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Media Hits: HOW TO BUILD A BOAT, ALL THE YEARS COMBINE, COCKTAIL, and more!

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IN THE NEWS!

HOW TO BUILD A BOAT & INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE DROWNING

How to Build a Boat by Elaine Feeney (Nov 7, 2023) and Instructions for the Drowning by Steven Heighton (Apr 18, 2023) were both featured on the New Yorker‘s list of “The Best Books of 2023”! The article was posted online on December 20, 2023, and can be read here.

On Feeney:

“Feeney’s prose is beautifully crisp.”

On Heighton:

“These stories, by a Canadian novelist, poet, and musician who died last year, peer keenly into the penumbra surrounding death … Heighton’s stories wrestle with life’s uncontrollable endings and beginnings: birth, tragedy, failed resurrection. His characters grasp at time, even as it slips away—violent, sacred, apocalyptic, mundane.”

Get How to Build a Boat here!

Get Instructions for the Drowning here!

SLEEP IS NOW A FOREIGN COUNTRY

Sleep Is Now a Foreign Country by Mike Barnes (Nov 14, 2023) has been reviewed in the Midwest Book Review! The review was published online on December 20, and can be read here.

Reviewer Michael Carson calls it:

“An inherently fascinating and engaging read from start to finish.”

Get Sleep Is Now a Foreign Country here!

ALL THE YEARS COMBINE

All the Years Combine: The Grateful Dead in Fifty Shows by Ray Robertson (Nov 7, 2023) was mentioned in SPIN Magazine. The article was posted online on December 20, 2023, and can be seen here.

SPIN writes,

“Ray Robertson … walks listeners through the endless thicket of music. At points, his crackling prose froths over into hyperventilating superfan’s rants—an approach that befits a band with such a passionate following. Sometimes … more is more.”

All the Years Combine was also reviewed in Palo Alto. The review was published online on December 21, 2023. Read the full review here.

Ashwini Gangal calls the book:

“Delightfully genre-fluid—part critique, part review, part biography, part journalism.”

Get your copy of All the Years Combine here!

COCKTAIL

Cocktail by Lisa Alward (Sep 12, 2023) has been featured on CBC Books’ list of “55 books by past CBC Literary Prizes winners and finalists that came out in 2023.” The article was published on December 19, 2023.

You read the full list here.

Grab your copy of Cocktail here!

DREAMING HOME

Lucian Childs, author of Dreaming Home (June 6, 2023), appeared on the Ivory Tower Boiler Room podcast to talk about exploring queer youth in literature. The episode was posted on December 16, 2023. Listen to the full episode here.

Grab your copy of Dreaming Home here!

BEST CANADIAN POETRY 2024

Best Canadian Poetry 2024 editor Bardia Sinaee wrote an article for the Literary Review of Canada on assembling the anthology. The article appeared online on December 22, 2023, and will appear in their January-February print issue. Read the full essay here.

Sinaee writes,

“When we give them our attention, great poems give us a lifetime of bracing, transcendent insight in a few lines; this is their offering. My offering to readers is a gathering of poems that delighted, startled, and challenged me. Poems that embrace ambiguity and risk. And poems that approach the uncertainty of the present moment with humility.”

Get your copy of Best Canadian Poetry 2024 here!

Get all three Best Canadian 2024 anthologies here!

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

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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: DREAMING HOME, WORLD AT MY BACK, ART OF LIBROMANCY, and more!

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IN THE NEWS!

DREAMING HOME

Dreaming Home by Lucian Childs (June 6, 2023) has been reviewed in the New York Times. The article was published online on July 7, 2023. You can read the full review here.

Kia Corthron writes,

“Eminently accomplished, [and] often deliciously droll … The novel asks provocative questions: At what age are we wholly accountable for our actions? To what degree do we hold a traumatized person responsible for perpetuating harm?”

Dreaming Home was also reviewed in Quill and Quire on June 27, 2023 and in Prairie Fire on June 26, 2023.

In Quill and Quire, Shawn Syms writes,

“In elegant, emotionally resonant prose, Childs creates a nuanced and sensitive portrait of a life shaped by loss, abandonment, and generational trauma … Thematically sophisticated, Dreaming Home also explores persistent issues in the gay male community such as sexual racism and the disparagement of older men.”

In Prairie Fire, Will Fawley writes,

“Though weighty, the stories or chapters in Dreaming Home are easy to devour because they feel so real and personal … The language is sparse, yet beautifully written, illuminating brief moments and observations that root you to the lives and experiences of these characters, making them vivid and real.”

