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Media Hits: UNMET, The Passenger Seat, Baldwin Styron and Me, and more!

IN THE NEWS!

UNMET

UNMET by stephanie roberts was reviewed in a poetry feature in the Literary Review of Canada. The review will appear in their May print issue, and is available online here.

Emily Mernin writes,

“In alternately nervous and incisive modes, roberts explores the profound contradictions behind even the most clear-eyed criticisms or desires . . . With a resolute inward stare, roberts reveals the cumulative nature of life.”

UNMET was reviewed in The Woodlot on April 7, and you can read the full review here.

Chris Banks writes,

“[roberts’] language is ‘surprise-drenched’ . . . this fantastic book is a piling on of surprising images and poetic structures and creative desires allowing both reader and poet the opportunity to rise above the Dollar Store desolation and grief and human injustice that plague our society.”

UNMET was featured on the CBC Books list of “39 Canadian poetry collections coming out in spring 2025.” You can check out the full list here.

Get UNMET here!

ON BOOK BANNING

On Book Banning by Ira Wells was reviewed in the Literary Review of Canada. The review will appear in their May print issue, and is available online here.

Keith Garebian writes,

“With this slim volume, Wells lays out cogent arguments against culture warriors who continue to warp our children’s relationship to literature . . . Wells persuasively explains how book banning reduces and devalues art and how it constitutes an attack on intellectual autonomy and on ‘your right to determine the future of your own mind.'”

Ira Wells spoke on an episode of TVO’s The Agenda for the segment “How Does Book Banning Hurt Democracy?” You can watch the full segment here.

Get On Book Banning here!

ON OIL

Don Gillmor, author of On Oil, was interviewed on TVO’s The Agenda on April 10. You can watch the full segment “Should Canada Rethink Its Relationship to Oil?” here.

Don Gillmor wrote an article, “Why Trump Needs Canadian Oil,” for Maclean’s on April 8. Read the full article here.

On Oil was also featured on the CBC Books list of “29 Canadian books you should be reading in April.” You can view the full list here.

Get On Oil here!

BALDWIN, STYRON, AND ME

Baldwin, Styron, and Me by Mélikah Abdelmoumen (translated by Catherine Khordoc) was reviewed in the Literary Review of Canada. The review will appear in their May print issue, and is available online here.

Amanda Perry writes,

“Abdelmoumen’s work . . . demonstrates the good faith conversations being held within a cultural scene that is both local and transnational in its outlook.”

Grab Baldwin, Styron, and Me here!

THE PASSENGER SEAT

The Passenger Seat by Vijay Khurana was listed in the Guardian‘s “Best Australian books out in April.” The list was published on April 4, and can be viewed here.

Steph Harmon calls it,

“A tense and gripping power struggle of toxic masculinity, as the teenagers push each other further and further down a violent road of no return.”

The Passenger Seat was reviewed in Rabble on April 10, in the article “Walk like a man: Toxic masculinity in crime fiction, fact and spoken word.” You can read the full review here.

“The structure of the book and its lyrical prose combine to make telling points about toxic male bonding and its relationship to sexist violence, all without any counterproductive lecturing or explicit judgements. The magisterial way that Khurana uses the classic elements of noir crime writing to challenge and subvert those very elements is impressive.”

Grab The Passenger Seat here!

RIPPER

Ripper: The Making of Pierre Poilievre by Mark Bourrie was featured a The Hill Times article about Poilievre on April 14. Check out the full piece here.

Susan Riley writes,

“Former political journalist Mark Bourrie’s new book, Ripper, is a bracing reminder of some of the reputations Poilievre has ruined, the malicious fictions he has promoted, [and] the tiresome slogans he stitches into every utterance.”

Ripper and author Mark Bourrie were featured on Vancouver CityNews’s NewsRadio Bookshelf on April 13. You can listen to the short interview or read the article here.

John Ackermann notes,

“The book is a more pointed treatment of its subject than Andrew Lawton’s Pierre Poilievre: A Political Life, which came out last year when the Tories were still riding high in the polls.”

