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THE MUSIC GAME: Rave Reviews from the Toronto Star and more!

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IN THE NEWS

THE MUSIC GAME

The Music Game (Feb. 8, 2022) by Stéfanie Clermont, trans. by JC Sutcliffe, has been reviewed in the Toronto Star! The review was published online on February 18, 2022. Read the full review here.

In his review, Steven Beattie writes:

“In her debut fiction, Montreal writer Stéfanie Clermont locates a 21st Century equivalent to the 1920s’ “lost generation” in a group of young people trying to find meaning and connection in a world of dead-end jobs, unaffordable housing, and romantic disappointments … The Music Game inhabits a liminal space between different bodies, psyches and geographies. Its characters can display the worst hipster traits — turning up their noses at Bruno Mars on a café stereo while genuflecting at the altar of Godspeed You! Black Emperor — and genuine insights into their inner selves and the nature of the world around them. If they share undeniable commonalities with lost generations before them, they are nonetheless, in Clermont’s hands, rendered specific and unique.”

Stéfanie Clermont was interviewed by Kenn at Shelf Life Books for their podcast, Book Storm. The episode was published online on February 11, 2022. You can listen to the full interview here.

The Music Game was included on Boswell Book Company’s blog as a staff recommendation. Read the list of recommendations here.

Bookseller Kay Wosewick writes:

“The Music Game is a delicious sneak peek into a generation (Millennials, of course) that acknowledges few boundaries, alternates between excess and emptiness, repeatedly taste-tests and spits out adulthood, and ebbs and flows within the cacophony that surrounds them. Yeah, a bit scary. But also exciting.”

The Music Game was also reviewed in the McGill Tribune and Apt613. Both reviews were published online on February 15, 2022.

In their review for the McGill Tribune, Louis Lussier-Piette writes:

“The Music Game’s structure is what sets it apart. Each chapter tells a self-contained story from the point of view of someone within Sabrina’s inner circle, be it a long-lost friend or a neighbour … Clermont’s reflection on activism is skillfully nuanced, exploring both the hopefulness and cynicism that often come with political engagement.”

Read the full review here.

In their review for Apt613, Emmanuelle Gingras writes:

“[An} audacious, honest, and liberating masterpiece … The Music Game sends us on a journey through this contemporary reality. It enumerates all the ways that we love and destroy one another … The Music Game is about relationships, yet also about all the ways we desperately try to escape reality … anyone who’s ever experienced depression or anxiety will find healing through Stéfanie’s loyal and beautiful ways of describing the inexplicable. She allows for contradiction; depth and lightness meet in a disturbing but cathartic way.”

Read the full review here.

Order your copy of The Music Game from Biblioasis here!

THINGS ARE AGAINST US, A GHOST IN THE THROAT, CHRISTMAS GHOST STORIES, ROMANTIC, VILLA NEGATIVA: Media Hits!

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IN THE NEWS!

THINGS ARE AGAINST US

Lucy Ellmann’s Things Are Against Us has been named a ‘Best Book of the 2021’ by The Independent! The list was published online on December 13. You can see the whole list here.

Martin Chilton says,

“Stimulating, entertaining and spiky. Some of her targets are dreary sexist men but she skewers them with real humour. Ellmann is fond of puns, alliteration and long lists of sharp adjectives, and her put-downs are like a literary version of watching popcorn kernels sizzle and suddenly pop in the pan.”

Get your copy of Things Are Against Us here!

 

A GHOST IN THE THROAT

A Ghost in the Throat cover

A Ghost in the Throat by Doireann Ní Ghríofa was included in the New York Times Critics’ Top Books of 2021! The list was posted on December 15. You can read the whole list here.

Get your copy of A Ghost in the Throat here!

 

CHRISTMAS GHOST STORIES

Seth’s Christmas Ghost Stories (October 26, 2021) were featured along with an interview with Seth in Zoomer! The feature was published on December 10. You can read the full article here.

Reviewer Nathalie Atkinson said,

“The Biblioasis editions are handsome objects with embossed covers, double-page spreads that act like a cinematic establishing shot, and the artist’s thematic spot illustrations … The Seth editions are harbingers of a Christmas ghost story revival.”

Seth’s Christmas Ghost Stories were also mentioned in the Washington Post‘s books newsletter! The newsletter went out on December 10.

Ron Charles said,

“Each of these tiny books—20 volumes now—is cleverly illustrated by the cartoonist known as Seth. Even smaller than a Christmas card, they make fun literary stocking stuffers.”

Seth was interviewed for the Proust Questionnaire on CBC The Next Chapter! The interview was posted on December 11, and re-aired on December 13. You can listen to the segment here.

Get all three 2021 Christmas Ghost Stories here!

 

ROMANTIC

Romantic by Mark Callanan was listed in CBC Books’ Best Canadian Poetry of 2021! The list was posted on December 14. Check out the whole list here.

Get your copy of Romantic here!

 

VILLA NEGATIVA

Villa Negativa was reviewed in The Malahat Review! The review was published in their Autumn 2021 print edition.

Reviewer Jay Ruzesky said,

“Villa Negativa is a collection of three intensely personal reflections rendered in precise language and spanning an emotional range so wide that readers should do some mental stretching before reading the books. While examining anorexia, a failed or failing relationship, and a sister’s long, agonizing illness, McCartney manages to expose humour, so that the reader is compelled forward even as we are anxious about how things are going to come out in the end.”

Get your copy of Villa Negativa here!

THE SINGING FOREST, CHEMICAL VALLEY, A GHOST IN THE THROAT, DANTE’S INDIANA, ON DECLINE, ON TIME AND WATER, DRIVEN, ON PROPERTY, HOUSEHOLDERS, THE ACCIDENT: Media Hits!

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IN THE NEWS!

