Ontario book news, interviews and more

Book Therapy: Mother’s Day Edition

 Beyond the saccharine sentiments, store-bought flowers, and (adorable but messy) kid-crafted breakfasts in bed, Mother’s Day can be an extremely fraught if not painful holiday for many. I know I spent ...

Class, History, Fiction, and Form Part 5: The Speak o the Mearns

My parents are renters, so we moved houses a lot growing up. How can you expect continuity under those conditions, the steady passage of an uncomplicatedly teleological time? We can’t point to the place ...

More Funny Books, Please!

One of the most stressful questions I’ve been asked by kids is, “are your books funny?” This is a test disguised as a question. If I get it wrong, they won’t read my books. But what is an appropriate ...

Eva Tihanyi's "3-Layer" Poetry Collection Cicle Tour is a Tour de Force

Eva Tihanyi's Circle Tour (Inanna Publications) has a simple but fascinating structure of three sections: the Outer Circle, Inner Circle, and the Centre. Each section has its own power – the outward-facing ...

Class, History, Fiction, and Form Part 4: I Scream of Benigni

I feel a mounting sense of anxiety that I still haven’t said everything I said I would. I have called my shot and then proceeded to chuck basketballs, tennis balls, darts, arrows, and various other ...

Alex Manley Offers a Roadmap to Positive Masculinity in a Space Crowded by Toxic Internet Celebrities

In a world where misogynistic online celebrities curate massive followings, toxic masculinity continues to be detrimental to men and women, as well as young people. But as our collective idea of what ...

The Big Contest! Enter to Win 10 Books from The Word on the Street

Toronto's favourite literary gathering, The Word on the Street, takes over Queen's Park on May 27 and 28 this year, and to celebrate, the good folks at WOTS are giving one lucky reader the chance to win ...

Class, History, Fiction, and Form Part 3: "To See Someone Who Does Not See"

So now I have to do what I said I would do and start offering some ways of escaping the individualist narrative conventions of the bourgeois novel. They will by no means be the only ways. Not by a longshot. ...

Read an Excerpt from The Trauma Beat, Tamara Cherry's Call for Journalists to Change How They Cover Violent Crime

Imagine you've just experienced the worst moment of your life – the worst moment most people could imagine: the violent, unexpected loss of a loved one. In the shock-numbed minutes and hours that follow, ...

Emily Osborne on Weaving Together Translations of Old Norse Skaldic Poetry with Personal Lyrics in Her Bold Debut

Sometimes in discussing poetry, there is an idea that a collection must swing towards either the personal and emotive, creating powerful connections with readers in that vein, or towards a more form-focused ...