Ripper was mentioned in Dan Garner’s Substack as a book to check out. You can read the full article here.

“If it weren’t for Mark and a small number of others willing to make sacrifices, popular Canadian history would have vanished entirely from book stores.”

Get Ripper here!

OLD ROMANTICS

Old Romantics by Maggie Armstrong was reviewed in the Winnipeg Free Press on April 5. Check out the full review here!

Ron Robinson writes,

“Armstrong offers fine, astute turns of phrase in her writing . . . The reader’s delight in the stories may range, then, from ‘you go, girl’ to a censorious ‘it will all end in tears’ depending on your age and experience.”

Grab a copy of Old Romantics here!

COMRADE PAPA

Comrade Papa by GauZ’ (translated by Frank Wynne) was reviewed in the Winnipeg Free Press on April 12. You can read the full review here.

Zilla Jones writes,

“This is a postcolonial novel that questions the dominant narrative with humour and heart.”

Grab Comrade Papa here!

QUESTION AUTHORITY

Question Authority by Mark Bourrie was reviewed in the New York Journal of Books, which can be read here.

Karen R. Koenig writes,

“A master of words who is well-versed in philosophy, political science, sociology, and psychology, [Mark Kingwell] writes with deep affection and hope for humanity and openly shares his darkest and brightest moments along life’s bumpy road. Though this is a serious book requiring thoughtful reading, Kingwell’s wit will make readers laugh out loud at him and at themselves.”

Get Question Authority here!

SORRY ABOUT THE FIRE

Sorry About the Fire by Colleen Coco Collins won 3rd Prize in the Alcuin Award for Excellence in Book Design in Canada’s Poetry category! The award was given to the book’s designer, Natalie Olsen. You can view the full list of winners here.

Grab Sorry Abou the Fire here!

The Bibliophile: Scathing, surgical, and colourfully entertaining

Want to get new excerpts, musings, and more from The Bibliophile right away? Sign up for our weekly online newsletter here!

***

Mark Bourrie’s Ripper: The Making of Pierre Poilievre has quickly become a national bestseller; this week, it sits at #3 on the Canadian Nonfiction list. Despite initial worry that the election call would hinder the media’s ability or willingness to cover a critical biography of the Opposition leader, it’s great to see Bourrie’s hard work pay off. And we’re especially grateful for all the journalists who are showing up to write thoughtful, non-partisan coverage during this increasingly terrifying period. We’re also grateful to the people who are taking the time to read books like Ripper ahead of election day (or any day): we all have to stay vigilant.

Dominique Béchard,
Publicist

***

Ripper: Ottawa Launch

The Walrus

“Poilievre is a pro-American libertarian who moralizes the sufferings of the marginalized, insists the free market has inherent genius, drives wedges between the regions of the country, and exploits class envy. By the early winter of 2025, the political gears of the country changed. The political fight in Canada quickly became about who was best to face the external threat and whose ideas were best to help Canadian families and businesses at a time of real danger. On April 28, we’ll know if his brand of politics will survive the very crisis it claimed to prepare for.”
—Mark Bourrie, excerpted from Ripper

Globe and Mail

“Mark Bourrie has produced a searing but convincing critique of the Conservative Leader’s shortcomings that will give pause to anyone outside the diehard Poilievre base.”
Charlotte Gray

“In his pull-no-punches book, Mr. Bourrie portrays Mr. Poilievre as one serious ripper: mean, sneering, insulting, truth-evading, skilled at whipping up mass anger.”
Marsha Lederman

“If Pierre Poilievre is going to win, shake [the comparison to Trump] he must. This book, with all its pungent reminders of his record, will make it harder to do.”
Lawrence Martin

“‘It’s an intense subject, the future of Canada—there isn’t anything more important than that, and at a time of revolution, which I think we are in,’ [Bourrie] says . . . The story was there; he just needed to collate the pieces.”
Josh O’Kane

Photo: Ripper: The Making of Pierre Poilievre by Mark Bourrie. Cover designed by Ingrid Paulson.

