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What it’s really like living in rural Canada

Dispatches from McCallum, Newfoundland, in David Ward's Bay of Hope

David Ward

“Your address?” she asks. We’re talking on the telephone. “Post Office Box 3, McCallum, Newfoundland, A0H 2J0,” I reply. “Would you like me to spell McCallum for you?” “I need your street address, sir.” “I’m sorry, I don’t have one.” “I need the street name and number on the building you want us to send […] More »
May-June 2018

REVIEW: Casey Plett’s debut novel challenges readers to reflect on humanity and love

Inside Little Fish

Stephanie Milliken

Little Fish By Casey Plett Arsenal Pulp Press, $19.95 In her debut novel, Little Fish, Lambda Literary Award-winner Casey Plett tells a heartbreaking but hopeful story about time, identity, and the intricate relationships that tie people together. The events of Little Fish take place during a Winnipeg winter, and Plett does an extraordinary job of […] More »
May-June 2018

REVIEW: Journalist’s new memoir explores the history of 20th-century Ethiopia through her grandmother’s own story

Inside The Wife's Tale by Aida Edemariam

Maria Siassina

The Wife’s Tale: A Personal History By Aida Edemariam Knopf Canada, $34.00 The Wife’s Tale is an uncommon memoir that reads more like an epic, spanning decades of Ethiopia’s rich and tumultuous history, as well as one woman’s journey. It’s written by Aida Edemariam, a Canadian-Ethiopian journalist and the granddaughter of the book’s protagonist, who collected years’ […] More »
March-April 2018

REVIEW: Jordan Tannahill’s new book explores the limbo between life and death

Inside Liminal

Aaron Broverman

Liminal By Jordan Tannahill House of Anansi Press, $22.95 Destabilizing from its opening pages, Liminal by Jordan Tannahill places readers firmly between life and death, fact and fiction, consciousness and unconsciousness. A quasi-fictional version of the author’s own life, the main character, Jordan, finds his mother in bed. Unsure if she is dead or asleep, […] More »
March-April 2018

REVIEW: Novel gives a voice to Japanese-Canadians in a post-war world

Inside Floating City by Kerri Sakamoto

Jemicah Colleen Marasigan

Floating City  By Kerri Sakamoto Knopf Canada, $29.95 Floating City by Kerri Sakamoto—who was nominated for a Governor General’s Literary Award for The Electrical Field—gives a voice to Japanese-Canadians during post-WWII. Loosely inspired by Richard Buckminster Fuller and Shoji Sadao’s plans for Project Toronto, Sakomoto takes readers on Frankie’s journey from the coasts of B.C. […] More »

EXCERPT: Searching for beauty

From Marcello Di Cintio's Pay No Heed to the Rockets

Marcello Di Cintio

Most of all, though, the girl in the photos made me long for beauty. All we think we know of Palestine is its ugliness. Palestine is a place of despairing grey broken only by the red of blood and flame. But the girl in Gaza was beautiful in the way all children are beautiful, and more […] More »

What This Magazine contributors and alumni have been writing

A rundown of books, both forthcoming and recently released, by the This family

This Magazine

Prepare your bookshelves! This year, This contributors past and present have been working hard to publish some incredible reads, including non-fiction, fiction, and poetry collections. Here’s what in store for 2018 from our friends at This—and you won’t want to miss any of them! Marry, Bang, Kill Andrew Battershill Goose Lane Editions, March 6, 2018 Our fiction editor’s […] More »
March-April 2018

REVIEW: New novel explores the intersection of technology and desire

Inside Liz Harmer's The Amateurs

Jessica Rose

The Amateurs By Liz Harmer Knopf Canada, $32.95 In The Amateurs, the first novel by Liz Harmer, a space travel device called “Port” has been created by PINA, the world’s largest tech company. Urged by nostalgia and longing, consumers are quick to use the portal to revisit their youth or to explore their futures; however, […] More »
March-April 2018

REVIEW: New book explores the feminist history of break-ups

Inside Hard to Do by Kelli María Korducki

Samantha Sobolewski

Hard to Do: The Surprising, Feminist History of Breaking Up By Kelli María Korducki Coach House, $13.95 Hard To Do: The Surprising, Feminist History of Breaking Up, by National Magazine Award-nominated journalist Kelli María Korducki, is a lifeline for women navigating expectations, standards, and break-ups in today’s liberated, but uncharted, relationships. Using examples from history, […] More »
March-April 2018

REVIEW: New ‘lesbian supernatural thriller’ explores the realities of trauma and healing

Inside Amber Dawn's Sodom Road Exit

Allyson Aritcheta

Sodom Road Exit By Amber Dawn Arsenal Pulp Press, $21.95 Returning to Ontario’s Crystal Beach after dropping out of university and accumulating a fair amount of debt in Toronto, Starla Mia Martin doesn’t plan on sticking around her birthplace forever. Her viewpoint quickly changes when she encounters Etta, the paranormal product of a tragic death […] More »
January-February 2018

REVIEW: New anthology explores why you should trust your intuition

Inside Happy If You Know It

Allyson Aritcheta

Happy If You Know it With/out Pretend, $30.00 The poetry, fiction, art, essays, and photography in Happy If You Know It grapple with one question: “What does it mean to trust our intuition?” Women in the anthology answer by sharing their truths, shortcomings, and pain without hesitation. Their voices unfurl revelations that become points of […] More »