WINNIPEG FREE PRESS TOP READS OF 2021

The Winnipeg Free Press listed their book reviewers’ top reads of 2021, which included five Biblioasis titles: Doireann Ní Ghríofa’s A Ghost in the Throat(June 1, 2021), Randy Boyagoda’s Dante’s Indiana (September 7, 2021), Andri Snær Magnason’s On Time and Water(March 30, 2021), Andrew Potter’s On Decline (August 17, 2021), and Best Canadian Essays (October 19, 2021)! The list was posted on December 4, 2021. You can check out the full list here.

Order A Ghost in the Throat here!

Order Dante’s Indiana here!

Order On Time and Water here!

Order On Decline here!

Order Best Canadian Essays 2021 here!

 

THE SINGING FOREST

Judith McCormack’s The Singing Forest (September 21, 2021) was reviewed in the New York Times‘ list of ‘The Season’s Best New Historical Novels’! The review was posted on December 3, 2021. You can check out the full list here.

Reviewer Alida Becker praised,

“The Singing Forest blends thought-provoking reflections on the moral reckoning of war crimes with a warm, wry, almost Anne Tyler-esque depiction of a young woman’s attempts to decode her eccentric professional and personal families … Leah’s losses, her questions about her parents, are subtly contrasted with larger questions about truth and responsibility, especially when she flies off to conduct interviews in Minsk, ‘where facts had been malleable for so long, where they had become saleable commodities.'”

Judith McCormack, author of The Singing Forest was interviewed by Joseph Planta on thecommentary.ca podcast! The interview was posted on November 30, 2021. You can listen to it here.

Host Joseph Planta said,

“The ideas of justice, vengeance, and motive are contended with, and it’s fascinating to think about as the time has passed from the crimes themselves. Heritage, inheritance, and memory are also investigated in the book that is quite engaging.”

The Singing Forest was also included in The Walrus‘ ‘Canadian Authors Pick Their Favourite Books of 2021’ list! The list was posted on December 2, 2021. You can check out the full list here.

Caroline Adderson said,

“Moving hypnotically between present events and two motherless childhoods—Jarvis’s eccentric upbringing and the loveless brutality of Drozd’s—McCormack pulls off a little miracle. For much of the novel, we care about the monster. All this she accomplishes in sentences that wrap themselves around you.”

An excerpt from The Singing Forest was also published in LitHub! The excerpt was published online on December 3, 2021. You can read it here.

Get your copy of The Singing Forest here!

 

HOUSEHOLDERS

Householders (September 14, 2021) by Kate Cayley was listed as a 49th Shelf Book of the Year 2021! The list was published yesterday on December 6, 2021. You can check out the full list on the website here.

Get your copy of Householders here!

 

CHEMICAL VALLEY

David Huebert, author of Chemical Valley (October 19, 2021) was interviewed in a Q&A by Supriya Saxena for ZYZZYVA! The Q&A was posted on December 2, 2021. You can read it here.

Supriya Saxena wrote,

“The stories are varied, featuring oil refinery workers, teenage climate activists, long-term care nurses, and more, showing the issues and intricacies of their lives in lush detail. The grim explorations of wealth inequality, illness, and bereavement are counterbalanced by the rich and lyrical prose, providing heartfelt insights into today’s damaged world and the individuals who inhabit it.”

Get your copy of Chemical Valley here!

 

DANTE’S INDIANA

Randy Boyagoda, author of Dante’s Indiana (September 7, 2021) was interviewed alongside Alix Ohlin in the Globe and Mail! The interview was posted on December 3, 2021, and is part of a series of conversations between authors to mark the 2021 edition of The Globe 100. You can read the full interview here.

On the fun of writing, Randy Boyagoda said,

“[T]he comedy in Dante’s Indiana is in service to something larger and more serious. So yes, I had a lot of fun writing it. But it was always with the discipline of making sure that it led to something greater than only another zany joke.”

Order your copy of Dante’s Indiana here!

Or get the first two books in the series with the Original Prin & Dante’s Indiana bundle here!

 

DRIVEN

Driven: The Secret Lives of Taxi Drivers (May 4, 2021) by Marcello Di Cintio was included in The Walrus‘ ‘Canadian Authors Pick Their Favourite Books of 2021’ list! The list was posted on December 2, 2021. You can check out the full list here.

Alex Pugsley said,

“A blend of reportage, social history, and personal profile, Driven is a triumph of curiosity and compassion.”

Order your copy of Driven here!

 

ON PROPERTY

Rinaldo Walcott, author of On Property (February 2, 2021) was interviewed alongside Esi Edugyen in the Globe and Mail! The interview was posted on December 4, 2021, and is part of a series of conversations between authors to mark the 2021 edition of The Globe 100. You can read the full interview here.

During the interview, Rinaldo Walcott said,

“The question of the relationship between silence and political action is one that I hold dearly. I do not believe that everyone who holds some kind of public personality needs to speak to political issues. If you’re a writer and you write poetry and that’s the way you address these questions, do that. If you write novels, do that. Politics by guilt never works. Politics has to be generous. It has to be willing to bring people along. It has to be persuasive. It has to be willing to engage.”

Order your copy of On Property here!

Or get the full Field Notes series bundle here!

 

THE ACCIDENT

Mihail Sebastian’s The Accident (May 1, 2011) was reviewed in the Calvert Journal! The review was posted on December 3, and can be read on their website here.

Reviewer Paula Erizanu wrote,

“With its elegant, sparkling-clear prose, tight structure, and memorable characters, the short novel is a page-turner and, perhaps Mihail Sebastian’s best work of fiction.”

Get your copy of The Accident here!

End of November: Major Media Round-Up!

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IN THE NEWS!

GLOBE 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR

On November 29, The Globe and Mail announced the ‘Globe 100’, their 100 best books of the year. We are delighted to have three Biblioasis titles included this year, Doireann Ní Ghríofa’s A Ghost in the Throat (June 1, 2021), Marcello Di Cintio’s Driven (May 4, 2021), and Rinaldo Walcott’s On Property (February 2, 2021)! You can view the whole list here.

Order On Property here!

Order Driven here!