Toronto Star

Bestsellers Lists: #3 on the Canadian Nonfiction list, and #7 on the Original Nonfiction list.

Interview with Mark Bourrie and Stephen Maher, excerpted:

Stephen Maher: One of the pleasures of your book is the attention it pays to the social and economic forces Poilievre has harnessed. You argue persuasively that Trudeau let Poilievre become a champion for the working class by neglecting their concerns and failing to communicate. But every incumbent government around the world had a similar crisis. Was it really Trudeau’s failure, or was it just that the situation created an opening for a person such as Poilievre?

Mark Bourrie: I think it’s a systemic failure among centrists, people on the left and even the union movement to maintain a good, strong relationship with shop floors. And we saw that folks realized there was this great big working-class vote out there that wasn’t being tended to. And the Liberals, after the first year of COVID, could not communicate with anybody. They were just so disconnected. Canadian conservatives went to the United States and learned this stuff, but it was also something that former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was able to pick up on. It’s something that the Brexiteers were able to pick up on, as well as the AFD in Germany.

Winnipeg Free Press

“Despite [the rush to print], the work never seems rushed. It is lengthy and historically detailed while relying on media, secondary sources and parliamentary debates.”
—Christopher Adams

The Tyee

“This book is a phenomenal effort, carefully researched and nicely written. Ripper should be widely read by everyone who cares about the value of casting an informed vote on April 28.”
—Michael Harris

Hill Times

“Every Liberal in their war room, every journalist covering the campaign and—should he win—every stakeholder doing business with an eventual Poilievre government owes it to themselves to read Bourrie’s Ripper so that they can have a clear picture of who Poilievre is, how he came to be, and how that past is almost certain to shape his decision-making going forward.”
—Jamie Carroll

CBC Windsor Morning

 

 

 

 

 

Cult MTL

“The page-turner is crack for political junkies.”
—Toula Drimonis

NB Media Co-op

“Mark Bourrie’s new book is a detailed and surgical examination of the man who could be Canada’s next prime minister.”
—Gerry McAlister

UnHerd

“In a scathing but comprehensive recent biography, Ripper: The Making of Pierre Poilievre, the historian Mark Bourrie points out that his [Poilievre’s] thinking on most subjects has not advanced much since adolescence.”
—Michael Ledger-Lomas

Canuckleheads Podcast

That Shakespearean Rag

“By positioning Poilievre in the context of the global social and economic cleavages that permitted him him to attain power, Bourrie transcends a simple biography and creates a snapshot of our riven historical moment, one that should prove illuminating for anyone looking around in abject confusion and wondering how we got to this particular point.”
—Steven W. Beattie

Ken McGoogan

Ripper has no business being so detailed and wide-ranging, so authoritative and convincing, so brilliantly analytical and colourfully entertaining.”

On Substack:

“Bourrie writes an honest and comprehensive account of Poilievre’s and offers a look at where he might take the country. The book is no hagiography, but nor is it a hatchet job (a lesser author might have been less disciplined). It’s a fitting, if disconcerting, election primer.”
—David Moscrop

“His [Mark Bourrie’s] latest book RIPPER isn’t just a biography—it’s a field guide to fascism wrapped in a Canadian flag soaked in Axe body spray.”
—Dean Blundell

“[Ripper] is far from a hatchet job. Bourrie appreciates Poilievre’s cunning and instinct for the jugular—he just doesn’t like him too much.”
—Ethan Phillips, Oversight

“Bourrie’s critical of Poilievre . . . But he reflects on Poilievre’s strengths and weaknesses, informed by close observation of the Conservative leader’s entire career.”
—Paul Wells

“Bourrie’s style is accessible, the prose is clear and sparse . . . Bourrie’s dry wit brings a chuckle now and then.”
—Margaret Shkimba

“[E]xcellent instant bestseller.”
—Rose Simpson, Rose’s Cantina

Media Hits: RIPPER, UNMET, ON OIL, and more!

IN THE NEWS!

