by prfire | Oct 24, 2012 | Book Reviews, Poetry
Peter Norman’s debut poetry collection covers a lot of ground without staking out any particular section as its very own. Norman rhymes a bit, messes with perspectives, fiddles with techniques, primps a tendency to lists and catalogues, and it all sounds refreshing...
by prfire | Oct 24, 2012 | Book Reviews, Poetry
During a taping of the radio show Speaking of Poets, Patrick Friesen and I were discussing the trip he took to Spain in 2010, following an earlier one to both Spain and Portugal in 2005. Patrick, who doesn’t appear to do anything in half measures, was delighting me...
by prfire | Oct 24, 2012 | Book Reviews, Poetry
Finally, a Western Canadian, a Métis, writing about the mythic Western Canadian hero Louis Riel, whose first language was French and who was raised a devout Catholic. Father of Confederation for Manitoba, elected to parliament three times but unable to take his seat...
by prfire | Oct 24, 2012 | Book Reviews, Fiction
According to author Alison Preston, strange things happen even in quiet suburbs. In fact, her sixth novel spins such a tale. Winner of the 2012 Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction, the book recounts the story of an eccentric young woman and an unsolved murder in...
by prfire | Oct 24, 2012 | Book Reviews, Fiction
It may say something about Canada and Canadians that one of our canonical twentieth-century novels was called Beautiful Losers. And perhaps, in light of the 2012 Olympics, it’s instructive that as a nation we’ve focused so much attention on a soccer team that was,...
by prfire | Oct 24, 2012 | Book Reviews, Fiction
Science and mathematics are never far away from the consciousness of the characters in this first collection of twelve short stories by Saskatoon’s Sandy Bonny. The story “Sense” follows a female archaeologist named Alwynne on a field trip into the wilderness: Rather...
