements of Typographic Style & The Solid Form of Language.