Order A Ghost in the Throat here!

Foregone cover

 

FOREGONE

Foregone by Russell Banks (March 16, 2021) has been listed by Kirkus as a Best Fiction Book of the Year!  The list was published on November 15, and can be found on their website here.

Kirkus had originally reviewed the book on March 2, 2021 saying that the book was:

“a challenging, risk-taking work marked by a wry and compassionate intelligence.”

Order your copy of Foregone here!

 

THINGS ARE AGAINST US

Lucy Ellmann’s Things Are Against Us (September 28, 2021), has been included in the ‘Best Gift Books to Give 2021’ by the Chicago Tribune! The guide was published on November 24. You can view the whole guide here.

Christopher Borrelli says:

“[Lucy’s] working in a tone familiar to lovers of E.B. White and Norah Ephron—knowing, funny, exhausted. Subjects include the patriarchy, staying home and underwear (“Bras: A Life Sentence”).”

Order your copy of Things Are Against Us here!

 

coverMUSIC, LATE AND SOON

Music, Late and Soon (August 24, 2021) by Robyn Sarah has been included on the CBC Books ’20 books for the music lover on your holiday shopping list.’ The list was published online on November 29. See the full list here. 

Sarah was also recently named a finalist for The Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-Fiction. The following statement was provided by the jurors: 

“Sarah splices the narrative of her belated return to piano lessons with memories of her development as a promising professional musician. Sarah understates her musical talent but the facts speak for themselves. At twenty-four, however … she abandoned music as a profession to become a poet and literary editor.

Sarah calls her book “a musical autobiography” but it is far more than that. It is a deeply intimate exploration of the artistic process by a writer of remarkable maturity and poise.  

Unfailingly, her prose remains centred, rooted in humility, never drawing attention to itself. Her every word feels thoughtful, honest, and true. With this book, Sarah demonstrates that a life pursued artistically, when done so with sincerity and integrity, is a life lived spiritually, no matter what the discipline. Concert halls might be poorer for her career choice, but the literary world can count itself richly blessed.”

Order your copy of Music, Late and Soon here!

 

CHEMICAL VALLEY

Chemical Valley by David Huebert (October 19, 2021) has been reviewed in Atlantic Books! The review was published today on November 15, and can be read on their website here.

Reviewer Chris Benjamin said,

“Huebert is a gifted short story writer. His characters do contain multitudes, each story a set of worlds. Collectively, they reflect our times, and help us contemplate the most dire of threats to our singular habitable planet.”

David Huebert was interviewed on the @Risk Podcast! The episode was posted on November 18, and can be listened to here.

David Huebert was also interviewed about Chemical Valley (October 19, 2021) by Keri Ferguson in Western News! The interview was posted on November 25. You can read it here.

Order your copy of Chemical Valley here!

 

A GHOST IN THE THROAT

On November 22, it was announced that Doireann Ní Ghríofa’s A Ghost in the Throat (June 1, 2021) is a New York Times Book Review Notable Book of 2021! You can view the whole list here.

Reviewer Nina MacLaughlin said,

“This book comes from the body, from the ‘entwining strands of female voices that were carried in female bodies.’ The sound of the female voice, the aural texture of A Ghost in the Throat, is part of its deep pleasure.”

It was also announced on November 22 that A Ghost in the Throat is a Kirkus Best Book of 2021! You can view the whole list here. 

The original starred review reads,

“Lyrical prose passages and moving introspection abound in this unique and beautiful book.”

The NPR Books We Love list (formerly Books Concierge) was announced on November 24, and both Doireann Ní Ghríofa’s A Ghost in the Throat (June 1, 2021) and Mia Couto’s Sea Loves Me (February 23, 2021) are included! You can view the whole list here. 

Ann Powers says of A Ghost in the Throat,

“Intensely poetic and freewheeling and connecting the bodily details of mothering and erotic love – “female texts” – to linguistic hierarchies and erasures, this book creates its own form: a critical biography of the body, of bloodshed and babies born, of the word made flesh.”

Order your copy of A Ghost in the Throat here!

 

SEA LOVES ME

Mia Couto’s Sea Loves Me (February 23, 2021) was also included on the NPR Books We Love list from November 24! You can view the whole list here. 

Thúy Ðinh says of Sea Loves Me,

“As with his natural affinity toward cats, Couto’s stories — deftly translated by David Brookshaw and Eric M.B. Becker — represent graceful attempts to transcend barriers between the colonizer and colonized, native and settler, human and animal, matter and antimatter.”

Order your copy of Sea Loves Me here!

 

CHRISTMAS GHOST STORIES 2021

Seth, the designer and illustrator for Biblioasis’ Christmas Ghost Stories (October 26, 2021) was interviewed on CTV Kitchener! The interview aired on November 24. You can watch it here (beginning at 21:35). 

The Doll’s Ghost by F. Marion Crawford from Christmas Ghost Stories (October 26, 2021) was featured in a reading on the Christmas Past podcast! The episode was posted on November 26. You can listen to it on their website here. 

Host Brian Earl said,

“The great thing about each passing season is the chance to discover something new that may go on to become a new favourite. That old and largely forgotten tradition of Christmas ghost stories is fertile ground for anyone digging for a spooky festive treat from a bygone time.“

Christmas Ghost Stories (October 26, 2021) was also reviewed on the Total Christmas Podcast! The episode was posted on November 21. You can listen to it on their website here (review starts at 34:00). 

Host Jack Ford said,

“These books are just delightful … and the illustrations are just—shall I say delightful again?”

Order the Christmas Ghost Stories 2021 bundle here!

 

BEST CANADIAN 2021 SERIES

The Best Canadian 2021 Series has received a great review in the Toronto Star by Steven Beattie. The review was published online on November 26. You can read the review here. 

