THE FUTURE Longlisted for CANADA READS 2024!

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We’re excited to share that this morning at 10 AM ET, CBC announced the longlist for Canada Reads 2024. Among them is The Future by Catherine Leroux (translated by Susan Ouriou) which was published by Biblioasis on September 5, 2023.

The Future has received many glowing reviews and was named one of CBC Books’ Best Books of 2023. Additionally it was listed by the Globe and Mail, Kirkus Reviews, Tor.com, Lit Hub and Book Riot as one of the most anticipated titles of 2023. A Kirkus starred review praised The Future for

“Elevating disparate voices, drawing a complex picture of community-focused life beyond the family unit.”

“Catherine Leroux has been a favourite here at the press for nearly a decade, a writer of elegance and vision,” said Dan Wells, Biblioasis Publisher. “We’re grateful that this Canada Reads spotlight will help bring more readers to her work.”

This is the second of Biblioasis’ books to be nominated for CBC’s Canada Reads. The Dishwasher by Stéphane Larue (translated by Pablo Strauss) was nominated in 2020.

CBC’s Canada Reads is a Canadian book debate that has been airing annually for more than twenty years. Ali Hassan will host the 23rd competition, in which a panel of five celebrity advocates will champion Canadian books. Each day of the competition, one book will be eliminated by the panelists until a winner is declared the must-read book for Canadians in 2024. More information on the program and the nominated titles is available at cbcbooks.ca.

Order your copy of The Future here!

ABOUT THE FUTURE

In an alternate history in which the French never surrendered Detroit, children protect their own kingdom in the trees.

In an alternate history of Detroit, the Motor City was never surrendered to the US. Its residents deal with pollution, poverty, and the legacy of racism—and strange and magical things are happening: children rule over their own kingdom in the trees and burned houses regenerate themselves. When Gloria arrives looking for answers and her missing granddaughters, at first she finds only a hungry mouse in the derelict home where her daughter was murdered. But the neighbours take pity on her and she turns to their resilience and impressive gardens for sustenance.

Photo Credit: Justine Latour

When a strange intuition sends Gloria into the woods of Parc Rouge, where the city’s orphaned and abandoned children are rumored to have created their own society, she can’t imagine the strength she will find. A richly imagined story of community and a plea for persistence in the face of our uncertain future, The Future is a lyrical testament to the power we hold to protect the people and places we love—together.

ABOUT CATHERINE LEROUX

Catherine Leroux is a Quebec novelist, translator and editor born in 1979. Her novel Le mur mitoyen won the France-Quebec Prize and its English version, The Party Wall, was nominated for the 2016 Scotiabank Giller Prize. The Future received the Jacques-Brossard award for speculative fiction and was nominated for the Quebec Booksellers Prize. Catherine also won the 2019 Governor General’s Literary Award for her translation of Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien. Two of her novels are currently being adapted for the screen. She lives in Montreal with her two children.

Photo Credit: Jaz Hart Studio Inc

ABOUT SUSAN OURIOU

Susan Ouriou is an award-winning fiction writer and literary translator with over sixty translations and co-translations of fiction, non-fiction, children’s and young-adult literature to her credit. She has won the Governor General’s Literary Award for Translation for which she has also been shortlisted on five other occasions. Many of her young adult translations have made the IBBY Honor List. She has also published two novels, Damselfish and Nathan, edited the anthologies Beyond Words – Translating the World and Languages of Our Land – Indigenous Poems and Stories from Quebec and contributed a one-act play to the upcoming anthology Many Mothers – Seven Skies. Susan lives in Calgary, Alberta.

Media Hits: ALL THE YEARS COMBINE, BURN MAN, CHRISTMAS GHOST STORIES, and more!

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IN THE NEWS!

SLEEP IS NOW A FOREIGN COUNTRY

Mike Barnes, author of Sleep Is Now a Foreign Country (Nov 14, 2023), was interviewed in Open Book. The interview was posted on December 5, 2023 and can be read here.

Open Book writes,

“Mike Barnes is one of those rare writers who can do it all—in poetry, short fiction, novels, and memoir, he takes readers on nuanced, brainy, powerfully moving journeys. Fiercely intelligent yet consistently accessible and relatable, Barnes has a unique perspective informed by a deep empathy gained through his own difficult and complex experiences with mental health and grief.

His latest book, Sleep is Now a Foreign Country (Biblioasis), is a deeply personal, thoughtful, unflinching exploration of madness and imagination.”

Sleep Is Now a Foreign Country was (rave!) reviewed in the Toronto Star. The review was published online on November 23, 2023. You can read the full review here.

Brian Bethune writes:

“For all the ways Barnes’s book is indescribable, this much is true—it is a thing of beauty and courage.”

Get Sleep Is Now a Foreign Country here!

ALL THE YEARS COMBINE

Ray Robertson, author of All the Years Combine (Nov 7, 2023) has been interviewed on Bookin’ podcast, hosted by Explore Booksellers’ Jason Jeffries. The episode aired on December 4, 2023. You can listen to it here.

All the Years Combine was reviewed in Anti Music as part of their holiday gift guide for 2023. The article was published online on November 22, 2023. You can read the full review here.

