by prfire | Feb 28, 2020 | All Reviews, Book Reviews, Fiction
In the title poem of her newest collection, This White Nest, Frances Boyle poses the question “What shines?” This is the question that sits with the reader as they make their way through the poems, but others soon weave their way in, too. In “Tutelage,”...
by prfire | Feb 18, 2020 | All Reviews, Book Reviews, Essays
Against the Machine: Luddites is Brian Van Norman’s third novel, and is a work of historical fiction that takes place in northern England at the beginning of the industrial revolution. The book follows the birth and progression of the Luddite movement, a...
by prfire | Feb 6, 2020 | All Reviews, Book Reviews, Poetry
I began reading Ariel Gordon’s Treed a day or two before October’s unseasonal and devastating storm. This storm, which dropped heavy wet snow all over Manitoba, had an immediate and destructive impact on our trees, trees that had been coming to life for me in...
by prfire | Jan 28, 2020 | All Reviews, Book Reviews, Poetry
Intensely political and personal, Katherena Vermette’s second book of poems, river woman, achieves the impact and appeal of the great Canadian singer-songwriters while exploring what it means to be a woman and what it means to be a river. Under her consideration, this...
by prfire | Jan 16, 2020 | All Reviews, Book Reviews, Theatre
In her introduction to Vera Manuel’s collection Honouring the Strength of Indian Women: Plays, Stories, Plays, Emalene A. Manuel remembers the discussions she had with her sister Vera about the kind of storytelling they were creatingand developing with their theatre...
by prfire | Jan 6, 2020 | All Reviews, Book Reviews, Poetry
As I write this review from Halifax, a yellow crane lays crumpled at one of the city’s busiest intersections. Toppled over during September’s post-tropical Hurricane Dorian, the crane has remained lodged in the side of a downtown high-rise, looking at times...