Dreaming Home was featured in The Southern Review of Books as one of “Books to Celebrate in June 2023”. The list was published online on June 29, 2023. You can read the full list here.

Order Dreaming Home here!

THE WORLD AT MY BACK

The World at My Back by Thomas Melle, trans. by Luise von Flotow, (May 2, 2023) has been featured in the New York Times as one of “9 New Books We Recommend This Week.” The article was published online on May 31, 2023.

You can read the full article here.

Order The World at My Back here!

THE ART OF LIBROMANCY

The Art of Libromancy by Josh Cook (August 22, 2023) has been featured in Lit Hub as one of their “Most Anticipated Books of 2023.” The article was published online on July 5, 2023.

You can read the full article here.

Order The Art of Libromancy here!

THE COUNTRY OF TOO

The Country of Toó by Rodrigo Rey Rosa, translated by Stephen Henighan, (July 11, 2023) has been featured in the Brooklyn Rail, including an interview with the author by Tobias Carroll. The article was published online on July 5, 2023. You can read the full piece here.

Carroll writes,

“The Country of Toó is … about a lot of things, including political corruption and reform; a young man’s surreal recovery from a traumatic injury; and the moral crisis faced by a man known only as the Cobra, who has begun to feel the strain of years of working as a hired gun. Tonally, the work shifts from realistic to dreamlike and back again; the result is a complex reckoning with histories both personal and national.”

Order The Country of Toó here!

INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE DROWNING

Instructions for the Drowning by Steven Heighton (April 18, 2023) was featured in the New Yorker as part one of their “Best Books We Read This Week,” which is part of their Best Books of 2023. The list was updated on June 22, 2023.

You can read the full list here.

Order Instructions for the Drowning here!

HOW TO BUILD A BOAT

How to Build a Boat by Elaine Feeney (November 7, 2023) has been reviewed in the Guardian as part of “Hot off the press: authors pick their page-turners for summer.” The article was published online on July 4, 2023. You can read the full review here.

Louise Kennedy writes,

“How to Build a Boat is a heart-rending and delightful voyage in the company of 13-year-old Jamie O’Neill and his currach. The author Elaine Feeney has a poet’s way with words and uncanny understanding of human frailty.”

Order How to Build a Boat here!

ON CLASS

Deborah Dundas author of On Class (May 9 2023) wrote a piece on the process of writing On Class in the Literary Review of Canada. The piece “Opening Up” was published online on June 22, 2023 and appears in the print edition of their July/August issue. You can read the full piece here.

Deborah Dundas was also interviewed on Morning TV Hamilton. The interview aired on June 20, 2023. Watch the full interview here.

Order On Class here!

BIG MEN FEAR ME

Big Men Fear Me by Mark Bourrie (October 18, 2022) has been reviewed in Troy Media by Michael Taube. The article, “Four Canadian Books I Highly Recommend” was published online on July 4, 2023. Check out the full article here.

Taube writes,

“[George McCullough] is barely remembered today for several reasons, including the unfortunate bipolar disorder that led to his early and unexpected demise. Thanks to Bourrie’s well-written book, that’s no longer the case.”

Order Big Men Fear Me here!

Media Hits: QUERELLE OF ROBERVAL, CASE STUDY, THE DAY-BREAKERS, and more!

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IN THE NEWS

QUERELLE OF ROBERVAL

Querelle of Roberval by Kevin Lambert (translated by Donald Winkler) (August 2, 2022) is listed at Quill & Quire as a book of the year. The list was published online on December 7, 2022. You can find the whole list here.

Steven W. Beattie writes,

“This excoriating novel, first published in French in 2018, relocates Jean Genet’s notorious anti-hero to a small mill town in Quebec, where his libertine lifestyle collides with a fraught and controversial workers’ strike. Sexually explicit, graphically violent, and surprisingly lyrical, Lambert’s second novel, in a fluid and furious translation by Donald Winkler, is the most audacious work of fiction published in the English language this year.”

Kevin Lambert also published a piece with Lit Hub recommending books that, like Querelle of Roberval, might disturb the reader. In an article called “Edgy, Unapologetic, and Transgressive: 8 Books That Seek to Unsettle the Reader,” Lambert writes,

“With Querelle, I wanted to write a book about political topics like capitalism, anti-social queer politics, and working class strikes, but without telling the readers what to think, and by doing this, preserving their sense of liberty, inviting them to join the debate and the conflict (“querelle” means “conflict”).” The piece was published online on December 8, 2022.

