Another reader’s passion can be contagious. Unhook your mask and breathe in deeply. Naomi’s dedication to reading writers from Atlantic Canada ignited my curiosity. (Check out her project here, along with pages dedicated to the Halifax Explosion and regional literary awards on Consumed by Ink.) When I checked my
The family stories in contemporary CanLit are not all that different from the stories and novels read by my grandmother’s generation. The women in my family did not read obsessively, no, but regularly, yes. What else was there to do in the evenings when your favourite show was in reruns
Canada specializes in a kind of "underhanded racism", which is "as Canadian as maple syrup". This is displayed in B. Denham Jolly's memoir, alongside the story of his life, from early days in Jamaica to his seventieth decade. Life in Jamaica was racialized, too, but more openly and, for
"The past presses so hard on the present, the present is badly bruised, blood brims under the skin." These lines from Brenda Shaughnessy's poem “Nachträglichkeit”* fit beautifully with Darren Greer's new novel, Advocate: Not only because much of Advocate is preoccupied with memory, with what the characters carry with them
A white elephant was historically bestowed as a burden which had the outward appearance of a gift; a courtier charged with its care and upkeep would have a beautiful creature to display, but the weight of the responsibility undeniable. Freehand Books, 2016 In Catherine Cooper's debut novel, the question