Kevin Wierzbicki writes:

“All the Years Combine is a fast, enlightening read but it is also something to savor, like one of the Dead’s notorious hour-long jams.”

All the Years Combine was reviewed in The Ultimate Guitar. The review was published on November 27, 2023, and you can read it in full here.

Greg Prado writes,

“Author Ray Robertson … put[s] it all in perspective.”

Ray Robertson was interviewed in Roots Music Canada, which was published on December 1, 2023 and can be read here.

Jason Schneider writes,

“One of Canada’s most prolific writers … one thing that’s always made Ray’s work stand out is how he seamlessly blends his favourite music into his prose, whether it’s fiction or non-fiction.”

Get All the Years Combine here!

THE FUTURE

The Future by Catherine Leroux, trans. by Susan Ouriou (Sep 5, 2023) was featured by CBC Books as one of their “Best Books of 2023.” The article was published online on December 5, 2023.

You can read the full list here.

Get The Future here!

ON COMMUNITY

Casey Plett, author of On Community (Nov 7, 2023), was interviewed on CBC’s The Next Chapter and in the Globe and Mail. Both interviews were published online on December 1, 2023. You can listen to the full episode of The Next Chapter here. You read the full Globe and Mail interview here.

On Community was reviewed in the Winnipeg Free Press. The review was published online on November 18, 2023. You can read the review here.

Matt Henderson writes:

“Plett ruminates on the importance of community in succinct, snappy prose.”

On Community was featured on The Tyee’s 2023 top reads for the holidays. The article was published online on December 1, 2023, and can be read here.

Casey Plett was also interviewed on “The Maris Review,” Lit Hub’s podcast hosted by Maris Kreizman. The episode was published on November 30, 2023, and you can listen to the interview here.

Get On Community here!

SETH’S CHRISTMAS GHOST STORIES 2023

Seth’s Christmas Ghost Stories (Oct 31, 2023) have all been featured in the Chicago Tribune’s holiday gift guide which was published on November 30, 2023, as well as the Toronto Star‘s holiday gift guide which was published November 24, 2023. You can read the Chicago Tribune list here and the Toronto Star here.

Christopher Borelli (Chicago Tribune) writes:

“For the past several years Canadian publisher Biblioasis has revived the tradition, one thin, tiny book at a time (illustrated by minimalistic, idiosyncratic cartoonist Seth). They’ve revived ghosts by Edith Wharton, Charles Dickens and others. The newest installment … includes “The Captain of the Polestar,” a polar fright by Arthur Conan Doyle. What is, after all, “A Christmas Carol” but a ghost story, handed down, every holiday?”

Seth’s Christmas Ghost Stories were also reviewed in the Literary Review of Canada! The reviews of The Captain of the Polestar, The House by the Poppy Field, and A Room in a Rectory were published in their December print issue.

The three reviews write:

“The House by the Poppy Field is a spare and chilling tale that’s as much psychological as it is spectral. A perfectly sized collectible with Seth’s signature illustrations throughout, this latest edition would make for a fine stocking stuffer. Just don’t wait until Christmas morning to open it.”

“Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Captain of the Polestar (Biblioasis) is full of foreboding, with whispers of both Coleridge and Melville. In this edition, Seth complements the artful story from 1883 with bold and evocative imagery that  transports readers to the haunting scene.”

“Caldecott’s A Room in a Rectory … may well spook those who gather on Christmas Eve … Ultimately, the author’s and the illustrator’s treatments of ‘the obscene and macabre’ make for a lot of fun.”

Get all three 2023 Christmas Ghost Stories here!

Check out the rest of the series here!

BURN MAN

Burn Man: Selected Stories by Mark Anthony Jarman (Nov 21, 2023) has been reviewed in the Toronto Star. The review was published online on November 30, 2023. You can read the full review here.

Sara Harms writes:

“One doesn’t read a Mark Anthony Jarman story so much as one experiences it … These 21 stories in Burn Man selected by the author himself, are not ordered chronologically but rather the way a musician might sequence tracks on an album, paying careful attention to modulations in tempo and rhythm and how individual pieces play against one another.”

Get Burn Man here!

HOW TO BUILD A BOAT

How to Build a Boat by Elaine Feeney (November 7, 2023) has been listed in Lit Hub as one of the “10 Best Book Covers of November,” and on Bookmarks as one of “The Best Reviewed Books of the Month.” Both articles were published online on November 30, 2023.

You can read the Bookmarks article here, and Lit Hub here!

How to Build a Boat was also reviewed in the Winnipeg Free Press. The review was published online on November 20, 2023. You can read the full review here.

Malcolm Forbes calls it:

“A wonderful book that earned its rightful place on this year’s Booker Prize longlist.”

Get How to Build a Boat here!

BREAKING AND ENTERING

Don Gillmor, author of Breaking and Entering (August 15, 2023) was interviewed on CBC’s The Next Chapter on November 25, 2023, and All Write in Sin City on November 26, 2023.

You can listen to CBC Next Chapter here, You can listen to All Write in Sin City here.

Get Breaking and Entering here!

