Posts

Media Hits: HELLO HORSE, THE UTOPIAN GENERATION, ON COMMUNITY, and more!

/in /by

IN THE NEWS!

HELLO HORSE

Hello, Horse by Richard Kelly Kemick (Aug 6, 2024) was highlighted in the Globe and Mail‘s list of “Thirty-four books to read this summer.” The article was published online on June 13, and you can check it out here.

Critic Emily Donaldson writes,

“The animal world interacts with the human one in confounding and sometimes wondrous ways in Kemick’s first collection, which abounds with the poet’s sideways, observational writing.”

Hello, Horse was also featured in BC Bookworld! The review was published in their Summer 2024 print issue, and is available to view online here.

BC Bookworld writes,

“Part of the joy of a collection of short stories is the surprising range of characters and situations that can spring from an author’s imagination. Richard Kelly Kemick’s debut collection of character-driven stories, Hello, Horse, range from the humorous to the bizarre.”

Order Hello, Horse here!

THE UTOPIAN GENERATION

The Utopian Generation by Pepetela, translated by David Brookshaw (Aug 13, 2024), was highlighted in the Globe and Mail‘s list of “Thirty-four books to read this summer.” The article was published online on June 13, and you can check it out here.

Critic Emily Donaldson writes,

“First published in Portuguese in 1992, this decades-spanning anti-colonialist novel from the early sixties by Angola’s most prominent writer (real name: Artur Pestana dos Santos) involves a group of students in Lisbon who, faced with the prospect of being conscripted to suppress a political uprising in their native land, end up (like Pepetela himself did) as guerilla fighters in Angola’s brutal 14-year war.”

Order The Utopian Generation here!

SORRY ABOUT THE FIRE

Colleen Coco Collins, author of Sorry About the Fire (Apr 2, 2024), was interviewed on the All Write in Sin City podcast! The interview was posted online on June 9, and is available to listen to in full here.

Grab Sorry About the Fire here!

YOUR ABSENCE IS DARKNESS

Your Absence Is Darkness by Jón Kalman Stefánsson, translated by Philip Roughton (Mar 5, 2024), was reviewed in The /tƐmz/ Review! The review was published online on June 10, and you can read it here.

Reviewer Marcie McCauley writes,

“Jón Kalman Stefánsson’s writing is steeped in love and loss; his stories are sorrow-soaked, the kind that linger.”

Grab Your Absence Is Darkness here!

LOVE NOVEL

Love Novel by Ivana Sajko, translated by Mima Simic (Feb 6, 2024), was reviewed in The /tƐmz/ Review! The review was published online on June 10, and you can read it in full here.

Reviewer Alex Carrigan writes,

“The true love story in this novel is the love between the reader and the characters, asking the reader to sympathize with the flawed, struggling characters and to empathize with how easy it is to fall into cynicism and to forget the joy in life . . . Sajko’s novel can remind you that some relationships are too interwoven to be truly cut apart, and it’s in finding how they’re tied together that one will remember to persist regardless.”

Get Love Novel here!

ON COMMUNITY

On Community by Casey Plett (Nov 7, 2023) was feature in CBC Books’ list of “25 books for Pride Month.” The list was posted online on June 14, and is available to check out here.

CBC Books writes,

“Plett uses her firsthand experiences to eventually reach a cumulative definition of community and explore how we form bonds with one another.”

Get On Community here!

BEST CANADIAN SERIES 2024

The Best Canadian 2024 Series launch, part of TIFA’s Toronto Lit Up programme, was highlighted on their YouTube channel! The short video was posted on June 12, and you can watch it here.

Get Best Canadian Essays 2024 here!

Get Best Canadian Poetry 2024 here!

Get Best Canadian Stories 2024 here!

Get all three Best Canadian anthologies here!

Media Hits: THE FUTURE, BARFLY, COCKTAIL, and more!

/in /by

IN THE NEWS!

THE FUTURE

The Future by Catherine Leroux, translated by Susan Ouriou (Sep 5, 2024), was reviewed in Alberta Views! The review was published online on May 31, and is available to read here.

