Review of Joann McCaig’s “Beneficiary”
By Sasha Yurchenko Beneficiary by JoAnn McCaig University of Calgary Press (2026) Seren lived many lives. She was born into a picture-perfect family with matching sweaters and yearly personalized Christmas…
Review of Christine McNair’s “Toxemia”
By Frances Boyle Toxemia by Christine McNair Book*Hug (2024) Toxemia, the first work of creative non-fiction by multiple-award-winning poet Christine McNair, is a powerful and emotive collection of lyric essays…
Review of Kate Rogers’ “Baba Yaga and the Girl Who Ate the Rope”
By Catherine Owen Baba Yaga and the Girl Who Ate the Rope by Kate Rogers Frontenac House (2026) When I was young, fairy and folk tales were one of the…
Review of Russell Thornton’s “Two Songs: Selected Poems”
By Kathryn MacDonald Two Songs: Selected Poems 2000-2025 by Russell Thornton Harbour Publishing (2026) With nine previous collections, Russell Thornton is a poet whose name you will recognize. You may…
Review of Elana Wolff’s “Everybody Knows a Ghost”
By Keith Garebian Everybody Knows a Ghost by Elana Wolff Guernica Editions (2026) The title foregrounds universality, knowledge, and the spectral. “Everybody” encompasses Manu (name for the 14 rulers of…
Review of Stephanie Bolster’s “Long Exposure”
By Kathryn McDonald Long Exposureby Stephanie BolsterPalimpsest Press (2025) Long Exposure is Stephanie Bolster’s fifth and most recent poetry collection. Readers may know Bolster’s writing from her Governor General’s Award…
Review of “Mythologies of Outer Space,” edited by Jim Ellis and Noreen Humble
By Micheline Maylor Mythologies of Outer Space edited by Jim Ellis and Noreen Humble University of Calgary Press (2025) “The moon belongs to everyone – / the best things in…
Review of Lauren Carter’s “The Longest Night”
By Vivian Hansen The Longest Night by Lauren Carter Freehand Books (2025) There are tropes to be observed in the writing of a time-travel novel. The major trope: do not…
Review of Kathryn MacDonald’s “The Blue Gate”
By Beth Everest The Blue Gate by Kathryn MacDonald Frontenac House Poetry (2026) From the very first poem in Kathryn MacDonald’s latest book The Blue Gate, the poet held me,…
Review of Jennifer Bowering Delisle’s “Stock”
By Frances Boyle Stock by Jennifer Bowering Delisle Coach House Books (2025) We’ve all seen those smiling faces. Impossibly joyful families, mother impeccably groomed as she serves weekday breakfasts or…