COCKTAIL

Cocktail by Lisa Alward (Sept 12 2023), was reviewed in the Literary Review of Canada for their December print issue. It was also featured as one of The Miramichi Reader’s “Best Books of 2023.” Both the review and the list were published online on November 20, 2023. You can read the full LRC review here and The Miramichi Reader‘s list here.

Emily Latimer writes, in the LRC,

“Throughout Lisa Alward’s debut story collection, deceptively unassuming items … prompt a diverse cast of characters to reflect on events that have changed their lives … Alward’s sure-footed writing ably steers readers through stories about injuries, marriages, new parenthood, and other watershed moments.”

Cocktail was also featured on The Tyee’s 2023 top reads for the holidays. The article was published online on December 1, 2023 and can be read here.

Get Cocktail here!

INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE DROWNING

Instructions for the Drowning by Steven Heighton (Apr 18 2023) was featured by CBC Books as one of their “Best Books of 2023.” The article was published online on December 5, 2023.

You can read the full list here.

Get Instructions for the Drowning here!

Media Hits: HOW TO BUILD A BOAT, ALL THE YEARS COMBINE, SLEEP IS NOW A FOREIGN COUNTRY, and more!

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IN THE NEWS!

HOW TO BUILD A BOAT

How to Build a Boat by Elaine Feeney (Nov 7, 2023) has been reviewed by Sophie Ward in the New York Times! The review was published online on November 1, 2023. You can read the full review here.

Ward writes:

“Atmospheric … Feeney’s prose is both careful and relaxed—detailed in its description of place and character and of the effortful human urge to find order in the natural world; casual in its approach to storytelling.”

How to Build a Boat has also been reviewed in the Hindustan Times. The review was published online on October 31, 2023. You can read the full review here.

The Hindustan Times writes:

“How to Build a Boat conjures images of rural Ireland and the Irish sea. It explores how motherhood shapes people in many ways … Fractured lives … come together beautifully in this novel that explores humanity, love, and grief.”

Get How to Build a Boat here!

SLEEP IS NOW A FOREIGN COUNTRY

Sleep is Now a Foreign Country by Mike Barnes (Nov 14, 2023) was reviewed in Quill & Quire. The review was published online on November 2, 2023. You can read the full review here.

Micheline Maylor writes:

“At times memoir, at times dissociative fable, at times personal essay … the writing maintains breath-close nearness to the perceptions of the narrator … This close-up experience of Barnes’s psychosis is akin to being in a diving bell with the storyteller, extremely intimate and viscerally suffocating … culminat(ing) in a feeling of waking from a vivid dream not quite remembered.”

Get Sleep is Now a Foreign Country here!

ALL THE YEARS COMBINE

All the Years Combine: The Grateful Dead in Fifty Shows by Ray Robertson (Nov 7, 2023), was reviewed in the Winnipeg Free Press. The review was published online on October 30, 2023. You can read the full article here.

Douglas Johnston writes:

“It’s hard to convey the magic of the Dead’s music in words … Robertson … succeeds.”

Ray Robertson was interviewed on Border City Rock Talk. The interview was posted online on October 31, 2023. Listen to the full interview here.

All the Years Combine was also reviewed in Louder Than War. The review was  published online on November 1, 2023. You can read the full review here.

Craig Campbell writes:

“This collection celebrating fifty concerts by the Grateful Dead shows them to be tougher and more complex than you might think … meticulous readings of the bands concerts (alongside track listings) are impressively extensive but crucially they also build a surprising picture too.”

Get All the Years Combine here!

SETH’S CHRISTMAS GHOST STORIES: THE CAPTAIN OF THE POLESTAR

The Captain of the Polestar by Arthur Conan Doyle, illust. by Seth (Oct 31, 2023) was featured on the Christmas Past Podcast! Host Brian Earl did a reading of the story, from our 2023 Christmas Ghost Stories series, in an episode posted on October 31, 2023. You can listen to the episode here.

Get The Captain of the Polestar here!

Get all three 2023 Christmas Ghost Stories here!

ON WRITING AND FAILURE

On Writing and Failure by Stephen Marche (Feb 14, 2023) was reviewed in The New Statesman. The review was published online on November 2, 2023. You can read the full review here.

Barney Horner writes:

“Marche’s purpose is not to discourage young tyros from taking up the pen but to inform them—via repeated commands of “no whining”—that writing is not the path to success, riches or even, often, respect; writers write in spite of failure.”

Get On Writing and Failure here!

Check out the rest of the Field Notes series here!

ALL THINGS MOVE

Jeannie Marshall, author of All Things Move: Learning to Look in the Sistine Chapel (Apr 4, 2023), was interviewed on Art Curious Podcast. The episode was published online on October 30, 2023. You can listen to the episode here.

Get All Things Move here!

Media Hits: THE FUTURE, LOVE NOVEL, STANDING HEAVY, and more!

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IN THE NEWS!

THE FUTURE

Catherine Leroux, author of The Future, trans. by Susan Ouriou (Sep 5, 2023), has been interviewed on CBC’s The Next Chapter. The interview aired on October 21, 2023. You can listen to the full interview here.

The Future has been reviewed in the Montreal Review of Books. The review was published online on October 11, 2023. You can read the full review here.