Reviewer C. S. Wiesenthal writes,

“While the setting of The Future is indeed dystopian—a ruined and toxic Fort Détroit—the story told here is one that won’t leave you despairing . . . the novel’s overall vision [is] of regenerative potential: the cycle of time and the transformation of all life forms offer possibilities for redemption and hope.”

Get The Future here!

BARFLY

Barfly by Michael Lista (June 4, 2024) has been reviewed in The Seaboard Review by Michael Greenstein. The review was posted online on June 3, and you can read it here.

Greenstein writes,

“With liquid refreshment, firehose, and fire escape, besotted Barfly is a sobering experience.”

Barfly was also featured in Lit Hub‘s list of ’26 new books out today’ along with an excerpt! The list was published on Jun 4 and can be viewed here, and you can read June 7’s excerpted poem, “Auld Lang Syne” here.

Grab Barfly here!

THE EDUCATION OF AUBREY MCKEE

The Education of Aubrey McKee by Alex Pugsley (May 7, 2024) was featured in CBC’s article “10 books you heard about on CBC Radio recently.” The article highlighted Alex Pugsley’s recent interview on CBC’s The Next Chapter. The list was posted on June 4, and you can check it out here.

Get The Education of Aubrey McKee here!

Pick up the first book, Aubrey McKee, here!

WORK TO BE DONE

Work to Be Done: Selected Essays and Reviews by Bruce Whiteman (Mar 12, 2024) was reviewed in the Winnipeg Free Press! The review was published online on June 1, and you can read it in full here.

Reviewer Ron Robinson writes,

“Poet, translator, culture historian, book reviewer and lover of language, Bruce Whiteman has sifted and scrutinized 50 years of his critical writings and selected those that still have delight to offer the curious reader.”

Grab Work to Be Done here!

THE ART OF LIBROMANCY

Josh Cook, author of The Art of Libromancy (Aug 22, 2023), was interviewed on Lit Hub‘s podcast Write-minded: Weekly Inspiration for Writers. The interview, about the behind-the-scenes of selling books, was posted online on June 3, and you can give it a listen here.

Grab The Art of Libromancy here!

IN AWARDS

COCKTAIL

Cocktail by Lisa Alward (Sep 12, 2024) has won the New Brunswick Book Awards’ Mrs. Dunster’s Award for Fiction! The announcement was made on June 1, and you can check out the full list of award winners here. Congratulations to Lisa!

Grab a Cocktail to celebrate here!

PRESS SPOTLIGHT

Photo Credit: Joanna Gigliotti

Biblioasis Press made the news this week, featured in the Globe and Mail! The article by Ira Wells focused on Biblioasis’ place and recognition in the publishing trade.

The article was published online on June 3, and you can check it out here.

Media Hits: HELLO HORSE, THE EDUCATION OF AUBREY MCKEE, YOUR ABSENCE IS DARKNESS, and more!

/in /by

IN THE NEWS!

YOUR ABSENCE IS DARKNESS

Your Absence Is Darkness by Jón Kalman Stefánsson, translated by Philip Roughton (Mar 5, 2024) was reviewed in the Globe and Mail! The review was posted online on May 31, and you can read the full piece here.

Critic Emily Donaldson writes,

“‘It’s always more important to feel things than to understand them,’ our priest-cum-devil says to the narrator at one point. That’s useful advice for approaching Your Absence Is Darkness, which feels, in a sense, like it teaches us to read it as we move along—if you’ll indulge me—as an earthworm might: blindly burrowing and occasionally moving toward the light.”

Get Your Absence Is Darkness here!

HELLO, HORSE

Hello, Horse by Richard Kelly Kemick (Aug 6, 2024) received a starred review in Kirkus Reviews! The review, which will be in their July print issue, was published online on May 31 and can be read here.

Kirkus writes,

“The tales here mix whimsy, weirdness, lust, and Canadian politics, bringing to mind George Saunders and the slackers from Wayne’s World . . . He has a penchant for alternating between things familiar and bizarre . . . Provocative, entertaining short fiction.”

Order Hello, Horse here!

BARFLY

Barfly by Michael Lista (June 4, 2024) was reviewed in The Walrus, in a critical essay by Nicholas Bradley. The review was published on May 31, and you can read it here.

