31 Days of Stories 2021, Day 4: “The Ice Queen” by Madeline Sonik
Three female figures, and their carefully interwoven relationships, provide the backbone for this creepily fractured fairy tale.
31 Days of Stories 2021, Day 2: “Adoro Te Devote” by Kristyn Dunnion
Dunnion’s story, about a gay teenager navigating the shoals of religious and sexual attraction, finds its momentum in the juxtaposition of the sacred and profane.
No future, or, the submerged punk ethos of Susan Sanford Blades’s Fake It So Real
In these tales of mothers, daughters, fathers, and lovers, punk is more attitudinal than aural or political.
Novelist Kim Echlin ventures into dark territory in Speak, Silence, a Bosnia-set novel about rape as a war crime
“For 2,000 years or more, women in literature have been represented as the spoils of war,” says Echlin about one impression she wanted to correct by writing this novel.
“Not a likeable man”: “Four Stations in His Circle” by Austin Clarke
Clarke’s story – nominally a comic work – is a piercing examination of the way Canadian capitalism disfavours those who are not white.
Luciana Ricciutelli, groundbreaking feminist publisher and small-press advocate, dead at 62
The longtime editor-in-chief of Inanna Publications is remembered as much for her dedication to publishing debut and marginalized authors as her commitment to small presses in Canada.
Poet George Murray launches Walk the Line, a pair of workshops to teach beginning and intermediate writers the craft of verse
The former St. John's, Newfoundland, poet laureate is looking to demystify poetry and convince people that anyone has it in them to write verse.
James Grainger on Folk Horror and confronting Canada’s colonial past
In order to establish a Folk Horror tradition, Canada would first have to reckon with the sins of its history as a settler-colonial nation.
Tony Burgess on the most terrifying reading experience of his life
“I thought there were things this book could do to me that were dangerous.”
Nathan Ripley on the intimidation of writing in “the best genre”
The author of psychological thrillers says his respect for the horror genre may explain why he has had difficulty writing in the genre.