Description
A Winnipeg Free Press Top Read of 2021
The thirteenth installment of Canada’s annual volume of essays showcases diverse nonfiction writing from across the country.
“The exceptional essay,” writes editor Bruce Whiteman, “derives from a passionate feeling, love and anger being perhaps its upper and lower limits, coexisting with a desire for truth, and it aims for the radiance of what is.” In the 2021 edition of Best Canadian Essays, Whiteman’s selections seek truth in all the places it may be found, from walks in brambled woods and ancient cities to memories of childhoods that shape a life; to analyses of artifacts both legislative and cultural that advance equality long overdue; to reports from the field that articulate the poetry of the present, the invisibility of the poor, the social contours and consuming mental contagions of the ongoing pandemic. Drawn from leading magazines and journals published in 2020, the fifteen essays gathered here brilliantly illuminate what is.
Featuring work by:
Neil Besner • Catherine Bush • Yvonne Blomer • Jenna Butler • Elizabeth Dauphinee • Eva-Lynn Jagoe • Mark Kingwell • Frances Koziar • Hilary Morgan V. Leathem • Stephanie Nolen • Kevin Patterson • Soraya Roberts • Ian Waddell • Sheila Watt-Cloutier • Joyce Wayne • Rob Winger
Praise for Best Canadian Essays
“A superb collection of national thinkers, crackling with insight on the issues of the age.”—Chatelaine
“The individual contributions in Best Canadian Essays transcend simple reportage and reach the level of art. Each one has something distinctive and informative to say. Take heed.”—Quill & Quire