Bradley writes,

“Lista’s poems . . . are fun, completely miserable, and almost certainly bad for you. Barfly should be affixed with a Health Canada warning. You must be nineteen or older to purchase this product. Not safe in any amount. Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.”

Order Barfly here!

THE EDUCATION OF AUBREY MCKEE

Alex Pugsley, author of The Education of Aubrey McKee (May 7, 2024), was interviewed on the Across the Pond Podcast. The interview was posted online on May 30, and you can listen to it in full here.

Host Lori Feathers states,

“This book captures the youthful impatient desire for excitement and experience and also the disillusionment that encroaches on this desire over time.”

Pugsley was also interviewed on CBC Here and Now‘s Tuesday Afternoon Book Club, which aired on May 28. You can listen to the segment here.

Ramraajh Sharvendiran calls the book,

“A love story inspired by the author’s own lived experience that takes us back to the city of Toronto at a time (the 90’s) when it felt more supportive of artists.”

Get The Education of Aubrey McKee here!

Check out the first book, Aubrey McKee, here!

THE HOLLOW BEAST

The Hollow Beast by Christophe Bernard, translated by Lazer Lederhendler (Apr 2, 2024), was reviewed in the Winnipeg Free Press! The review was published online on May 25, and you can check it out here.

Critic Sheldon Birnie writes:

“While The Hollow Beast itself is a beast of a novel, despite its hefty page count it moves along at a leisurely clip, as though the reader is hearing the tall tale around the table at the local pub or late at night in the kitchen during a house party, with the lilt and cadence of an eloquent and well-soused Francophone, peppered throughout with allusions to Quebec history, Metallica’s Kill ‘Em All and the Montreal Canadiens, among others.”

Grab The Hollow Beast here!

Media Hits: CROSSES IN THE SKY, THE EDUCATION OF AUBREY MCKEE, and COCKTAIL!

/in /by

IN THE NEWS!

CROSSES IN THE SKY

Crosses in the Sky: Jean de Brébeuf and the Destruction of Huronia by Mark Bourrie (May 21, 2024) was reviewed in the Globe and Mail! The review was published online on May 24, and you can read the full piece here.

Reviewer Charlotte Gray writes,

“Crosses in the Sky is dramatic and enthralling . . . Bourrie has done more than any other Canadian historian writing for a general audience to disinter the root causes of degenerating settler-Indigenous relations and disrupted Indigenous societies in the 400 years since Brébeuf’s death. And he has done it with attention-grabbing panache.”

Crosses in the Sky was also reviewed in the Ottawa Review of Books. The review was posted online on May 22, and you can read the full review here.

Grab Crosses in the Sky here!

THE EDUCATION OF AUBREY MCKEE

The Education of Aubrey McKee by Alex Pugsley (May 7, 2024) was reviewed in the Midwest Book Review. The review was published online on May 21, and you can read it in full here.

“A fun and fascinating read from start to finish, The Education of Aubrey McKee continues to showcase author Alex Pugsley’s genuine flair for original, distinctive, and narrative driven storytelling style.”

The Education of Aubrey McKee was also excerpted in Lit Hub, on May 20. You can check out the full excerpt here.

Get The Education of Aubrey McKee here!

Check out the first book, Aubrey McKee, here!

COCKTAIL

Cocktail by Lisa Alward (Sep 12, 2023) was reviewed in FreeFall. The review was posted online on May 19, and is available to read here.

Reviewer Skylar Kay writes,

“Lisa Alward’s Cocktail is a memorable collection for its characters, settings, and artistic prowess. From the macro aspects of storytelling like character and setting development to the micro levels of writing poignant lines to capture allegories in unexpected ways, Alward shows off her talent at every turn.”

Grab Cocktail here!

Media Hits: HOW TO BUILD A BOAT, OFF THE RECORD, THE FUTURE, and more!

/in /by

IN THE NEWS!

GLOBE 100 BEST BOOKS OF 2023

How to Build a Boat by Elaine Feeney (Nov 7, 2023), Breaking and Entering by Don Gillmor (Aug 15, 2023), Instructions for the Drowning by Steven Heighton (Apr 18 2023) and The Full-Moon Whaling Chronicles by Jason Guriel (Aug 1, 2023) have been featured by the Globe and Mail as a part of “The Globe 100: The Best Books of 2023.” The article was published online on December 8, 2023.