Beattie writes,

“All three of these volumes have much to recommend, though the stylistic virtuosity on display in Best Canadian Stories 2021 testifies most explicitly to a range of writing being produced right now. But it is Thammavongsa’s poetry selection that provides the most startling and memorable moment. David Romanda’s poem “We Really Like Your Writing” manages something in five short lines that few of the other writers in any of these anthologies even attempt: it makes its reader laugh out loud. And that has to qualify as one of the best outcomes from a year of uncertainty, trouble, and strife.”

Order the Best Canadian 2021 Series bundle here!

 

AS YOU WERE, MUSIC LATE AND SOON, HOUSEHOLDERS, DANTE’S INDIANA, ON THE ORIGIN, THINGS ARE AGAINST US: Media Hits!

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IN THE NEWS!

AS YOU WERE

Elaine Feeney, author of As You Were (October 5, 2021), was interviewed on an episode of the podcast Across the Pond! Elaine was interviewed by the two hosts, Lori Feathers and Sam Jordison. The episode aired on October 5. You can listen to it here.

Elaine Feeney wrote a feature article for Lit Hub! The piece “Writing Through Trauma, Past and Present: On the Legacies of Catholic Ireland” was published on Wednesday, October 20. You can read it here.

As You Were was listed by Book Marks as a small press favourite! The three judges of the North American Republic of Consciousness Prize put together a list of seven recent favourite indie titles in 2021. The list was published on October 20. You can check it out here.

Lori Feathers praised:

“A not-to-be-missed debut novel—smart, witty, and very engaging … Two things set this extraordinary novel apart: the amazing writing—lyrical, natural, often very funny, and always affecting; and Sinéad, a woman with whom Feeney captures the pain of self-reflection and the stubborn resilience of hope.”

As You Were was also listed by All Lit Up as a weekly recommended All Queued Up title! The list was published on October 20. Check it out here.

All Queued Up offers keywords to engage readers in the book, similar to how Netflix does for shows. For As You Were, they praised:

“Dark comedy. Riveting. Award-winner.”

Order your copy of As You Were here!Things Are Against Us

 

THINGS ARE AGAINST US

An excerpt from Lucy Ellmann’s Things Are Against Us (September 28, 2021), was published in The Walrus! The excerpt “Kill the Travel Bug: The Case for Staying Put” was published on October 4. You can read it out on their website here.

Order your copy of Things Are Against Us here!

 

coverMUSIC, LATE AND SOON

Music, Late and Soon (August 24, 2021) by Robyn Sarah was announced as a finalist for The Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-Fiction, presented by the Quebec Writers’ Foundation! The winner will be announced during a live-streamed gala event on November 24 at 7PM.

An interview with Sarah was also recently published in the Montreal Gazette. Ian McGillis writes,

“So let’s be clear: you don’t need to be a musician, nor do you need to have aspired to be a musician, to appreciate Music, Late and Soon. Anyone who has ever felt a vocation for something, pursued it, misplaced it, then tried to summon it again is apt to identify with Sarah’s story.”

The piece was published online on October 8. Read the full interview here.

Order your copy of Music, Late and Soon here!

 

HOUSEHOLDERSHouseholders cover

Kate Cayley’s Householders (September 14, 2021) received a starred review in Quill & Quire! The review was published on October 6, and it will appear in the November 2021 print issue. You can read the review on the website here.

Reviewer Steven W. Beattie wrote,

“A book that so assiduously interrogates notions of identity and belonging … Cayley’s language is precise and evocative … Each of the collection’s stories—from ‘Pilgrims,’ about a woman who impersonates a nun online to find sympathy for her difficult domestic situation, to the stunning opener, ‘The Crooked Man’—contains writing that impresses with its barbed acidity as much as its clear-eyed observation … The lambent prose frequently belies the emotional heft of the stories, which creep up on a reader.”

Householders was listed by 49th Shelf as an Editors’ Pick! The list was posted on October 4. You can check it out here.

49th Shelf also published a great review of Householders in their list “8 Books That Explore Memory and Space”! The list was published on October 4. You can read it here.

Reviewer Fawn Parker wrote,

“The stories in Householders are haunting and enigmatic, with a clarity of emotion that cuts through the dreamlike atmosphere Cayley has crafted … With incredible attention to the nuance of interpersonal relationships—whether familial, romantic, situational, dysfunctional—each story in Householders is a window into an eerie but wonderful world.”

Order your copy of Householders here!

 

ON THE ORIGIN OF THE DEADLIEST PANDEMIC IN 100 YEARS

Elaine Dewar, author of On the Origin of the Deadliest Pandemic in 100 Years: An Investigation (August 31, 2021) was featured in an article published in the National Post by Jesse Snyder titled, ‘Exit of top public health agency official leaves questions on Chinese military involvement with high-security disease lab.’ The article was published online on October 18. You can read it here.

An interview with Elaine Dewar for the Ottawa Writers’ Festival was also published online on October 15. You can listen to Elaine’s interview with Neil Wilson here.

Order your copy of On the Origin here!

 

DANTE’S INDIANA

Randy Boyagoda’s Dante’s Indiana (September 7, 2021) received an excellent review in the Wall Street Journal! The review was published on Friday, October 8. You can read it on their website here.

Reviewer Sam Sacks praised:

“[Dante’s Indiana] mixes the outrageous social satire of George Saunders or Salman Rushdie with Prin’s more solemn and inward religious searching. The unique result juxtaposes the ridiculous and the sublime—fitting as both an homage to Dante and a portrayal of America.”

Dante’s Indiana also received a positive review in ZYZZYVA! The review was published on Monday, October 18. You can read it on their website here.

Reviewer Shelby Hinte wrote:

“Boyagoda shows how the political is always personal and the personal is always spiritual. The last ninety pages of the novel move at break-neck speed … The effect is a bit dizzying, but maybe that’s the point—in an age where the internet connects us across oceans and time zones, no one exists in isolation and every occurrence is connected.”

Order your copy of Dante’s Indiana here!

 

AS YOU WERE, ON DECLINE, THINGS ARE AGAINST US, THE SINGING FOREST, WHITE SHADOW, and ON TIME AND WATER: New Reviews!