You can read the whole article here.

Grab your copy of Querelle of Roberval here!

CASE STUDY

Case Study by Graeme Macrae Burnet (November 1, 2022) has been reviewed in the New Yorker. The review was published online on December 12, 2022. You can read the full review here.

The New Yorker writes:

“With its layers of imposture and unreliability, the novel suggests that our personhood is far more malleable than we believe.”

Case Study has been featured as one of Shelf Awareness’s “Best Books of the Week.” The article was published on December 9, 2022. You can read the full article here.

Case Study has also been reviewed in Reviewing the Evidence. The review was published online on December 12, 2022. You can read the full review here.

Reviewer Yvonne Klein writes,

“What decidedly it is is an enticing piece of metafiction that is impossible to put down, but not because it offers generated tension that is happily released when order and safety are restored. Instead it tempts us down one fascinating path after another without promising or providing any solutions.”

Grab your copy of Case Study here!

THIS TIME, THAT PLACE

This Time, That Place by Clark Blaise (October 18, 2022 ) has also been featured as part of Shelf Awareness’s “Best Books of the Week.” The article was published on December 9, 2022. You can read the full article here.

Pick up your copy of This Time, That Place here!

THE DAY-BREAKERS

The Day-Breakers by Michael Fraser has been selected as one of CBC’s Best Poetry Books of 2022. The article was published online on December 8, 2022. You can read the full list here.

The Day-Breakers was featured by ByBlacks as part of their list to “Celebrate Black Canadian Authors This Holiday Season With These 36 Books.” The article was published online on December 12, 2022. You can read the full list here.

Get your copy of The Day-Breakers here!

HAIL, THE INVISIBLE WATCHMAN & THE AFFIRMATIONS

Hail, the Invisible Watchman by Alexandra Oliver, and The Affirmations by Luke Hathaway (April 4, 2022) were both selected as one of CBC’s Best Poetry Books of 2022. The article was published online on December 8, 2022. You can read the full list here.

Hail, the Invisible Watchman and The Affirmations were also both reviewed in Able Muse! Both articles were published online on December 14, 2022. Read The Affirmations review here and Hail, The Invisible Watchman review here.

Brooke Clark writes, of The Affirmations:

“This is a book that will be read and reread by those attuned to its pleasures. For myself, I can only say it could have gone on forever; once I entered the mental world created by The Affirmations, I never wanted to leave it.”

Susan McLean writes, of Hail:

“Alexandra Oliver, in Hail, the Invisible Watchman (Biblioasis, 2022), shows off her bravura poetic technique and her sharp satiric eye, extending her darkly ironic visions from the individual poems that populated her first two collections, to the more novelistic narrative mosaics in her latest book.”

Order The Affirmations here!

Order Hail, the Invisible Watchman here!

SETH’S CHRISTMAS GHOST STORIES

Seth’s Christmas Ghost Stories (November 1, 2022) were reviewed in Paste Magazine’s ‘5 Cozy Christmas Reads to Warm Your Holiday Season’! The article was published online on December 9, 2022. Read the review here.

Alana Joli Abbott writes,

“Taking classic short stories and adding design and geometry-heavy illustrations, Seth reintroduces eerie works from writers including Gertrude Atherton, Lady Asquith, and Shirley Jackson, among many others … great small gifts for holiday exchanges.”

Pick up the 2022 set of Christmas Ghost Stories here!

Check out the rest of the series here!

THE POWER OF STORY

The Power of Story: On Truth, the Trickster, and New Fictions for a New Era by Harold R. Johnson (October 11, 2022) has been featured as part of CBC’s “Best Nonfiction Books of 2022.” The article was published online on December 13, 2022. You can read the full review here.

Grab your copy of The Power of Story here!

CONFESSIONS WITH KEITH

Pauline Holdstock’s Confessions with Keith (October 25, 2022), has been listed as a book of the year at the 49th Shelf! The list, called “22 of ‘22: Our Books of the Year,” was published online on December 12, 2022. You can find the whole list here.

Order your copy of Confessions with Keith here!

BEST CANADIAN ESSAYS 2023

The Miramichi Reader has reviewed Best Canadian Essays 2023 edited by Mireille Silcoff. The review was published online on December 12, 2022. You can read the whole review here.

Pick up Best Canadian Essays 2023 here!

Grab the full Best Canadian 2023 set here!