You can read the full list here.

ON COMMUNITY

On Community by Casey Plett (Nov 7, 2023), was selected as one of CBC Books’ Best Canadian Nonfiction of 2023. The article was published online on December 14, 2023.

You can read the full list here.

Get On Community here!

SETH’S CHRISTMAS GHOST STORIES

A review of Seth’s Christmas Ghost Stories (Oct 31, 2023) was featured in Cemetery Dance Magazine. The review was published online on December 12, 2023. You can read the review here.

Critic Blu Gilliand writes,

“Seth’s illustrations suggest more than they actually show, adding to the quiet horror creeping around the edges. These are perfect for a quick read on a cold winter’s night, and are sure to warm the cockles of any jaded horror fan’s heart.”

Also, a “visual taste” of Seth’s Christmas Ghost Stories was featured in the Literary Review of Canada‘s Bookworm newsletter. The excerpt was published online on December 12, 2023. You can check out the excerpted illustrations here.

Grab all three 2023 Christmas Ghost Stories here!

Check out the rest of the series here!

HOW TO BUILD A BOAT

How to Build a Boat by Elaine Feeney (Nov 7, 2023) has been reviewed in the New Yorker as part of their “Briefly Noted” column. The article was published online and in print on December 18, 2023. You can read the full review here.

The New Yorker writes:

“Feeney’s prose is beautifully crisp.”

Get How to Build a Boat here!

THE FUTURE

The Future by Catherine Leroux, trans. by Susan Ouriou (Sep 5, 2023) has been featured on CBC Day 6’s Holiday Gift Guide. The list was published on December 18, 2023. The complete CBC Day 6 gift guide can be seen here.

Catherine Leroux was also interviewed on CBC’s Afternoon Drive. The interview aired on December 15, 2023. Listen to the full Afternoon Drive interview here.

Get The Future here!

OFF THE RECORD

Off the Record edited by John Metcalf (Dec 5, 2023) was reviewed in The BC Review. The review was published online on December 18, 2023. You can read the full review here.

Brett Josef Grubisic calls it:

“Carefully wrought, tonally diverse, artful, thoughtful, revelatory, and nothing short of enticing.”

An interview with Caroline Adderson on her experience contributing to Off the Record was featured in Open Book. The interview was published online on December 12, 2023, and can be read here.

The book is described by Open Book in glowing terms:

“Metcalf challenges six decorated Canadian authors to consider and share just how they became writers. Each essay is accompanied by a short story, showcasing each writer’s literary identity and style, and providing insight into how each writer approaches their work and their editorial relationships.”

Get Off the Record here!

SLEEP IS NOW A FOREIGN COUNTRY

Sleep Is Now a Foreign Country by Mike Barnes (Nov 14, 2023) has been reviewed in Publishers Weekly. The review was published online on December 9, 2023, and can be viewed here.

Publishers Weekly writes,

“The volume’s particular magic lies in Barnes’s adept use of free-flowing chronology and hallucinatory language to immerse readers in the depths of his psychosis … This isn’t easy to forget.”

Mike Barnes was also interviewed on CBC’s Fresh Air on December 9, 2023 and published a playlist for the book on Largehearted Boy on December 11, 2023.

You can listen to the full interview here, and check out Barnes’ playlist here.

Get Sleep Is Now a Foreign Country here!

POGUEMAHONE

Poguemahone by Patrick McCabe was listed on The Book Beat‘s Year-End Favorites by Tom Bowden. The list was published online on December 14, 2023, and can be seen here.

Bowden writes,

“Poguemahone, for all its bleakly comic episodes, is more seriously about the tensions between traditional and modern ways, trust and betrayal, memory and vengeance, and British / Irish power dynamics.”

Get Poguemahone here!

Media Hits: INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE DROWNING, ALL THINGS MOVE, ON CLASS, and more!

/in /by

INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE DROWNING

Instructions for the Drowning by Steven Heighton (April 18, 2023) was reviewed in the New York Times by Jen Vafidis. The review was published online on May 30, 2023. You can read the full review here.