Bronwyn Averett writes:

“Leroux brings believability, poetry, and hopefulness to the dystopian narrative of Fort Détroit by steering clear of the many pitfalls of end-times novel … This permits the novel to imagine infinite small beginnings within the ending, and to show how destruction is balanced by the ever-present promise of creation.”

The Future was also reviewed in The Miramichi Reader. The review was published online on October 10, 2023, and can be read here.

Lisa Timpf writes:

“Unlike some dystopian books, The Future is suffused with a sense of optimism … Though their neighbourhood is decaying and the economy is crumbling, the characters reach beyond the every-person-for-themselves trope by celebrating community, the power of cooperation, and hope.”

Get The Future here!

ALL THE YEARS COMBINE

Ray Robertson, author of All The Years Combine: The Grateful Dead in Fifty Shows (Nov 7, 2023), was featured in 519 Magazine. The feature was published online on October 26, 2023. You can read the full article here.

Dan Savoie writes:

“If life were a Grateful Dead concert, Chatham author Ray Robertson would be it’s philosopher-archivist.”

Ray Robertson was interviewed for the Chatham Daily News. The story was published online on October 17, 2023 and in print October 18, 2023.  Check out the full interview here.

Get All the Years Combine here!

LOVE NOVEL

Love Novel by Ivana Sajko, translated by Mima Simic (Feb 14, 2024) was reviewed in Publishers Weekly. The review was published online on October 25, 2023. You can read the full review here.

The review reads:

“A sharp and claustrophobic portrait of a fraying marriage … Sajko never takes her foot off the gas in this potent and incendiary outing.”

Preorder Love Novel here!

OFF THE RECORD

Off the Record by John Metcalf (Nov 14, 2023) was excerpted in Quill & Quire. Online on October 25, 2023. You can read the full excerpt here.

Off the Record was reviewed in Publishers Weekly, online on October 6, 2023. You can read the full review here.

The review reads:

“The authors’ reflections illustrate the complex interplay between craft and intuition that goes into writing fiction … and provide revealing case studies of how stories move from inspiration to published product. Aspiring writers will be enlightened.”

Order Off the Record here!

STANDING HEAVY

Standing Heavy by GauZ’, trans. by Frank Wynne (Oct 3, 2023) was reviewed in Words Without Borders. The review was published online on October 25, 2023. You can read the full review here.

Tobias Carroll writes:

“Tightly written and tautly structured, Standing Heavy has a considerable heft to it … There have been countless novels written about class and immigration over the years, but what Gauz’ has done here is truly singular.”

Standing Heavy by GauZ’ was reviewed in the New York Times, and was published online on October 6, 2023. You can read the full review here.

The review reads:

“This shrewd, episodic novel stars the security guards of Paris. Specifically: Ferdinand, Ossiri and Kassoum, undocumented Ivoirian immigrants whose watchful eyes examine Parisian turmoil over two generations. ‘Here, everything is on sale, even self-esteem,’ Ossiri notes, before he ejects shoppers at closing.”

Get Standing Heavy here!

COCKTAIL

Cocktail by Lisa Alward (Sep 12 2023), was featured on CBC Books as one of “18 books by past CBC Short Story Prize winners and finalists from 2023.” The article was published online on October 26, 2023. You can read the full article here.

Lisa Alward was interviewed on CBC Fredericton by Jeannie Armstrong. The interview was published online on October 23, 2023 and can be listened to here.

Cocktail was also reviewed on Pickle Me This blog on October 16, 2023. You can read the full review here.

Get Cocktail here!

1934

1934: The Chatham Coloured All-Stars’ Barrier-Breaking Year by Heidi LM Jacobs (June 6, 2023) was reviewed in the Literary Review of Canada. The review was published online on October 16, 2023, and will appear in the November 2023 print issue. You can read the full review here.

Michael Taube calls it:

“An inspiring story of determination and triumph, grounded in the belief that sport is for everyone.”

Get 1934 here!

THE FULL-MOON WHALING CHRONICLES

The Full-Moon Whaling Chronicles by Jason Guriel (August 1, 2023) has been excerpted in the Washington Post’s Book World newsletter. The excerpt was published online on October 13, 2023. Read the full excerpt here.

In the newsletter, Ron Charles writes:

“Jason Guriel is a Canadian poet of gobsmacking originality. Three years ago, he published Forgotten Work, a futuristic novel about fans searching for an early 21st-century rock band. […] Guriel’s new verse novel is, if anything, even more bizarre and delightful.”

Get The Full-Moon Whaling Chronicles here!

 

CONFESSIONS WITH KEITH wins the 2023 CITY OF VICTORIA BUTLER BOOK PRIZE!

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We’re thrilled to share that Pauline Holdstock has won the 2023 City of Victoria Butler Book Prize for Confessions with Keith! Check out the full announcement on their website here.

Mayor Marianne Alto and co-sponsor Brian Butler announced the winner at the 20th annual Victoria Book Prize Gala on October 11, 2023 at the Union Club of British Columbia.