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IN THE NEWS!

AS YOU WERE

Elaine Feeney’s As You Were (October 5, 2021) was featured in Nylon Magazine as one of “9 October 2021 Books to Kick Off Fall”! The list was published online on Friday, October 1. You can read it on their website here. 

Sophia June praised As You Were: 

“In a novel that paints a picture of modern Ireland that isn’t by Sally Rooney, women in an oncology ward come to terms with secrets, illnesses, and how to deal with their families through text and emoji-speak and existential humor. Perfect for Sad Girl Fall.”

An excerpt of As You Were was also published yesterday on October 4, in Lit Hub! You can read it on their website here.

Pick up your copy of As You Were here!

 

ON DECLINEOn Decline cover

Andrew Potter, author of On Decline (August 17, 2021) was interviewed for CBC Ideas with Nahlah Ayed. The episode was published online on September 29, and aired on CBC radio the same evening at 8PM ET. You can listen to the full interview here. 

Potter tells Ayed, 

“I think climate change is an effect of our civilization, but it becomes a problem when you lose the ability to do anything about it.”

Pick up your copy of On Decline here!

 

THINGS ARE AGAINST US

Lucy Ellmann, author of Things Are Against Us (September 28, 2021), was interviewed by Lit Hub! The interview was published on September 29. You can read it out on their website here.

Lucy Ellmann spoke about how men need to read women writers: 

“It’s time for men simply to listen to women. But apparently even educated men who read books do not read books by women: in other words, they have no respect for our point of view.”

Things Are Against Us was listed by Lit Hub as one of thirteen New & Noteworthy titles to check out this week! The list was published on September 29. You can read it on their website here. 

Lucy Ellmann’s new essay collection was listed by The Millions as a New & Noteworthy title! The list was published on September 28, and you can read it here. 

Lucy Ellmann was also interviewed by the Chicago Review of Books! The interview was published on October 1. You can read it out on their website here.

Interviewer Rachel León praised Things Are Against Us: 

“[Ellmann] delivers these diatribes with her signature wit and humor … Each essay is accompanied by an illustration by artist Diana Hope, which complements the colorful nature of this collection. Fans of Ellmann will likely delight in Things Are Against Us.”

And Things Are Against Us is a Toronto Public Library Fall 2021 Pick! It was included in “Valerie’s Picks”, published on September 20, and was featured on their Instagram on October 1. You can read the list on their website here. 

Librarian Valerie Casselman wrote,

“As you might expect, a collection of essays by the author of the prize-winning stream of consciousness novel Ducks, Newburyport will not be boring or stuffy. ‘Let’s complain,’ she says in the preface and then proceeds to do just that. A collection of satirical essays written with biting wit, irreverence, and clever wordplay.”

Pick up your copy of Things Are Against Us here!

 

THE SINGING FOREST

Judith McCormack’s The Singing Forest (September 21, 2021) was featured as an Editor’s Pick from 49th Shelf, as well as a “Valerie’s Pick for Fall 2021” at the Toronto Public Library! 

Check out the full list from 49th Shelf here. 

Check out the full list from the Toronto Public Library here.

Pick up your copy of The Singing Forest here!

 

On Time and Water coverON TIME AND WATER and WHITE SHADOW

Both Andri Snær Magnason’s On Time and Water (March 30, 2021) and Roy Jacobsen’s White Shadow (April 6, 2021) received excellent reviews in World Literature Today! Both reviews will be published in the Autumn 2021 issue and can be read on their website. 

You can read the On Time and Water review here, and the White Shadow review here.

Reviewer Greg Brown praised On Time and Water: 

“Andri Snær Magnason’s On Time and Water is a wondrous, rambling book. It confronts the ecological and social challenges facing humanity and eloquently presents facts that are dire and terrifying. And yet, through persuasive narratives and insightful examples, the book is satisfying, useful, and even hopeful to a degree. I highly recommend Magnason’s On Time and Water to readers of nonfiction, especially those interested in ecology and eco-theory … Magnason’s eloquence is exactly what is called for in this dire moment.”

Reviewer Thomas Nolden praised White Shadow: White Shadow cover

“With every sentence in his new novel, Roy Jacobsen shows how his characters carve their morality out of the dried driftwood found on the small islands of war-ravaged Norway. White Shadow is yet another masterpiece by Jacobsen, who continues in this short novel to track the vicissitudes of the life of his young heroine Ingrid Barrøy … White Shadow is a powerful psychological novel.”

Pick up your copy of On Time and Water here!

Pick up your copy of White Shadow here!

Praise for Biblioasis Titles

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IN THE NEWS!

ON THE ORIGIN

Elaine Dewar, author of On the Origin of the Deadliest Pandemic in 100 Years: An Investigation (August 31, 2021), published an editorial in the Toronto Star titled “Canadians must know what our lab’s role was in COVID’s origins”! The article was published online on September 18. You can read it here.

On the Origin was also listed in the Globe and Mail‘s “Fall 2021 books preview: Pump up your autumn with these weighty reads”. See the full list here.

And on Friday, September 17, Elaine Dewar was live on CJAD 800 AM – Montreal Now with Aaron Rand and Natasha Hall. You can listen to her radio interview here.

Get your copy of On the Origin from Biblioasis here!

 

THINGS ARE AGAINST US

Lucy Ellmann’s Things Are Against Us (September 28, 2021) received a great review in Publishers Weekly! The review was published online on September 20. You can read it on their website here.

Publishers Weekly wrote:

“In this offbeat essay collection, novelist Ellmann (Ducks, Newburyport) addresses complex systemic ills alongside petty grievances in an acerbic and hilarious litany of complaints … Readers of Ducks, Newburyport will be familiar with her expansive writing style, which here manifests as a plethora of footnotes … Fans of feminist satire will delight in these rants and ruminations.”

Things Are Against Us was also included in the Globe and Mail‘s Fall 2021 book preview! The list was published on Saturday, September 18, both in print and online. You can read it on their website here.