Vafidis writes,

“To read work like Heighton’s knowing that we won’t get more of it […] inspires fury in all directions. […] Every story in this collection has “it,” whatever Heighton decided “it” would be: pacing that thrills; fragile love and blind hate; descriptions you can smell and taste and hear.”

Instructions for the Drowning was reviewed in That Shakespearean Rag by Steven Beattie. The review was published online on May 23, 2023 and can be read here.

Beattie writes:

“Heighton’s almost preternatural ability to recognize what to include and what to leave out of a particular piece is most apparent in his poetry and his short fiction, where compression and precision of language combine to create meaning.”

Get Instructions for the Drowning here!

ALL THINGS MOVE

All Things Move: Learning to Look in the Sistine Chapel by Jeannie Marshall (April 4, 2023), was reviewed in the Globe and Mail! The review was published online on June 1, 2023. You can read the full review here.

Reviewer Kate Taylor writes,

“In the era of the perpetual scroll, art still asks us to stop and look, long and slowly. All Things Move is a rich vindication of one writer’s decision to do just that.”

All Things Move by Jeannie Marshall was mentioned in the New York Times as part of their “Newly Published.” The article was published online on May 24, 2023. Read the full article here.

From the article:

“The Sistine Chapel serves as inspiration and structure for this deeply contemplative account about life, family, art, and appreciation.”

All Things Move was also reviewed by Dan Dunsky in the Literary Review of Canada. The review appears online and in their print June issue. It was first published online on May 19, 2023. You can read the full review here.

Dunsky writes,

“Part meditation, part cultural criticism, part therapy, All Things Move captures the complex range of emotions that art can sometimes elicit in us, as well as the questions that may arise as a consequence.”

Get All Things Move here!

THE WORLD AT MY BACK

The World at My Back by Thomas Melle, trans. by Luise von Flotow (May 2, 2023) was featured in Words Without Borders‘ article “The Watchlist: May 2023.” The article was published online on May 31, 2023. Read the full review here.

Tobias Carroll writes,

“The World at My Back is in no way an easy read; instead, it’s a candid and frequently harrowing chronicle of its author’s struggles with mental health over the years, and the cyclical nature of its effect on his life. In von Flotow’s translation, this book becomes a source of insight into what its author went through—and what he gained and lost along the way.”

The World at My Back has been reviewed in the Ottawa Review of Books. The review was published online on May 19, 2023. You can read the full review here.

Tim Niedermann writes,

“His goal in The World at My Back […] is to show what being mentally ill is really like from the inside. That he is such a talented writer allows him to pull this off powerfully.”

The World at My Back by Thomas Melle has been excerpted in Lit Hub. The excerpt was published online on May 23, 2023. You can read the full excerpt here.

Get The World at My Back here!

ON CLASS

Deborah Dundas, author of On Class (May 9, 2023), was interviewed by the University of King’s College MFA Program for their website, published online on May 24, 2023. You can read the full interview here.

On Class by Deborah Dundas was reviewed in the Winnipeg Free Press. The review was published online on May 19, 2023. You can read the full review here.

Reviewer Douglas J. Johnston calls it

“a nifty, provocative little book.”

Grab On Class here!

ON BROWSING

On Browsing by Jason Guriel (October 4, 2022) has been reviewed in Fare Foreword. The review was published online on May 23, 2023. Check out the full review here.

Katy Carl writes,

“Guriel’s browsing minds court multisensory and memorable run-ins with reality, where text and context meld to generate irreducibly personal meanings. […] Guriel wants us to remember that, as human beings, we have deep, direct, innate access to ‘human and humanist’ values.”

Neil Pasricha (author of The Book of Awesome) featured On Browsing on his blog as part of his April Book Club, published on April 29, 2023. You can read Neil’s post here.

Get On Browsing here!

CASE STUDY

Case Study by Graeme Macrae Burnet (November 1, 2022) was reviewed in the New York Sun. The review was published online on May 19, 2023 and can be read here.

Carl Rollyson writes,

“The parallel tracks of Case Study are deeply satisfying because they encompass a sense of how we live day-by-day in doubt, often unaware of our own motivations.”