Established in 2004, the City of Victoria Butler Book Prize is a partnership between the City of Victoria and Brian Butler of Butler Brothers Supplies. It awards a $5,000 prize to a Greater Victoria author for the best book published in the categories of fiction, non-fiction or poetry.

Grab your copy of Confessions with Keith here.

ABOUT CONFESSIONS WITH KEITH

Winner of the 2023 City of Victoria Butler Book Prize

An outrageously comic novel documents a middle-aged writer and mother’s grappling with mid-life crisis—her husband’s and her own.

Preoccupied with her fledgling literary career, intent on the all-consuming consolations of philosophy, and scrambling to meet the demands of her four children, the acutely myopic and chronically inattentive Vita Glass doesn’t notice that her house and her marriage are competing to see which can fall apart fastest. She can barely find time for her writing career, and just when her newfound success in vegetable erotica is beginning to take off. Our heroine’s only tried and trusted escape is the blissful detachment of Keith’s hairdressing salon, but when her husband leaves the country, unannounced, she decides to do likewise—in the opposite direction, and with their children. Drawn from the pages of Vita’s journal, this outrageously comic novel documents Vita’s passage through a mid-life crisis and explores all the ways we deceive each other and ourselves.

ABOUT PAULINE HOLDSTOCK

Pauline Holdstock is an internationally published novelist, short fiction writer and essayist. Her novels have been shortlisted for a number of awards, among them the Best First Novel Award, the Scotia Bank Giller prize and the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. Her historical novel Beyond Measure was the winner of the BC Book Prizes Ethel Wilson Award for Fiction. The Hunter and the Wild Girl won the City of Victoria Butler Book Prize. Pauline lives just outside Victoria on Vancouver Island.

ORDINARY WONDER TALES a finalist for the 2023 HILARY WESTON WRITERS’ TRUST PRIZE FOR NONFICTION!

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Biblioasis is thrilled to share that Ordinary Wonder Tales by Emily Urquhart (November 1, 2022) has been announced as a finalist for the 2023 Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction! You can check out the full shortlist here. 

The 2023 jury citation for Ordinary Wonder Tales:

“Emily Urquhart’s collection of essays about folklore, storytelling, and wonder weaves its own magic as it draws the reader deep into the heart of imagination and possibility. From a haunting childhood encounter to a deeply moving exploration of dementia, Ordinary Wonder Tales delights in the knowledge that the world can be both real and imagined. As we read, we discover that no trauma in a person’s life ever sets them fully apart. Rather, human tragedies are endlessly absorbed and transformed by the wonder tales we share to bring us back to the fullness of life.”

“Everyone at Biblioasis is thrilled for Emily,” says Dan Wells, publisher of Biblioasis. “Ordinary Wonder Tales has been a favourite of everyone here at Biblioasis since its publication, a collection open to the everyday magic of everyday life, a book lyrical, meditative, humane and profound. It’s a delightful gathering of essays, and we’re thrilled that the Weston jury felt similarly about it.”

This is the fourth of Biblioasis’ books to be nominated for the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction. Reaching Mithymna by Steven Heighton was nominated in 2020, The Great Escape by Andrew Steinmetz was nominated in 2013, and Why Not? Fifteen Reasons to Live by Ray Robertson was nominated in 2011.

The Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction was first awarded in 1997. It is given annually for excellence in the category of literary nonfiction, which includes essays, history, biography, memoir, commentary, and criticism. The winning book demonstrates a distinctive voice, as well as a persuasive and compelling command of tone, narrative, style, and technique. This award has been sponsored by The Hon. Hilary M. Weston since 2011 and is funded this year by the Hilary and Galen Weston Foundation. Beginning in 2023, the prize purse has increased from $60,000 to $75,000. The winner will be announced at the Writers’ Trust Awards on November 21.

Order your copy of Ordinary Wonder Tales here!

ABOUT ORDINARY WONDER TALES

Shortlisted for the 2023 Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction

“This book is magical in every sense of the term.”—Amanda Leduc, author of The Centaur’s Wife and Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space

A journalist and folklorist explores the truths that underlie the stories we imagine—and reveals the magic in the everyday.

Photo Credit: Andrew Trant

“I’ve always felt that the term fairy tale doesn’t quite capture the essence of these stories,” writes Emily Urquhart. “I prefer the term wonder tale, which is Irish in origin, for its suggestion of awe coupled with narrative. In a way, this is most of our stories.” In this startlingly original essay collection, Urquhart reveals the truths that underlie our imaginings: what we see in our heads when we read, how the sight of a ghost can heal, how the entrance to the underworld can be glimpsed in an oil painting or a winter storm—or the onset of a loved one’s dementia. In essays on death and dying, pregnancy and prenatal genetics, radioactivity, chimeras, cottagers, and plague, Ordinary Wonder Tales reveals the essential truth: if you let yourself look closely, there is magic in the everyday.

ABOUT EMILY URQUHART

Emily Urquhart is a journalist with a doctorate in folklore. Her award-winning work has appeared in Longreads, Guernica, and The Walrus and elsewhere, and her first book, Beyond the Pale: Folklore, Family, and the Mystery of Our Hidden Genes, was shortlisted for the Kobo First Book Prize and the BC National Award for Canadian Nonfiction. Her most recent book, The Age of Creativity: Art, Memory, my Father and Me, was listed as a top book of 2020 by CBC, NOW Magazine and Quill & Quire. She is a nonfiction editor for The New Quarterly and lives in Kitchener, Ontario.

