Former government lawyer and author Richard Butler writes that there must be a better way than trying to implement the principles of the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) through law reform. He sees it an exercise in futility and potentially risky for reconciliation. Richard Butler presents his essay The Futility of Aboriginal Law Reform.
Vancouver Island author’s sophomore novel is “a tightly plotted, ambitious work of historical fiction that has fast-paced thriller elements and, at other times, the makings of a slow burn romance.” —Jessica Poon reviews The Last Secret, by Maia Caron (Toronto: Doubleday Canada, 2024) $25.00 / 9780385688826
“Arnett integrates cultural and technical aspects of rock art and rock art sites from start to finish. He insists the paintings in many settings are an interaction between the rock formation, the setting, the paint, and the artist, including the artist’s songs and stories about the site.” Wendy Burton reviews Signs of the Time: Nłeʔkepmx Resistance through Rock Art by Chris Arnett (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2024) $39.95 / 9780774867962
“Newland’s talent with the architecture of sentences never detracts from the exhilaration of his plot, with its strange events and estranged sense of time.” —Peter Babiak reviews The Marysburgh Vortex (Volume 1: Jack Wenland, Time Guardian), by Trevor Newland (Vancouver: Simply Read Books, 2024) $22.99 / 9781772291001
“…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
Sisters who happen to be creatures of myth offer wit and wisdom, cynicism and love in a breezily written and beguiling novel. —Jessica Poon reviews Roxy and Coco, by Terese Svoboda (Morgantown: U West Virginia Press, 2024) $29.99 / 9781959000068
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
A striking pair of “exquisite” chapbooks highlight reflections about enduring relationships and life’s ineffable moments. —Mary Ann Moore reviews Berberitzen, by Susan Alexander (Salt Spring Island: Raven Chapbooks, 2024) $20.00 / 9781778160363 and If I Have Known Beauty: Elegies for Phyllis Webb, by Lorraine Gane (Salt Spring Island: Raven Chapbooks, 2024) $20.00 / 9781778160370
An “accessible, elucidating book that makes a persuasive plea for us to connect data literacy and human rights.” Plus, “a genuine pleasure to read.” —Jessica Poon reviews We, the Data: Human Rights in the Digital Age, by Wendy H. Wong (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2023) $35/95 / 9780262048576
“Mahtani is truly aiming to accomplish a lot with May it Have a Happy Ending and the threads of family, illness, work, and other elements take their turns in the spotlight, then drift through the background, reminding us that we are always composed of a range of tales, that nothing is exclusive or simple or from which we are easily healed.” Catherine Owen reviews May it Have a Happy Ending: A Memoir of Finding My Voice as My Mother Lost Hers, by Minelle Mahtani (Toronto: Doubleday Canada, 2024) $34.95 / 9780385675208
“Into his own remarkable life story, he manages to also weave world events in history over the past century, including many human conflicts, criminal justice reform and his own personal reflections as he travels the world from Canada to the United Kingdom, Germany, Uganda, and the Middle East.” Valerie Green reviews Boxing The Compass: A Life of Seafaring, Music, and Pilgrimage by Michael L. Hadley (Victoria: Heritage House, 2024) $29.95 / 9781772034738
Infectiously fun, rapid-fire novel recounts tales from the golden age of charismatic criminals, and ushers readers into “into a fictional world of real-life events that is grippingly good reading.” —Ron Verzuh reviews Crooked: A Crime Novel, by Dietrich Kalteis (Toronto: ECW Press, 2024) $22.95 / 9781770417076
“In clearly laid out chapters from Prospect to Policy to Partnership, Schouls describes the steps taken in many negotiations to articulate the positions of numerous peoples, all with different land claims, cultures, languages, and histories.” Linda Rogers reviews The Spaces In Between: Indigenous Sovereignty within the Canadian State by Tim Schouls (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2024) $74.95 / 9781487587406
Atmospheric and poetic writing supports a striking novel that follows an aunt and niece on a perilous, uncertain journey. —Bill Paul reviews Bad Land, by Corinna Chong (Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2024) $24.95 / 9781551529592
A debut novel, a moderately appealing political satire, explores the notion of radical democracy. —Valerie Green reviews Owls, Doughnuts, and Democracy, by Jason A.N. Taylor (Victoria: independently published) $7.99 (e-book) / 9798333346148
A debut book of poetry reveals a precision and cleverness that can “make an otherwise unintelligible world fall into place.” —Carellin Brooks reviews I Hate Parties, by Jes Battis (Gibsons: Nightwood Editions, 2024) $19.95 / 9780889734809
“The cover image situates the viewer in a state of uncertainty, nay anxiety, holding our breath and straining to right ourselves vis-à-vis the disorienting photograph. This sets the tone for this aptly named book of photographs.” Ryan Gauvin reviews Delirium by John O’Brian (Vancouver: Delirium Editions, 2024) Limited Edition of 500 / 9781738144808
With a cast of writers, this stylish thriller provides “deeply satisfying escapism; however, it also skillfully depicts parental grief, artistic struggles, and that persistent feeling that, if you just find the right words, then, your life will have meant something.” —Jessica Poon reviews The Deepest Lake, by Andromeda Romano-Lax (Toronto: Soho Crime, 2024) $26.95 / 9781641295604
‘Bill Arnott is different: he’s looking around. And what does he see? Not what I would see. In the middle of reading this book, I thought, Let’s look around on a walk like he does.’ Sheldon Goldfarb reviews A Perfect Day for a Walk: The History, Cultures, and Communities of Vancouver, on Foot
by Bill Arnott (Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2024) $24.95 / 9781551529639
A boldly illustrated kids book in memoir form is “a simple, heartwarming story that offers life lessons to the young—and perhaps to older readers as well.” —Ron Verzuh reviews Adventures in Desolation Sound, by Grant Lawrence (illustrated by Ginger Ngo) (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2024) $24.95 / 9781990776878