Get Case Study here!

Media Hits: ALL THINGS MOVE, ON CLASS, DREAMING HOME, and more!

/in /by

IN THE NEWS

ALL THINGS MOVE

Jeannie Marshall, author of All Things Move: Learning to Look in the Sistine Chapel by (April 4, 2023), was interviewed by Meg Nolan in Foreword Reviews. The interview was published online on May 11, 2023. You can read the interview here.

All Things Move was also featured on All Lit Up as one of “10 Books to Get For Mom.” The list was published online on May 8, 2023. Read the full list here.

Buy All Things Move here.

ON CLASS

On Class (May 9, 2023) by Deborah Dundas was excerpted in the Toronto Star. The excerpt was published online on May 6, 2023. Read the full excerpt here.

Deborah Dundas was interviewed about On Class for Open Book. The interview was published online on May 2, 2023. Read the full interview here.

Open Book writes,

“Part of Biblioasis’s acclaimed Field Notes series exploring social issues, On Class is urgent and wise, written with Dundas’ trademark wit and crisp prose. Raw and smart, it urges readers not to look away from the complexity of issues affecting the poor and working class, especially in a time of constant political, economic, and social turmoil.”

Buy On Class here.

DREAMING HOME

Dreaming Home by Lucian Childs (June 6, 2023) was reviewed in the Miramichi Reader. The review was published online on May 6, 2023. Check out the full review here.

Sarah Rutkowski writes,

“Childs’ ruthlessly genuine depiction of Kyle through these narratives is illustrative of a smart and thoughtful engagement with the simultaneity of a person whose sense of self is moulded by their suffering.”

Get Dreaming Home here.

PASCAL’S FIRE

Pascal’s Fire by Kristina Bresnen (April 4, 2023) has been reviewed in The BC Review. The review was published online on May 2, 2023. You can read the full review here.

In the review, Linda Rogers writes:

“Bresnen has found a metaphor for the human condition, but some will argue against the facility of faith speech as a solution.”

Buy Pascal’s Fire here.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE DROWNING & THIS TIME THAT PLACE

Instructions for the Drowning by Steven Heighton (April 18, 2023) and This Time, That Place by Clark Blaise (Oct 18, 2022) were included in CBC Books’ list, “May is Short Story Month — here are 14 Canadian collections to check out.” The list was published on May 4, 2023. Check out the full list here.

Get Instructions for the Drowning here.

Get This Time, That Place here.

ORDINARY WONDER TALES & CONFESSIONS WITH KEITH

Ordinary Wonder Tales by Emily Urquhart and Confessions with Keith by Pauline Holdstock were both featured in the Globe and Mail‘s list, “Twelve books that capture the fabulous and fraught nature of motherhood.” The article was posted on May 12, 2023. Check out the full list here.

On Ordinary Wonder Tales:

“In these essays, Emily Urquhart—who has a doctorate in folklore (and is the daughter of Canadian author Jane Urquhart and the late painter Tony Urquhart, whose dementia is dealt with in the final, powerful essay)—explores childhood, motherhood and daughterhood with a sense of wonder.”

On Confessions with Keith:

“Bridget Jones meets Nora Ephron in this diarized account of Vita, a woman dealing with an unexpected plot twist after 20 years of marriage.”

Get Ordinary Wonder Tales here.

Get Confessions with Keith here.

Media Hits: ORDINARY WONDER TALES, THIS TIME THAT PLACE, TRY NOT TO BE STRANGE, BIG MEN FEAR ME, and more!

/in /by

IN THE NEWS!

ORDINARY WONDER TALES

Ordinary Wonder Tales by Emily Urquhart (November 1, 2022), has been reviewed in the Globe and Mail! The article on essay collections was published online on December 29, 2022. Read the full article here.

Emily Donaldson writes,

“In her collection Ordinary Wonder Tales, Canadian Emily Urquhart brings her skills as a journalist, editor and folklorist … fascinatingly to bear on a series of exquisitely written essays about the relationship between living and storytelling; about how these two things rely on each other for their mutual survival.”

Get your copy of Ordinary Wonder Tales here!

