Oh, Canada: Former CBC head Richard Stursberg critiques our current literary climate in a new long essay
Lament for a Literature: The Collapse of Canadian Book PublishingRichard StursbergSutherland Quarterly “No one will know how we lived,” wrote...
Clinging to the flotsam: James Sallis examines the classic era of paperback noir fiction
This is one of the things Sallis insists on: the idea that commercial fiction can contain insights every bit as profound as those in more high-minded literary novels.
21st century kitsch: Cultural critic W. David Marx examines the state of our art in his book Blank Space
Marx argues that the 21st century has been typified not by artistic innovation or renovation, but by a capitalistic retrenchment.
Sixteen books that helped put 2025 in perspective
What our literary output offers is not a vision of perfectibility but an attempt to reckon with our world in all its contradiction, ambiguity, and fractiousness.
“A life of constant displacement”: Maggie Helwig compels readers to empathize with an unhoused community in her hear searing book Encampment
Helwig displays an almost preternatural empathy and a willingness to meet people where they are.
Sexual healing: Bloomberg investigative journalist Ellen Huet’s book chronicles the rise and fall of OneTaste, a centre for “orgasmic meditation”
Huet is hesitant to reduce OneTaste to the simple category of a cult, notwithstanding the use of that word in her subtitle.
“How brave can I be?”: Two books focus on the campaign of silencing directed toward pro-Palestinian voices in Canada
The ranks of Canadian protesters who have been punished for speaking out about the slaughter in Gaza are extensive.
“They were in a kind of trance”: David Cayley on the Covid pandemic, the need for questioning, and where the CBC went wrong
"Questioning which is true questioning is only possible for people who have some excellence of intelligence, character, and formation."
My definition is this: Self-proclaimed word nerd Stefan Fatsis examines the importance of the Merriam-Webster dictionary to U.S. society and culture
Some of the words Fatsis was successful in getting into the dictionary include "alt-right," "dogpile," "microaggression," and "overserve."
Cory Doctorow examines how the internet got so awful in his latest anti-establishment manifesto
Doctorow's notion of enshittification has much going for it: it's irreverent, broadly applicable, and memorable.