News & Awards: THE FUTURE, THE ART OF LIBROMANCY, CONFESSIONS WITH KEITH, and more!

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THE FUTURE

The Future by Catherine Leroux trans. Susan Ouriou (Sep 5, 2023) was reviewed in the Toronto Star. The review was published August 31st, 2023. You can read the full review here.

Alex Good writes of this post-dystopian novel,

“What makes The Future hopeful is its imagining of new, organic, co-operative (but not egalitarian) communities … savage but caring networks: small, local, and while living close to the edge still managing to get by. It may not be progress, but it is adapting to a vision of the future that hits pretty close to home.”

The Future was also featured in Kirkus Reviews as one of “Eight Big New Fiction Books from Small Presses.” The article was published online on September 6, 2023. You can read the full article here.

Catherine Leroux was interviewed by Nantali Indongo for the CBC Montreal arts and culture program The Bridge on August 26th, 2023. They discussed climate anxiety, dystopian and post-dystopian science fiction, parenting young kids, and what Catherine calls her “writing face”. The one hour interview  is available on demand from CBC Radio here.

The Future has also been named by CBC Books to a list of Fiction Titles to Read for Fall 2023, which was published on August 31st, 2023. Read the list of anticipated fiction titles here.

Get The Future here!

THE FULL-MOON WHALING CHRONICLES

Jason Guriel, author of The Full-Moon Whaling Chronicles (August 1, 2023) has been interviewed in the Globe and Mail. The interview was published on August 31, 2023.

You can read the full interview here.

Get The Full-Moon Whaling Chronicles here!

STANDING HEAVY

Standing Heavy by GauZ’, trans. by Frank Wynne (October 3, 2023) was listed in The Walrus as one of the “Best Books of Fall 2023.” The article was online September 8, 2023. You can read the full article here.

The Walrus calls it:

“A spry volume of 167 pages … that manages to trade heavily in politics while also sneaking up on your sympathy. I won’t spoil the end, but it startled me in its poignancy.”

Order Standing Heavy here!

THE ART OF LIBROMANCY

The Art of Libromancy by Josh Cook (Aug 22, 2023) was reviewed in the Winnipeg Free Press. The review was published online on September 2, 2023. You can read the full review here.

Ron Robinson writes,

“He writes as a fan of thesis, antithesis, synthesis — looking for solutions.”

The Art of Libromancy was also reviewed in That Shakespearean Rag by Steven Beattie. The review was published online on September 5, 2023. You can read the full review here.

Beattie writes,

“In pulling back the curtain to show readers the nuts and bolts of what this entails, Cook has provided a valuable service.”

Josh Cook was interviewed on the Book Storm podcast. The interview was published online on September 5, 2023. You can listen to the full episode here.

Get The Art of Libromancy here!

BREAKING AND ENTERING

Breaking and Entering by Don Gillmor (August 15, 2023) has been reviewed in the Winnipeg Free Press. The review was published online on Sept 2, 2023. You can read the full review here.

Andrea Greary writes,

“Gillmor is a skilled writer.”

Get Breaking and Entering here!

CONFESSIONS WITH KEITH

Confessions with Keith by Pauline Holdstock has been shortlisted for the 2023 Victoria Butler Book Prize! The shortlist was announced on September 7, 2023.

Check out the full shortlist here.

Get Confessions with Keith here!

BIG MEN FEAR ME & ON BROWSING

Big Men Fear Me by Mark Bourrie and On Browsing by Jason Guriel were both nominated for the 2023 Heritage Toronto Book Award! The nominees were announced on September 5, 2023.

Check out the full list here.

Get Big Men Fear Me here!

Get On Browsing here!

News & Awards: HOW TO BUILD A BOAT, ON COMMUNITY, FULL-MOON WHALING CHRONICLES, and more!

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IN THE NEWS!

THE FULL-MOON WHALING CHRONICLES

The Full-Moon Whaling Chronicles by Jason Guriel (August 1, 2023) has been reviewed in the Toronto Star by Michael Coren. The review was published online on July 29, 2023. You can read the full review here.

Michael Coren writes,

“[T]he book that’s going to get under your skin this summer … dizzyingly interesting … there is something utterly new and exciting here.”

The Full-Moon Whaling Chronicles has also been reviewed in Booklist. The review was published online on July 28, 2023. You can read the full review here.

Sal A. Joyce calls it:

“A story with heart, intrigue, and mystery … Lovers of science fiction will find this unlike anything they’ve read before.”

The Full-Moon Whaling Chronicles has been featured in Lit Hub and Book Riot. Both articles were published on August 1, 2023.

Read Lit Hub’s “27 New Books Out Today” list here and Book Riot’s “New Releases” list here.

Get The Full-Moon Whaling Chronicles here!

HOW TO BUILD A BOAT

How to Build a Boat by Elaine Feeney (November 7, 2023) has been longlisted for The Booker Prize 2023! The longlist was announced this morning, August 1, 2023. You can read the full announcement here.