Reviewer Emily Donaldson wrote:

“‘Let’s complain,’ urges the author of the prize-winning experimental novel Ducks, Newburyport at the outset of her first work of non-fiction, then valiantly leads the way. Over 14 entries that use approaches ranging from all-caps to page-swallowing footnotes, she takes on Trumpism, the beauty industry, patriarchy and crime writers, with charming tetchiness.”

Order your copy of Things Are Against Us here!

 

DANTE’S INDIANA

Randy Boyagoda’s Dante’s Indiana (September 7, 2021) was included in Globe and Mail‘s Fall 2021 book preview! The list was published on Saturday, September 18, both in print and online. You can read it on their website here.

Reviewer Emily Donaldson praised Dante’s Indiana as,

“Witty and wrenching.”

Randy Boyagoda was interviewed about Dante’s Indiana in the Catholic Register. The interview was published yesterday on September 19. You can read it on their website here.

Wendy-Anne Clarke wrote,

“Randy Boyagoda takes a bold dive into some of society’s most contentious issues in his latest novel, Dante’s Indiana … The theme of being lost and also being found is at the crux of Prin’s experience and that of the other characters. That profound idea found in Catholic liturgy and in Scripture is central to the religious tradition at play in this book.”

Randy Boyagoda was also interviewed by the University of Toronto’s A&S Newsletter. The interview was published September 15. You can read the interview on their website here.

Get your copy of Dante’s Indiana here!

 

ON DECLINEOn Decline cover

Andrew Potter’s On Decline (August 17, 2021) received a great review in the Winnipeg Free Press, titled “Extremism, stagnation hastening our potential downfall”! The article was published online on September 18. You can read it here.

Michael Dudley writes,

“Like its historic ancestors, On Decline deserves a wide general audience and should be required reading for the incoming federal government.”

Get your copy of On Decline here!

This Week in Reviews!

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On the Origin of the Deadliest Pandemic in 100 Years coverIN THE NEWS!

ON THE ORIGIN

Elaine Dewar, author of On the Origin of the Deadliest Pandemic in 100 Years: An Investigation (August 31, 2021), was featured in a Q&A with Marsha Lederman in The Globe and Mail, titled “Canadian author Elaine Dewar’s book raises troubling questions about the origins of COVID-19”! The article was published online on September 10. You can read it here.

In the interview, Elaine Dewar states:

“I want to get at how come that happened. And I don’t want people to forget it. Because we have [27,000] dead people whose deaths might have been avoided if we had acted with speed. And if we had acted from a science point of view, as opposed to from a political point of view.”

And don’t miss the launch of On the Origin of the Deadliest Pandemic in 100 Years next week! Join us on Facebook Live or YouTube on Wednesday, September 15 at 6PM EDT!

Get your copy of On the Origin here!

DANTE’S INDIANA

Quite a bit of news for this title! Randy Boyagoda’s Dante’s Indiana (September 7, 2021) received a positive review in the Toronto Star! The review was published online on September 3, and it will appeared in their print issue that weekend. You can read it on their website here.

Reviewer Alex Good wrote,

“Boyagoda set himself a challenge, and it’s one that he’s up to … Boyagoda makes it seem easy with a series of apt similes … This is the sort of imaginative verbal panache that in our own vernacular pays tribute to Dante as literary guide … The classics, however, are always reimagined in ways that respond to the personal anxieties and public crises of our own time. In the shattered funhouse of the twenty-first century we may be expected to redefine the content of a faith that sustains.”

Dante’s Indiana also received a rave review in the Plough Quarterly! The review was published online on September 3. It will appear in their print issue as well. You can read it on their website here.

Reviewer Mike St. Thomas wrote,

“Randy Boyagoda’s Dante’s Indiana is many things—knee-slapping satire, social commentary, spiritual pilgrimage. But above all, it is an attempt to bring contrapasso to bear on contemporary American life, both implicitly and explicitly … As in his first novel, Boyagoda mixes the sacred and profane to great effect … By locating the sacred within the profane, Dante’s Indiana offers a counternarrative to that of the culture wars … Boyagoda’s novel is hilarious and deeply touching.”

Dante’s Indiana received a great review in Desi News, and it was the feature title! The review was published on September 1. It’s available online and in their print September issue. You can read it on their website here.

Desi News wrote,

“Dante’s Indiana is, like the first book, about Prin’s adventures in a world that is crazy and chaotic for a man of faith. And it is, also like the first, real, yet surreal. Hugely funny, yet poignant … Many of us will find our stories reflected in Boyagoda’s work, we’ll meet people we know.”

Dante’s Indiana also received a rave review in North Texas Catholic. The review was published on September 8. You can read it on their website here.

Reviewer Susan Moses raved,

“Full of memorable characters and as fast-paced as the roller coaster that will be the main ride of hell, the novel reads like a movie script … Even when the plot descends into dark topics, Boyagoda’s eye for wit keeps the novel lighthearted … Sometimes absurd, sometimes witty, the humor of Dante’s Indiana is always thoughtful, never hurtful, and often satirical … As Prin makes his path through the twists and turns of this novel, he never gives up hope that heaven awaits on the other side of purgatory.”

Finally, Dante’s Indiana was included in NOW Toronto‘s list “The 15 best new books to read this fall”! The list was published online on September 10, and it will appear in their print issue. You can read it on their website here.

Reviewer Susan G. Cole praised,

“Another sharp satire from one of Canada’s best writers.”

Get your copy of Dante’s Indiana here!

White Shadow coverWHITE SHADOW

Roy Jacobsen’s White Shadow (April 6, 2021) received a great review in Book Post USA! The review was published on September 7. You can read the review on their website here.

