“Tender, attentive to small moments of meaning within and beyond the places the poet once pushed or simply didn’t pay attention, this is poetry that, at its best, forces readers to reconsider their own histories.” —Carellin Brooks reviews Gold Star, by Emma McKenna (Toronto: Book*hug, 2026) $22.95 / 9781771669740
“[E]xcellent” debut YA novel reflects an author who “put his heart and soul into this book.” Plus: “Coming to this book in middle age, and as a fairly non-sentimental reader, the novel surprised me when I actually almost cried at one point, so invested was I in this wonderfully well-developed character of Ramin Abbas.” —Trish Bowering reviews Ramin Abbas Has MAJOR Questions, by Ahmad Saber (Toronto: Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books, 2026) $29.99 /9781665960694
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
Sitting Shiva on Minto Avenue, by Toots by Erín Moure Vancouver: New Star Books, 2017 $21.00 / 9781554201419 Reviewed by Claire Sicherman First published April 19, 2018 * It is three weeks after the death of her former lover, Paul Émile Savard, when author Erín Moure learns he is dead, and that he died alone…
Read more #290 Grieving with Google
First published Jan. 19, 2018. A Queer Love Story: The Letters of Jane Rule and Rick Bébout by Marilyn R. Schuster (editor) Vancouver: UBC Press, 2017. $39.95 / 9780774835459 Reviewed by Patricia Demers * Reading a collection of letters can be something of a guilty pleasure. Marilyn Schuster’s edition of the letters of Jane Rule…
Read more #235 Dancing on paper
S.C. Heal (1925-2017)An obituary by Alan Twigg First published August 15, 2017 * “In my opinion there is no finer interpreter of the marine scene in British Columbia.” — John M. MacFarlane, nautical historian As a columnist and contributor to specialty shipping magazines, the writer-turned-publisher S.C. Heal made a major contribution to the maritime literature…
Read more #155 S.C. Heal (1925-2017)
David Watmough (1926-2017)An obituary by Alan Twigg First published August 14, 2017 * “I hope my work is myopically ‘westcoast’ and persistently graceful in language.” — David Watmough “That rarest of birds on the literary scene, the natural storyteller.” — Robert Fulford QUICK REFERENCE ENTRY: Homosexuals in British Columbia can now express themselves openly in…
Read more #153 David Watmough (1926-2017)
Oscar of Between: A Memory of Identity and Ideas by Betsy Warland Halfmoon Bay: Caitlin Press, 2016 $21.95 / 9781987915167 Reviewed by Catriona Sandilands First Published March 6, 2017 * In 2007, Betsy Warland took a birthday trip to London for a range of plays and events, including an exhibition on military camouflage at the…
Read more #99 Opening the Oscar envelope
A Queer Love Story: The Letters of Jane Rule and Rick Beboutby Marilyn R. Schuster (editor) Vancouver: UBC Press, 2017$50 / 9780774835435 Reviewed by Alan Twigg First published Feb. 7, 2017 * “I hope I’m remembered for being lusty, feisty and full of life.”— Jane Rule People who knew Jane Rule are still saying to…
Read more #82 Jane’s ruling aphorisms