DESIRE IN SEVENS i. pace across city streets under the full light of moon like the coyote in winter, coat the colour of dirty snow not knowing one day beyond the next, moving with unconscious, habitual desire, carrying only the fear of loud noises and an intimate knowledge of the cold. ii. return to a […]

Without Apology: Writing on Abortion in Canada Edited by Shannon Stettner AU Press, $29.95 Kristen was in high school. Mackenzie was 23. Jess made a pros and cons list. Each woman had an abortion. Without Apology: Writings on Abortion in Canada centres around a woman’s right to choose. In this five-part series, women share their […]

Toronto Comics Anthology Volume 3 Edited by Steven Andrews, Aaron Feldman, Allison O’Toole T.O. Comix, $20 With its third time at bat, Toronto Comics Anthology has come into its own. Toronto Comics Anthology Volume 3 features 30 comics from 46 writers and artists—each reflecting on Toronto in some way. Besides that, the genres run the […]

The Two Sisters Written by E. Pauline Johnson, illustrated by Sandra Butt Waterlea Books, $19.95 Poet and performer E. Pauline Johnson (Tekahionwake) died more than a century ago. But B.C.-based illustrator Sandra Butt revived one of Johnson’s iconic poems—“The Two Sisters”—in her picture book of the same name. This retelling of a First Nations’ legend […]

The Nearly Girl By Lisa de Nikolits Inanna Publications, $22.95 The Nearly Girl by Lisa de Nikolits is many things, but predictable isn’t one of them. Broken into a few chapters, The Nearly Girl tells the story of an unusual family, including a daughter named Amelia, who inherited her father’s peculiarities and is confronted with […]

Bad Girls of Fashion: Style Rebels From Cleopatra to Lady Gaga By Jennifer Croll Annick Press, $24.95 Fashion is often mistaken as temporary, nothing but a wave of passing fads—but not in Bad Girls of Fashion: Style Rebels From Cleopatra to Lady Gaga by Jennifer Croll. In her vividly illustrated book, Croll takes us through […]

Earlier this year, Facebook got in trouble for “curating” trending news articles that seemed to betray an ideological bias—their editorial team was accused of pushing a left-wing agenda by people who would have preferred to see them push a right-wing agenda. Facebook’s solution was simple: get rid of the human element. But a few hours after flipping […]

A couple of years ago, a stranger approached me while I was volunteering at a film festival in Toronto. She motioned to a group of friends standing nearby. They placed a bet on my ethnicity, she explained, and wanted to know where I was from. I smiled and patiently regurgitated my now-rehearsed response: I was […]

We meet Martin Stone on the eve of his 70th birthday: grey hair, goofy smile, his facial expressions vacillating between a childish joy and a more distant sadness. Originally from the U.S., he now shares a dirt-cheap Mile End apartment with a revolving cast of roommates in Montreal. In the mid-1960s, Stone left a lucrative ad […]

When it comes to Muslims, even the good news stories can turn ugly. Take this example from September 2016: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited a mosque during Eid, one of the holiest celebrations in the Islamic calendar, to pay his respects. The story morphed into something sinister and malevolent. Several newspapers owned by Postmedia reported […]

Today’s media climate is rife with increased—but not necessarily better—reporting on sexual assault and rape. That’s why, in December 2015, Toronto-based organization Femifesto and its collaborators created Use the Right Words, a guide to help journalists report respectfully, progressively, and accurately on stories addressing sexual violence. We sat down with one of the main writers, […]