Millenials and Gen Zers hone the art of annotating
Rita Simonetta
Jordan Murray’s perfectly manicured hand displays an annotated title page of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. “From the library of Jordan Murray” is stamped in the centre; just below she’s written, “the cost of pride, love & marriage, social status.” And all around are illustrations of tiny flowers, hearts and envelopes along with a drawing […] More »
Canadian libraries may be in danger as calls to ban books get louder
Asha Swann
Ronnie Riley learned through social media that their first novel was facing censorship. Riley was scrolling late one evening when they saw what appeared to be a leaked school memo. Their middle-grade book about a non-binary pre-teen named Jude was one of four 2SLGBTQIA+ books that Ontario’s Waterloo Catholic District School Board was trying to […] More »
Inside Mark V. Campbell's ...Everything Remains Raw
Maria Siassina
…Everything Remains Raw: Photographing Toronto’s hip hop culture from analogue to digital By Mark V. Campbell Goose Lane Editions, $35.00 Mark V. Campbell’s …Everything Remains Raw is an in-depth look at Toronto’s burgeoning hip-hop scene from the 1980s until present day. It also explores how the city helped mold hip-hop culture. The book is a collection of […] More »
Inside Catherine Hernandez's The Femme Playlist & I Cannot Lie to the Stars That Made Me
Kashi Syal
The Femme Playlist & I Cannot Lie to the Stars That Made Me Catherine Hernandez Playwrights Canada Press, $18.95 Catherine Hernandez is an award-winning author and activist who has dedicated her career to promoting, capturing, and performing the stories of women of colour. The Femme Playlist & I Cannot Lie to The Stars That Made […] More »
Inside Thea Lim's timely debut novel, An Ocean of Minutes
Chimedum Ohaegbu
An Ocean of Minutes By Thea Lim Viking, $24.95 In Thea Lim’s An Ocean of Minutes, Polly Nader time-travels to the future to work off medical debts for her boyfriend, Frank, who needs a life-saving treatment. She plans to reunite with him after her work as a bonded labourer is done. However, Polly is rerouted […] More »
Inside Kim Moritsugu's seventh novel, The Showrunner
Stephanie Milliken
The Showrunner By Kim Moritsugu Dundurn Press, $17.99 In Kim Moritsugu’s seventh novel, she introduces us to three fearless, ambitious women who will do just about anything to stay relevant in a capricious industry. The dialogue between the characters is quick, playful, and biting, and Moritsugu has a knack for making a story feel like […] More »
Inside Ohpikiihaakan-ohpimeh (Raised Somewhere Else) by Colleen Cardinal
Colleen Cardinal
In this excerpt, Colleen Cardinal tells her story of being a child of the Sixties Scoop when she and 20,000 Indigenous children in Canada were taken from their homes to be placed in foster care or were adopted. There was a huge disparity between how us girls and our adoptive brother were treated. As a […] More »
Adjacentland By Rabindranath Maharaj Buckrider Books, $22.00 “Today is a new day but yesterday was the same day.” Adjacentland is a twisted story of a man’s journey to discover who he is after waking up in an institution with no memory and only odd clues within letters and drawings to guide his way. As each […] More »
Shrewed By Elizabeth Renzetti House of Anansi, $22.95 In Shrewed, Globe and Mail columnist Elizabeth Renzetti asks the questions many of us ask as women: Why are there so few women in politics? Why must we feel unsafe in public spaces? Will things always be this way? However, the collection of essays really shines when […] More »
Defying Expectations: The Case of UFCW Local 401 By Jason Foster Athabasca University Press, $34.95 Defying Expectations: The Case of UFCW Local 401 is a book about success. In it, Edmonton’s Jason Foster, an associate professor of human resources and labour relations at Athabasca University and former director of policy analysis at the Alberta Federation […] More »
Inside Mallory Tater's new book on burgeoning femininity
Jemicah Colleen Marasigan
This Will Be Good By Mallory Tater Book*hug, $18.00 Praise for This Will Be Good, written by Mallory Tater—a writer from the Algonquin Anishnaabeg Nation (Ottawa)—is thanks to flowing prose that evokes strong emotions. Unabashedly covering topics such as eating disorders, sexuality, and death, Tater’s stylistic voice paints a vivid portrait of a child growing […] More »