The Booker jury writes:

“The interweaving stories of Jamie, a teenage boy trying to make sense of the world, and Tess, a teacher at his school, make up this humorous and insightful novel about family and the need for connection. Feeney has written an absorbing coming-of-age story which also explores the restrictions of class and education in a small community. A complex and genuinely moving novel.”

How to Build a Boat by Elaine Feeney was also reviewed in the Irish Times and RTE Ireland. Both articles were published online on July 22, 2023.

Irish Times calls it a “beautiful meditation on love,” while RTE Ireland calls it a “beautifully-written, tenderhearted story.”

Order How to Build a Boat here!

ON COMMUNITY

On Community by Casey Plett (November 7, 2023) has been featured in Quill and Quire’s 2023 Fall Nonfiction Preview. The article was published online on August 2, 2023.

You can read the preview here.

Order On Community here!

COCKTAIL

Cocktail by Lisa Alward (September 12, 2023) has been reviewed in The Miramichi Reader. The review was published online on August 1, 2023. You can read the full review here.

Lucy Black writes,

“This collection of twelve pristine short stories might best be described as small snapshots of lives shadowed by disquietude. The writing is crisp, accomplished and assured, and the characters are vividly and sympathetically drawn, as they experience the emotional convolutions of individuals struggling between that which they believe to be right and that which they desire.”

Order Cocktail here!

THE ART OF LIBROMANCY

The Art of Libromancy by Josh Cook (August 22, 2023) has been featured in the Chicago Review of Books as one of their “12 Must Read Books of August.” The article was published online on August 1, 2023. You can read the full article here.

Michael Welch calls it

“A necessarily critical look at the practice of connecting readers with their next book in the age of monopolization and censorship.”

Order The Art of Libromancy here!

THE COUNTRY OF TOO

The Country of Toó by Rodrigo Rey Rosa, translated by Stephen Henighan (July 11, 2023) has been reviewed in The Complete Review. The review was published online on July 29, 2023. You can read the full review here.

MA Orthofer calls it

“An appealing panorama of both the country and the different cultures and forces—from Mayan to global-capitalist—at work in it.”

Get The Country of Toó here!

SLEEP IS NOW A FOREIGN COUNTRY & OFF THE RECORD

Sleep is Now a Foreign Country by Mike Barnes (November 7, 2023) and Off the Record edited by John Metcalf (November 14, 2023) were both featured in Quill and Quire’s 2023 Fall Preview: Poetry, Memoir, and Biography. The article was published online on July 26, 2023. You can read the full article here.

Order Sleep is Now a Foreign Country here!

Order Off the Record here!

HOW TO BUILD A BOAT longlisted for THE BOOKER PRIZE 2023!

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We’re thrilled to share that this morning at 4 AM ET, the Booker Prizes announced the longlist for the 2023 Booker Prize. Among them is How to Build a Boat by Elaine Feeney which will be published by Biblioasis on November 7, 2023. 

The 2023 Booker judges on How to Build a Boat: “The interweaving stories of Jamie, a teenage boy trying to make sense of the world, and Tess, a teacher at his school, make up this humorous and insightful novel about family and the need for connection. Feeney has written an absorbing coming-of-age story which also explores the restrictions of class and education in a small community. A complex and genuinely moving novel.”

“We fell in love with Elaine Feeney as a person and as a writer when we published her debut novel, As You Were, a few years ago,” says Dan Wells, owner and publisher of Biblioasis. “We loved the beauty of her writing, the generous humanity of her characterization, while at the same time her unflinching willingness to explore the world in all of its at times uncomfortable complexity. How to Build a Boat, her second novel, brings all of these talents to the fore. What we’re most grateful for with this Booker nomination is that it should help us bring more readers to Elaine’s marvellous work.”

How to Build a Boat was first published in the UK in spring of 2023, where it has since received wide acclaim. This is the third of Biblioasis’ books to be nominated for the Booker Prize. Case Study by Graeme Macrae Burnet was longlisted in 2022, and Lucy Ellmann’s Ducks, Newburyport was shortlisted in 2019.

 The Booker Prize was first awarded in 1969. Its aim was to stimulate the reading and discussion of contemporary fiction. The shortlist will be announced online on September 21, 2023.

Order your copy of How to Build a Boat from Biblioasis here!

Credit: Julia Monard

ABOUT HOW TO BUILD A BOAT

A funny and deeply moving novel about a boy, his dream, and the people who lend him a hand, by the acclaimed author of As You Were

Jamie O’Neill loves the colour red. He also loves tall trees, patterns, rain that comes with wind, the curvature of many objects, books with dust jackets, cats, rivers and Edgar Allan Poe. At age thirteen, there are two things he especially wants in life: to build a Perpetual Motion Machine, and to connect with his mother, Noelle, who died when he was born. In his mind these things are intimately linked. And at his new school, where all else is disorientating and overwhelming, he finds two people who might just be able to help him.

How to Build a Boat is the story of how one boy and his mission transforms the lives of his teachers, Tess and Tadhg, and brings together a community. Written with tenderness and verve, it’s about love, family and connection, the power of imagination, and how our greatest adventures never happen alone.