THIS TIME, THAT PLACE

This Time, That Place by Clark Blaise (November 8, 2022 ) has been reviewed in The Bulwark. The review was published on December 29, 2022. You can read the review here.

Randy Boyagoda writes,

“Clark Blaise might be North America’s Great Unclaimed Writer. […] These stories, like their author, embody and enact a continental sense and sensibility.”

Get your copy of This Time, That Place here!

TRY NOT TO BE STRANGE

Try Not to Be Strange by Michael Hingston (September 13, 2022) has been reviewed in the Times Literary Supplement. The review was published online and in print on December 23, 2022. Check out the full review here.

Michael Saler writes,

“Michael Hingston’s captivating history underscores the affinity between [Javier] Marias’s preoccupations as an artist and the peculiar interplay of the real and fictional that defines the kingdom.”

Grab your copy of Try Not to Be Strange here!

BIG MEN FEAR ME

Big Men Fear Me by Mark Bourrie (October 18, 2022) has been excerpted in Ottawa Citizen. The excerpt was published online on December 29, 2022.

Check out the full excerpt here.

Get your copy of Big Men Fear Me here!

GLOBE AND MAIL 2023 PREVIEW!

The Full Moon Whaling Chronicles by Jason Guriel (August 1, 2023), Instructions for the Drowning by Steven Heighton (April 18, 2023), and Breaking and Entering by Don Gillmor (August 15, 2023) have been featured as part of the Globe and Mail’s 2023 preview. You can read the full preview here.

Check out The Full Moon Whaling Chronicles here.

Check out Instructions for the Drowning here.

Check out Breaking and Entering here.

CHRISTMAS GHOST STORIES, TRY NOT TO BE STRANGE, ORDINARY WONDER TALES, JUST A MOTHER, ON BROWSING, HAIL THE INVISIBLE WATCHMAN: Globe and Mail, and other hit reviews!

/in /by

IN THE NEWS

CHRISTMAS GHOST STORIES

Seth’s 2022 Christmas Ghost Stories (November 1, 2022) have been reviewed in the Globe and Mail! The review, which also includes an interview with series illustrator Seth, was published online on December 20, 2022. Read the full review here.

Reviewer Jessica Duffin Wolfe writes,

“[I]t’s worth asking why Christmas and ghosts go so well together, and what the hearthside season’s haunts are trying to tell us.

They live on in the 2022 edition of Christmas Ghost Stories from Biblioasis, a series of chilling classics illustrated by Seth, the celebrated Canadian cartoonist … perfect for slipping into a stocking, or tucking into a coat pocket to while away a rinkside hour.”

Seth’s Christmas Ghost Stories have been reviewed in Cemetery Dance! The review was published online on December 20, 2022. Check out the full review here.

Reviewer Blu Gilliand writes,

“If you’re looking to lace your Christmas cheer with a little fear, then Seth, Biblioasis, and these three authors have the perfect gift for you.”

The Christmas Ghost Stories were also reviewed by Anne Logan for I’ve Read This! The review was published online on December 20, 2022. Read the full review here.

Anne Logan writes,

“I loved them, and really enjoyed the whole concept of reading ghost stories for the holidays ( I appreciate a good scare any time of year!) … These beautiful books are perfect stocking-stuffers, and even better is that they are beautifully illustrated by Canadian darling Seth.”

Pick up your set of the 2022 Christmas Ghost Stories here!

Check out the full series here!

ON BROWSING

Jason Guriel’s On Browsing (October 4, 2022) was listed in Zoomer‘s holiday gift guide, “Holiday Gift List: Books for the Bookish.” The list was published on December 20, 2022. Read whole list here.

Nathalie Atkinson writes,

“The pages of this paean by the Toronto-based poet and critic cover books, but also praise video stores and the practice of slowing down in general. It’s an ode to the pleasures and contemplative benefits of aimlessly wandering the aisles, open to serendipity and discovery. The fact that losing hours to browsing thwarts the ever-present online algorithms is a bonus.”

A portion of On Browsing, originally published at the Yale Review, was listed as one of their most-read prose pieces of the year. “Against the Stream” by Jason Guriel was originally published in January 2022. This list was also announced on December 20, 2022.