Reviewer Robert Karron wrote:

“Seldom do we find a protagonist who pushes against her confinement as subtlety and deftly as Ingrid does, and who allows herself, while trapped in circumstances that are beyond her control, to be so open, inquisitive, and even loving. In White Shadow, Jacobsen offers a portrait of a woman who is single-minded but not rigidly so, purposeful but not devoid of feeling … The intensity of feeling just beyond the actions described, and the effort itself of forging language to capture their evanescent reality, seems like a literary accomplishment in the family of more overtly ‘sophisticated’ novelists like Thomas Bernhard or W. G. Sebald.”

Get your copy of White Shadow here!

HOUSEHOLDERS

On Friday, September 3, Kate Cayley’s Householders (September 14, 2021) received a rave review from Kerry Clare’s Pickle Me This! You can read the review on the website here.

Kerry Clare wrote,

“Literally took my breath away … Kate Cayley is splendid in her deft arrangement of the sentence, and in her depiction of the quotidian but just askew enough to be new and surprising. These stories are rich, absorbing, and oh so satisfying, and I predict this as one of the big books of the fall literary season.”

Get your copy of Householders here!

THE SINGING FOREST

Judith McCormack’s The Singing Forest (September 21, 2021) received a great review in the Ottawa Review of Books! The review was published on September 9. You can read the review on their website here.

Reviewer John Delacourt wrote:

“Yet there is nothing bleak or drained of life in The Singing Forest, despite such harrowing scenes. The energy of the prose does not falter, transcending the expectations—if not the limitations—of a crime drama. The interiority of Leah Jarvis’s transformation in the narrative lacks some of the tonal variation and visceral impact of the chapters devoted to Drozd, but she ultimately achieves a balance of darkness and light that, aptly enough, rhymes with something like justice. Which is fitting, because the scope of McCormack’s ambition is nothing less than a poetic meditation on the mutability of identity, and with The Singing Forest, she succeeds.”

Get your copy of The Singing Forest here!

News and Reviews: Highlighting Biblioasis Titles!

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IN THE NEWS!

THINGS ARE AGAINST US

Things Are Against UsLucy Ellmann’s Things Are Against Us (September 28, 2021) received a rave review in The Observer! The review was published in their print issue on June 27, and online on June 28. You can read it on their website here.

Reviewer Hephzibah Anderson wrote:

“Funny and furious … Aimed at everything from air travel to zips, genre writing to men (above all, men), her ire is matched only by an irrepressible comic impulse, from which bubbles forth kitsch puns, wisecracking whimsy and one-liners both bawdy and venomous … You don’t have to agree with everything Ellmann says to find this supple, provocative volume invigorating. Indeed, part of its craftiness lies in keeping the reader guessing about precisely how seriously she takes herself … A manifesto worth getting behind. On second thoughts, better make it a womanifesto.”

Preorder your copy from Biblioasis here!

 

Dante's Indiana coverDANTE’S INDIANA

Randy Boyagoda’s Dante’s Indiana (September 7, 2021) received a positive review from Kirkus Reviews! The review was published online on June 29, 2021, and it will appear in their July 15, 2021 print issue. You can read it on their website here.

Kirkus wrote,

“Boyagoda keeps things moving quickly and imaginatively. He skewers hosts of sinners along the way, but the wit has a winsome empathy behind it. A rollicking, inventive, mostly successful satire—with a vein of seriousness and sadness underneath.”

Preorder your copy today from Biblioasis here!

 

100 MILES OF BASEBALL

Dale Jacobs & Heidi LM Jacobs were interviewed by Steve Paikin on TVO’s The Agenda about their new book 100 Miles of Baseball: Fifty Games, One Summer! The interview aired on June 15, 2021, and you can watch it on their website here.

On June 16, 2021, CBC Books included 100 Miles of Baseball in their list “24 Canadian books to get your dad for Father’s Day”.  You can check out the list on their website here.

Also, Dale Jacobs & Heidi LM Jacobs were interviewed by the Pandemic Baseball Bookclub. Heidi & Dale were joined in conversation by Andrew Forbes, author of The Only Way is the Steady Way. The interview was posted on June 16, 2021. You can watch it on their YouTube channel here.

Andrew Forbes wrote,

“In 100 Miles of Baseball, authors Heidi L.M. Jacobs and Dale Jacobs create a series of beautiful, heartfelt and carefully considered meditations on baseball’s myriad pleasures and meanings.”

Buy 100 Miles of Baseball from Biblioasis here!

 

DRIVEN

The Coast published an excerpt from Driven: The Secret Lives of Taxi Drivers highlighting Halifax driver, Michael Kamara’s story on June 16, 2021. The excerpt was published in the print issue and is available on their website here. 

Editor Morgan Mullin wrote,

“When you’re in a cab, looking at the back of the driver’s head, do you think about who they are? Not just their job—to get you from Point A to Point B—but their life and dreams? Probably not, the same way you don’t think about what your cashier had for breakfast. But Marcello Di Cintio does think of these things—enough that he wrote a book about cabbies, built on endless hours of interviews that construct the backstory of drivers from across the country.”

On June 18, 2021, the CBC’s Day 6 included Marcello Di Cintio’s Driven on their summer reading list! Book columnist Becky Toyne discussed Driven on the show, featuring it as one of the four titles she recommends. You can listen to the segment here.

Also on June 18, 2021, the Montreal Gazette included Driven in their list of “Time to revive an old habit: seven books to take out and about this summer”.  You can check out the list on their website here.

Reviewer Ian McGillis wrote,

“In Driven: The Secret Lives of Taxi Drivers, Marcello Di Cintio takes the time and trouble to engage with a cross-Canada range of people representing a profession too often taken for granted. Most of them are immigrants; all of them are subject to scarcely conceivable challenges and obstacles, often exacerbated by the onset of Uber.”

Marcello Di Cintio’s Driven: The Secret Lives of Taxi Drivers received a positive review in the Winnipeg Free Press! The review was published on June 26, 2021. You can read the review on their website here. 

Reviewer Gordon Arnold wrote:

“Driven is a collection of short essays laying out the backstory for an eclectic array of immigrant cabbies … All of the characters are driven by an incredible work ethic, where 17-hour days are not uncommon … If you have spent any time at all in cabs, chances are you will have met some of the character types in this easy-reading collection.”