ABOUT ELAINE FEENEY

Elaine Feeney is an award-winning poet, novelist, short story writer and playwright from the west of Ireland. How to Build a Boat, longlisted for the Booker Prize 2023, is Feeney’s second novel. Her 2020 debut, As You Were, was shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize and the Irish Novel of the Year Award, and won the Kate O’Brien Award, the McKitterick Prize, and the Dalkey Festival Emerging Writer Award. Feeney has published three collections of poetry, including The Radio Was Gospel and Rise, and her short story “Sojourn” was included in The Art of the Glimpse: 100 Irish Short Stories, edited by Sinéad Gleeson. Feeney lectures at the National University of Ireland, Galway. 

Media Hits: DREAMING HOME, WORLD AT MY BACK, ART OF LIBROMANCY, and more!

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IN THE NEWS!

DREAMING HOME

Dreaming Home by Lucian Childs (June 6, 2023) has been reviewed in the New York Times. The article was published online on July 7, 2023. You can read the full review here.

Kia Corthron writes,

“Eminently accomplished, [and] often deliciously droll … The novel asks provocative questions: At what age are we wholly accountable for our actions? To what degree do we hold a traumatized person responsible for perpetuating harm?”

Dreaming Home was also reviewed in Quill and Quire on June 27, 2023 and in Prairie Fire on June 26, 2023.

In Quill and Quire, Shawn Syms writes,

“In elegant, emotionally resonant prose, Childs creates a nuanced and sensitive portrait of a life shaped by loss, abandonment, and generational trauma … Thematically sophisticated, Dreaming Home also explores persistent issues in the gay male community such as sexual racism and the disparagement of older men.”

In Prairie Fire, Will Fawley writes,

“Though weighty, the stories or chapters in Dreaming Home are easy to devour because they feel so real and personal … The language is sparse, yet beautifully written, illuminating brief moments and observations that root you to the lives and experiences of these characters, making them vivid and real.”

Dreaming Home was featured in The Southern Review of Books as one of “Books to Celebrate in June 2023”. The list was published online on June 29, 2023. You can read the full list here.

Order Dreaming Home here!

THE WORLD AT MY BACK

The World at My Back by Thomas Melle, trans. by Luise von Flotow, (May 2, 2023) has been featured in the New York Times as one of “9 New Books We Recommend This Week.” The article was published online on May 31, 2023.

You can read the full article here.

Order The World at My Back here!

THE ART OF LIBROMANCY

The Art of Libromancy by Josh Cook (August 22, 2023) has been featured in Lit Hub as one of their “Most Anticipated Books of 2023.” The article was published online on July 5, 2023.

You can read the full article here.

Order The Art of Libromancy here!

THE COUNTRY OF TOO

The Country of Toó by Rodrigo Rey Rosa, translated by Stephen Henighan, (July 11, 2023) has been featured in the Brooklyn Rail, including an interview with the author by Tobias Carroll. The article was published online on July 5, 2023. You can read the full piece here.

Carroll writes,

“The Country of Toó is … about a lot of things, including political corruption and reform; a young man’s surreal recovery from a traumatic injury; and the moral crisis faced by a man known only as the Cobra, who has begun to feel the strain of years of working as a hired gun. Tonally, the work shifts from realistic to dreamlike and back again; the result is a complex reckoning with histories both personal and national.”

Order The Country of Toó here!

INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE DROWNING

Instructions for the Drowning by Steven Heighton (April 18, 2023) was featured in the New Yorker as part one of their “Best Books We Read This Week,” which is part of their Best Books of 2023. The list was updated on June 22, 2023.

You can read the full list here.

Order Instructions for the Drowning here!

HOW TO BUILD A BOAT

How to Build a Boat by Elaine Feeney (November 7, 2023) has been reviewed in the Guardian as part of “Hot off the press: authors pick their page-turners for summer.” The article was published online on July 4, 2023. You can read the full review here.

Louise Kennedy writes,

“How to Build a Boat is a heart-rending and delightful voyage in the company of 13-year-old Jamie O’Neill and his currach. The author Elaine Feeney has a poet’s way with words and uncanny understanding of human frailty.”

Order How to Build a Boat here!

ON CLASS

Deborah Dundas author of On Class (May 9 2023) wrote a piece on the process of writing On Class in the Literary Review of Canada. The piece “Opening Up” was published online on June 22, 2023 and appears in the print edition of their July/August issue. You can read the full piece here.

Deborah Dundas was also interviewed on Morning TV Hamilton. The interview aired on June 20, 2023. Watch the full interview here.

Order On Class here!

BIG MEN FEAR ME

Big Men Fear Me by Mark Bourrie (October 18, 2022) has been reviewed in Troy Media by Michael Taube. The article, “Four Canadian Books I Highly Recommend” was published online on July 4, 2023. Check out the full article here.

Taube writes,

“[George McCullough] is barely remembered today for several reasons, including the unfortunate bipolar disorder that led to his early and unexpected demise. Thanks to Bourrie’s well-written book, that’s no longer the case.”

Order Big Men Fear Me here!