As with ham radio aficionados, the anger and passion of Canadian literary discourse grows ever fiercer as the stakes dissolve. But without such megaphonic outbursts all that remains is tame, sanctioned commentary about manufactured non-controversy.
Featured Articles
Web Exclusive: In Lieu of an Essay on Literary Matters and ‘Bad Back Baseball’
Norm Sibum– or a screed for Brian Fawcett
Sometimes, Fawcett, when I’m writing a piece, a long poem, for instance; and I come down with a case of claustrophobia as a consequence, in order to relieve myself of that unwelcome sensation, I start casting about for a larger backdrop, one that might better accommodate the [...]
Peeing Unrepentantly into Infinity: John Smith’s Fireflies in the Magnolia Grove
Zachariah WellsJohn Smith, Prince Edward Island’s inaugural poet laureate, has been publishing books of poetry since 1972. In spite of his on-Island acclaim, and despite the fact that a Google search of his name – in quotation marks! – turns up nearly six million hits, he remains, I think, very little known outside the cozy confines [...]
Norm Sibum on Tap
Evan JonesNorm Sibum was born in Oberammergau, Germany, in 1947, grew up in Alaska, Missouri, Utah and Washington, and moved to Vancouver, Canada, in 1968. He has published poetry with presses in the UK and Canada, the most recent of which are The Pangborn Defence (Biblioasis, 2008) and Smoke and Lilacs (Carcanet, 2009). His Girls and [...]
Reflections on Scouting
David MasonA few years ago I had a visit from Justin Schiller at my store and that visit initiated a lengthy period of meditation on an aspect of bookselling which, while largely unknown or of no interest to the public, is so central to bookselling that dealers constantly dwell on it. For anyone who doesn’t know [...]
A Whiff of the Monster
Ian Young“I certainly am ‘a legend in my own time’ in Canada… I am also a Canadian of formidable cultural background and education. And eloquent.” —Scott Symons
“He was a catalyst for changing the fabric of society. He tells the truth.” —Donald Martin
“A negative catalyst going through life on autopilot” —Dennis Lee
“A genius without talent” —John Robert Colombo
“I’ll be the organ grinder and you can be the monkeys.” —Scott Symons
The Doug Wright Awards Inaugural Speech
SethIn 2004, journalist Brad Mackay and I founded the Doug Wright Awards for English language cartooning in Canada. We created the awards to bring attention to Canadian cartoonists working outside the traditional areas of cartoon publishing ( namely minicomics, underground publishing, the graphic novel, etc.). We felt there were already plenty of awards out there celebrating newspaper strips and mainstream superhero material. There were even a few devoted to the kind of work we wanted to honour – but, American awards of course. We wanted to shine a Canadian light on the underground/alternative comics scene here in our own country.
In Anticipation
Ray RobertsonBook reviews are for readers, publishers, even other reviewers – everyone but authors. If the writer is any good – a substantial conditional, granted – he or she knows better than anyone else what works and what doesn’t with his or her latest offering, even (most crushingly) why. No one who has read a book [...]
The Perilous Trade Conversations: Six: Stan Bevington, Rick/Simon, Victor Coleman
Roy MacSkimmingThis is the sixth in a series of edited conversations between Roy MacSkimming and Canadian book publishers. MacSkimming conducted the conversations during his research for The Perilous Trade: Publishing Canada’s Writers (McClelland & Stewart, 2003). The book has been reissued in an updated paperback edition as The Perilous Trade: Book Publishing in Canada 1946-2006.