Marcello Di Cintio was also interviewed on the video & audio podcast Sweater Weather. Marcello spoke to writer Aaron Giovannone, and the episode aired on June 26, 2021. You can watch it on the YouTube channel here. 

Marcello Di Cintio was interviewed on another podcast, Canada Reads American Style. He was interviewed by the two hosts, Rebecca Higgerson and Shauna Quick, and the episode aired on June 28, 2021. You can listen to the episode here. 

Order your copy of Driven here!

 

LUCIA

The Globe & Mail included Alex Pheby’s Lucia (June 15, 2021) in the Summer 2021 Books Preview! The list was published online on Friday, June 18, 2021, and was also in their print issue on the weekend. You can read it on their website here.

Reviewer Emily Donaldson praised Lucia:

“An air of mystery has always clung to Lucia Joyce—daughter of writer James, dancer and lover of, among others, Samuel Beckett and Alexander Calder … In an original, bravura turn, British novelist Alex Pheby tells Lucia’s story from the perspective of the various men around her (spoiler alert: none come off well).”

Buy Lucia today from Biblioasis here!

 

A GHOST IN THE THROAT

A Ghost in the Throat coverDoireann Ní Ghríofa’s A Ghost in the Throat (June 1, 2021) received a rave review from the Chicago Review of Books! The review was published on June 25, 2021. You can read it on their website here. 

Reviewer Shazia Hafiz Ramji wrote:

“A detailed tapestry that threads Eibhlín Dubh’s family histories with the author’s own translations of her poem from the Irish, Ní Ghríofa’s essayistic and intimate style recalls the inter-disciplinary perambulations of W.G. Sebald and the uncompromising feminism of Maggie Nelson … A Ghost in the Throat is a kaleidoscopic book of ‘homemaking’ that centers the intuitive knowledge of the body in order to learn to live—again, again, and again.

Also, A Ghost in the Throat was included by Buzzfeed Books as one of “58 Great Books to Read This Summer, Recommended by Our Favourite Indie Booksellers”! The listed was posted on June 24, 2021. Check it out here. 

James Crossley at Madison Books wrote:

“Many writers have used classic literary works as a lens for examining their own lives, but none have ever given me the visceral thrill that Doireann Ní Ghríofa has. She doesn’t meditate on a mysterious 18th-century Irish lament; she wrestles with it, turning it over and over to reveal myriad intimate connections to modern motherhood and marriage. To read A Ghost in the Throat is to hold in your hands a living, beating heart.”

Finally, A Ghost in the Throat was listed by Page One as a New & Noteworthy title in their July/August 2021 issue.  It will be available in print, and you can check out the list on their website here.

Get your copy of A Ghost in the Throat from Biblioasis here!

 

DRIVEN, ON TIME AND WATER: Latest Headlines!

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IN THE NEWS!

DRIVEN

On Monday, May 31, 2021, Marcello Di Cintio was interviewed on CTV Calgary at Noon! You can watch it on their website here, or below. Marcello’s interview on the segment begins around 18 minutes in.

Marcello Di Cintio’s Driven The Secret Lives of Taxi Drivers was included in the Toronto Star‘s list “24 (mostly Canadian) books for a summer’s worth of reading.” The summer reading list was posted online on June 4, 2021. You can read it here. 

Deborah Dundas wrote,

“So often when we talk about taxi drivers’ stories, we fall into clichés: the assaults, the immigrant dreams dashed. But this is not that kind of book: Di Cintio spoke to dozens of taxi drivers across the country, having many conversations over a cup of Timmie’s coffee, getting to know, understand and often celebrate the lives of the men and women who drive us around. It’s also a bit of an homage to a taxi industry that is in flux in these days of Uber and Lyft.”

Marcello Di Cintio’s Driven was included in the Maclean’s list “20 books you should read this summer”! The reading list was posted online on June 9, 2021. You can read it here. 

Amil Niazi wrote,

“There are few spaces as consistently intimate and yet ultimately anonymous as that of a cab. In his new book, subtitled The Secret Lives of Taxi Drivers, Calgary-based Di Cintio writes, ‘As passengers, we rarely wonder at the lives of those we know only by the reflection of their eyes in a rear-view mirror.’ He presents a varied, eclectic collection of stories from the frontlines of North America’s taxi industry, showcasing the indomitable hope of the people who literally keep our cities moving forward.”

Pick up your copy of Driven from Biblioasis!

 

ON TIME AND WATER

Andri Snær Magnason was interviewed on CBC Ideas about On Time and Water! The interview was aired on June 10, 2021. You can listen to it on CBC’s website here. 

Last week on June 7, 2021, On Time and Water was included on The Guardian‘s list of “This month’s best paperbacks”. You can read the full list and review on their website here.

Reviewer P.D. Smith raved,On Time and Water cover

“Magnason’s moving and heartfelt paean to glaciers turns the science of the climate crisis into a story of personal loss. He draws on the experiences of his family and relatives, as well as Iceland’s rich cultural relationship to its wild and rugged landscape, to communicate the true scale of the catastrophe that is coming and its impact on lives and societies.”

On June 8, 2021, On Time and Water was highlighted on CBC Calgary’s Homestretch as a recommended Father’s Day book. Anne Logan featured the book in her book column. You can listen to it on their website here.

Also on June 8, 2021, On Time and Water was reviewed by Shiny New Books: What to Read and Why. You can read the review on their website here.  

Reviewer Peter Reason wrote,

“Magnason is onto something in creating poetic narratives that make the geological personal in this manner: referring back to our living ancestors’ experience confronts the shifting baseline from which we experience the changing world; and it draws on our imagination in ways that statistics don’t … On Time and Water has a lot to recommend about it … The imaginative exploration, is in itself deeply worthwhile.”

Get your copy of On Time and Water today from Biblioasis!