Baby Cerberus

Twice I’ve read eulogies for blood
relatives tempering the steel in my voice,
but right now I can’t pen a word for you
without waves churning inside.
I was twelve when you first appeared,
tongue lolling out the side of your mouth,
your teeth sinking into every pair of shoes,
shredding Stephen King paperbacks to confetti.

Fuck you, you fuckin’ crusty fucker.  An eloquence of fucks. Adjective. Verb. Noun. There was an English lesson in there somewhere. She was fifteen and suspended from school. Irony.

                Her teacher was, according to Summer, a fuckin’ perv, but the real reason for skipping was a shift change. At three o’clock, the lines formed at the east gate, past the wooden security shack and the twelve-foot-high fencing with barbed wire. The line snaked back, curled around the plant, engines running, while the short-of-breath security guard, in a grey Stainmaster shirt and pants, checked the truck beds and trunks, searching for stolen bumpers and hand tools. The line could take forty-five minutes to clear.

August is Women in Translation Month—a perfect time to celebrate Fanny Britt’s Governor General Award-winning novel, Sugaring Off, which has an English translation forthcoming this fall with Book*hug Press, translated by seven-time Governor General Award-winner, Susan Ouriou.

The Governor General Literary Award jury called Sugaring Off , “[a]n accurate, uncomplacent depiction of Western society and of the disparity that exists between classes and ethnicities, this brilliantly written story joins the family of great North American novels and asks one fundamental question: however privileged we may be, is it possible to live without relying on others? In this clever and lucid fresco, complex characters are confronted with crises which are not unconnected to the paradoxes inhabiting them.”

In the many years we’ve been doing this series and through two previous books, River Street’s founder, Hollay Ghadery, has never been a part of our Power Q & A series—but that all changes now! Hollay’s debut collection of short fiction, Widow Fantasies, (Gordon Hill, September 1, 2024) has scored some pretty sweet advance reviews, being praised for its “jewel-tone richness” (Molly Peacock) and “tight, sharp-witted, and expertly crafted stories” (Kathryn Mockler).

The form of Hollay’s short fiction is particularly interesting to many readers. The stories, which explore fantasy and the act of fantasizing as a way to subvert and explore misogyny, are not only short but really short. Many pieces are flash fiction and knowing Hollay as we do, we know she never wrote flash fiction before this collection.

So, we wanted to know, why? And also, how?

Alisa York, author of Fauna and Far Cry, calls Susan Wadds debut novel, What the Living Do, “a fierce and fearless novel about a woman drawn to self-destruction yet desperate to live – and maybe even love. A deeply moving and memorable debut.”

These words sum up what many readers have felt while immersed in the pages of this remarkable novel: a dogged persistence that seems at once a surrendering of one’s will to live and a testament to life. We asked Susan to join us for this special guest post to share about where this opposing and equal pull comes from. Her response was staggering.

Mental illness is one of those subjects that always seems ripe for interrogation, especially when it comes to investigating our collective societal response to it. Myna Wallin’s new poetry collection, The Suicide Tourist (Ekstasis Editions, 2024), explores mental illness with verve, grace, and wisdom. It’s a collection that dives into the darkness and creates light; not by virtue of exposing any levity in living with mental illness, but by examining mental illness and neurodivergence frankly and with compassion, thereby alleviating, just a little, the burden of loneliness so many of us who live with it experience.

We’re honoured to have Myna on our Q & A series to talk about her beautiful and moving collection.

A queer Count of Monte Cristo in space? Count us in!

We were fascinated by the premise of Countess (ECW Press) by Trinidadian-Canadian dark fiction speculative fiction author and editor Suzan Palumbo from the moment we heard of it, and our enthusiasm only compounded exponentially after reading this subversive and compelling novella. We’re delighted Suzan agreed to join us on our Power Q & A series. We had many burning questions about her thrilling adventure but wanted to ask specifically about bringing her culture into space.

Like his contemporary Picasso, who also appeared to be locked in mortal combat with the tsunami of modernity, Blaise Cendrars’ kaleidoscopic lives can be viewed through the lens of successive periods, each of which mark Cendrars’ merging of art and life so radically, that the more he revealed, the more he appeared unfathomable, enigmatic and extraordinary. 

When I set out to start a book-focused account on Instagram two-and-a-half years ago, I hadn’t even heard the term Bookstagram. But when I retired from my busy professional life and rediscovered my love of reading, the idea of a book-focused social media venture took hold and wouldn’t let me go. I wanted to share my passion for all things books with others, so I made my first ever Instagram account, and I haven’t looked back.

Coming in at the perfect time for your summer reading list, The Stones of Burren Bay by Emily De Angelis, published by Latitude 46, is a moving, heartfelt, and fast-paced YA novel set on Manitoulin Island that combines magical realism, Irish Celtic spiritualism, and the core themes of YA fiction to which readers are drawn: the need to belong, self-discovery, and overcoming obstacles.

The original “fun-gal” of CanLit is back for a Power Q & A. We welcome the exubriant Ariel Gordon to the blog to talk about how she selected the home for her newest book, Fungal: Foraging in the Urban Forest (June 4, 2024).

Both personal and entertaining, Fungal: Foraging in the Urban Forest is the highly anticipated second book of a trilogy and shows Gordon at her best: interweaving the personal with the easily overlooked local and natural and local world around her, and passing on her contagious delight for the world at—and under—our feet.

We’re delighted to host Crime Writers of Canada Award-winning author Joanne Jackson on our blog. Her thrilling new novel, Sunset Lake Resort (Stonehouse Publishing, June 1, 2024), is a captivating narrative full of thrilling twists, exciting reveals, and gorgeously drawn characters. It is inspired in part by Joanne's own life. leaving the city to go to the lake, and her observations about the importance of community, and the cost of technological progress to our peace of mind.

This book is a perfect pick for an exciting and poignant summer read, and on this Power Q & A, we’re asking Joanne about one of our favourite parts of the book: namely, the championing of an older woman as a protagonist.

May is Asian Heritage Month and we are honoured to be sharing an excerpt from the award-winning novel, Dancing in the River (Guernica Editions) by Vancouver lawyer and author George Lee.

Dancing in the River, won the Guernica Prize, and draws on Lee’s own life experiences growing up in China. It tells the coming-of-age story of a young boy during Mao’s Cultural Revolution—a boy named Little Bright living in a small, riverside town who is heavily indoctrinated by the anti-Western sentiment of the time and place. The perspectives afforded in this stunning novel—the insights into culture, politics, and personal experience—are crucial to a national and global understanding of Chinese history.

By its very nature, reading embodies two things so many mothers could use more of: downtime and connection. That’s why we’ve created a list of some of our favourite forthcoming and recently released books by Canadian authors. From wildly absorbing novels to tender, poignant poetry, to nonfiction that evokes reflection and joyous, kindred solidarity, these are reads that circle and explore ideas of mothering and motherhood for people who know you never stop growing up: there are always new things to learn, and perspectives to share.