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Claire Dederer’s Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma came out in 2023, a year before Alice Munro devotees had to reckon with the book’s central question: what do we do when an artist’s reprehensible behaviour curdles our appreciation of their work?
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In these distressing political times, goodness has been on my mind. Recently I read an article in the New York Times about the art dealer Lisa Schill, who pleaded guilty to defrauding her clients of six million and a half dollars. "I am the worst kind...because I seem so good. I'm a good person, I'm a good friend, I am loving and generous, I work hard - and I stole your money."
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There is a hidden gem tucked in a corner of the Cotswolds, in southern England. She is the rural author Pamela Keevil, whose gentle face and manner belie the sharpness of her wit. Cross Agatha Christie with James Herriot, and you get an inkling of her style. Keevil coats a serious message in high entertainment. She is an honour to know, and a pleasure to read.
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As I waited for my name to come up on the Guelph Public Library’s long list of holds for Omar El Akkad’s book One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This, I turned to his beautifully written second novel
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Erica Berry's Wolfish and Unmask Alice by Rick Emerson goes together like good wine and sharp cheese.
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As I dip my toes into learning Mandarin, I’ve come to realize just how difficult and valuable the art of translation is. Especially when it comes to the linguistic metamorphosis of converting a character-based language into an alphabetical one.
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Ancestral-Wing by Sneha Subramanian Kanta is a collection of poems that provides elegiac pathways to Kanta’s encounters with grief, memory, loss, and family. Her poems fill me with lament and longing for lost lineages and introduce me to parts of myself that I’ve either disconnected with or forgotten.
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A book I have become obsessed with is Denison Avenue, a short novel by Christina Wong, illustrated by Daniel Innes. The format itself is groundbreaking, as one side of the book is the novel in text, and the other side of the book is inked artwork retelling the novel’s story.
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One of my favorite reads of the year thus far has been Kala by Colin Walsh. This is a mystery/thriller set in Ireland. This book is full of vivid descriptions that transport the reader to the heart of the novel.
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After hearing me do a reading as a newly-minted "emerging writer" (whatever the hell that means), a famous poet approached me and said that I reminded them of June Jordan, Diane Seuss, and Wanda Coleman. Check! Check! Wanda, who?
