This year, the Toronto International Festival of Authors ran from October 18th through the 28th. I’ve covered this event through the years in a variety of ways, some official (in 2013 I contributed reviews to the festival site professionally – like this one – and in 2016 I
"Perhaps the most brave and honest review of After James should restrict itself to two words: Read it." Could be that Angie Abdou got it right, when she reviewed Michael Helm's After James and concluded with this. McClelland & Stewart, 2016 But she did a fine job of
Promise Falls has a history. You might not think so, but it matters. “Are we too insignificant up here: A couple of hours away from New York? Is that what we’re foolish enough to think? Let me tell you something, my friend. You want to strike fear into the hearts
In which I discuss some of the skinny volumes which have kept me company while on the move, while heavier volumes (like Connie Willis' Crosstalk and Steven King's 11/22/1963) stayed home. Warsan Shire's chapbook is my skinniest book of the year. I finished reading it on a single commute, but
"The past presses so hard on the present, the present is badly bruised, blood brims under the skin." These lines from Brenda Shaughnessy's poem “Nachträglichkeit”* fit beautifully with Darren Greer's new novel, Advocate: Not only because much of Advocate is preoccupied with memory, with what the characters carry with them
