Review of David Martin’s “Kink Bands”
By Steven Ross Smith Kink Bands by David Martin NeWest Press (2023) We’re in the mountains here, or in a classroom, or touring earth … but where doesn’t exactly matter…
Welcome Shone Thistle, Calgary’s 7th Poet Laureate
By Michaela Ritchie On April 30, 2024, Calgary Arts Development announced that Shone Thistle would become Calgary’s seventh Poet Laureate, stepping into the office from 2024-2026. An avid reader and…
Review of Ariel Gordon and Brenda Schmidt’s “Siteseeing”
By Frances Boyle Siteseeing by Ariel Gordon and Brenda Schmidt At Bay Press (2023) Siteseeking is the result of a year-long conversation in poetry between two writers celebrated for their…
Review of Lisa Alward’s “Cocktail”
By Skylar Kay Cocktail by Lisa Alward Biblioasis (2023) The stories of Cocktail all revolve around ideas of family, finding belonging, and the pitfalls that come with love—either familial or…
Three Books on Poetics Reviewed by Catherine Owen
By Catherine Owen Imagining Imagining by Gary Barwin Wolsak and Wynn (2023) “I love the syncretic web of experience,” Gary Barwin states exuberantly in his essay “The Selected Walks,” from…
Review of Leilei Chen’s translation of “I Have Forsaken Heaven & Earth, but Never Forsaken You”
By Mary Vlooswyk I Have Forsaken Heaven & Earth, but Never Forsaken You by MA Hui, translated by Leilei Chen Frontenac House (2023) Have you ever played the telephone game?…
Review of Elana Wolff’s “Faithfully Seeking Franz”
By George Elliot Clarke Faithfully Seeking Franz by Elana Wolff Guernica Editions (2023) Elana Wolff is a cosmopolitan poet—with eight collections to her credit and English, German, and Hebrew at…
Review of Mark Frutkin’s “The Walled Garden”
By George Elliott Clarke The Walled Garden: Essays by Mark Frutkin Guernica Editions (2023) The Latin, floral epithet for the chaste Beloved in the Canticum Canticorum—The Song of Songs (The…
Review of Juleta Severson-Baker’s “Antecedent”
By Katherine Matiko Antecedent by Juleta Severson-Baker Frontenac House (2023) Juleta Severson-Baker dedicates Antecedent to her ancestors, so it was no surprise to encounter a boy coming to terms with…
Review of Victoria Koops’ “Who We Are in Real Life”
By Kendall Bistretzan Who We Are in Real Life by Victoria Koops House of Anansi (2024) Who We Are in Real Life is a debut young adult novel by Saskatchewan…