Read the whole list along with Guriel’s essay here.

Pick up your copy of On Browsing here!

TRY NOT TO BE STRANGE

Try Not to Be Strange by Michael Hingston (September 13, 2022), was listed in 49th Shelf’s list, “Last Minute Picks for All the Types on Your List”! The list was published online on December 19, 2022. Check out the full list here.

Try Not to Be Strange was also reviewed in the BC Review! The review was posted on December 20, 2022. Check out the full review here.

Reviewer Michael Hayward calls it,

“The authoritative history of the Kingdom of Redonda.”

Get your copy of Try Not to Be Strange here!

ORDINARY WONDER TALES

Ordinary Wonder Tales by Emily Urquhart (November 1, 2022) was listed in 49th Shelf’s list, “Last Minute Picks for All the Types on Your List”! The list was published online on December 19, 2022.

Check out the full list here.

Grab your copy of Ordinary Wonder Tales here!

HAIL, THE INVISIBLE WATCHMAN

Hail, the Invisible Watchman by Alexandra Oliver (April 4, 2022) has been selected as one of the ten “Best Books of 2022” in The Walrus. The article was published online on December 16, 2022. Read the full review here.

Carmine Starnino writes:

“Packed with cinematic and tactile writing, Hail, the Invisible Watchman shows us why Oliver is one of the best English-language poets in Canada.”

Get your copy of Hail, the Invisible Watchman here!

JUST A MOTHER

Just a Mother by Roy Jacobsen (March 7, 2023) has been reviewed in The Times Literary Supplement. The article was published online on December 16, 2022.

Adam Sutcliffe writes:

“Just a Mother, first published in Norwegian in 2020 and now once again co-translated with great skill by Don Bartlett and Don Shaw, is the longest and most engrossing of the series so far.”

You can read the full review here.

Preorder Just a Mother from your local bookshop here:

Biblioasis in The Globe 100: Best Books of 2022!

/in /by

IN THE NEWS!

THE GLOBE 100: THE BEST BOOKS OF 2022

We’re excited to share that several Biblioasis titles were included in the Globe and Mail‘s “The Globe 100: The Best Books of 2022”! This Time, That Place by Clark Blaise, Querelle of Roberval by Kevin Lambert, The Music Game by Stéfanie Clermont, Ordinary Wonder Tales by Emily Urquhart, and The Affirmations by Luke Hathaway all made the list. The feature was published online on December 2, 2022.

This year’s Globe 100 were selected by Canadian writers, who provided blurbs for their nominations. Check out the full list here.

Alexander MacLeod on This Time, That Place:

“My hero of the Canadian short story. There’s 50 years of work in this book, all his greatest hits, but every piece is still urgent. If the topic is longing, loneliness or the search for love in an untethered world, no one writes with more wisdom or more beautifully.”

Get This Time, That Place here!

Will Aitken on Querelle of Roberval:

“Querelle of Roberval transplants legendary French novelist Jean Genet’s priapic queer sailor from his 1947 novel, Querelle de Brest, to contemporary Lac St-Jean and sets him to work in a sawmill in the middle of a bitter syndical struggle with a rapacious boss. The most brilliant, imaginative, phantasmagorical and incendiary novel of the year.”

Get Querelle of Roberval here!

Alex Pugsley on The Music Game:

“Many have been the millennial offerings I’ve read the past year, and while there is much to recommend […] the book I keep thinking about is Stéfanie Clermont’s The Music Game. An amalgam of short stories, childhood remembrances, dolorous journaling and deeply-felt romances, this multi-prize-winning novel is an ode to friends who seek alternatives to the systems they’ve inherited.”

Get The Music Game here!

Carrie Snyder on Ordinary Wonder Tales:

“Non-fiction that hums with truth and life. Emily Urquhart writes about family, pain, fear and genetics all through the lens of folk tales and folk history. It proves a deeply moving meditation on the stories we tell ourselves, collectively and individually, to make sense of the insensible magical wonderful awful parts of our ordinary lives.”

Get Ordinary Wonder Tales here!

Jason Guriel on The Affirmations:

“These are masterful, musical poems about faith and transformation, by one of our best contemporary poets.”

Get the Affirmations here!