RIPPER

Ripper: The Making of Pierre Poilievre by Mark Bourrie was reviewed by Charlotte Gray in the Globe and Mail on April 1. You can read the full review here.

Gray writes,

“Mark Bourrie has produced a searing but convincing critique of the Conservative Leader’s shortcomings that will give pause to anyone outside the diehard Poilievre base.”

Ripper was also reviewed in the Hill Times on April 2. Check out the full review here.

Mark Bourrie was featured in the Toronto Star in conversation with Stephen Maher. The article was published online on March 29, and you can read it here.

Get Ripper here!

UNMET

UNMET by stephanie roberts was reviewed in The Miramichi Reader on April 1. Check out full review of this poetry collection here.

Pearl Pirie writes,

“[roberts] admirably permits wide swathes of herself on the page, yet without being didactic or maudlin and without overwriting.”

stephanie roberts was interviewed by Olive Andrews for The Ex-Puritan‘s Winter 2025 issue. Read the full interview here.

Andrews writes of the collection,

“The poems are both singular and vast, wading through moments, objects, and places with visceral clarity while guiding the reader through the thrashing waves of its overarching themes: loneliness, pandemic, domestic violence, ecological crisis, police brutality, and more. The work is grounded and groundbreaking, pointed and sprawled. “

stephanie roberts was also interviewed for Open Book‘s ‘Poets in Profile’ on March 28. Check out the interview here.

Open Book writes,

“stephanie roberts returns with another complex and stunning work that looks at both the seen and unseen, and explores social issues through lyric and line in a truly singular way.”

Grab UNMET here!

ON BOOK BANNING

Ira Wells, author of On Book Banning, was interviewed by David Moscrop this week in The Jacobin. The article, “The Shared Logic of Censorship,” discussing censorship and what’s being done to combat it, can be read here.

From the interview, Wells says:

“Education involves building up critical thinking facilities and faculties. Indoctrination involves breaking them down. Education involves inculcating independent thinking. Indoctrination involves submission to doctrine.

We need to rediscover that distinction. And we need to revive the best spirit of our democracy.”

Grab On Book Banning here!

ON OIL

On Oil by Don Gillmor was featured on LitHub‘s list of “10 Nonfiction Books to Read in April.” Check out the full list here.

LitHub writes,

“Gillmor . . . draws a line from the greed and hubris at the heart of that first explosion straight to the present day—and beyond.”

Get On Oil here!

THE PASSENGER SEAT

The Passenger Seat by Vijay Khurana was reviewed in The Tyee, for the article “There’s Power in Male Bonding. Must There Be Menace?” The review was posted on March 28, and you can read it here.

Tom Sandborn writes,

“Khurana employs classic tropes of the buddy road trip and crime novel/true crime genres while giving them a critical 21st-century twist—think In Cold Blood meets Grand Theft Auto with the psychological complexity and moral anguish of Dostoevsky and inputs from third-wave feminists.”

Get The Passenger Seat here!

OLD ROMANTICS

Old Romantics by Maggie Armstrong was excerpted in LitHub. The chapter “My Success” can be read in full here.

Old Romantics was also given a pre-review by Kassie Rose in The Longest Chapter, which can be read here. Rose writes,

“I had other books lined up to read, but the narrator of all the stories in Old Romantics hooked me.”

Maggie Armstrong was interviewed by Tadgh Hoey in Brooklyn Rail, which you can read in full here.

Hoey writes,

“Reading [Old Romantics] left me vacillating between almost spitting out my coffee to laugh and feeling sunken and eviscerated at the recognition of Margaret’s many personal, professional, and romantic disappointments and the scalpel-like precision with which Armstrong renders them page after page.”

Grab Old Romantics here!

MAY OUR JOY ENDURE

May Our Joy Endure by Kev Lambert (trans. Donald Winkler) appeared on CBC The Next Chapter’s list of three books in translation to check out now. You can read the article here.

Reviewer Robert Wiersema says,

“[The translation] flows beautifully … it has a metrical rhythmic quality that is very unusual in English. So I think that’s Winkler’s translation from the French, at work.”

Grab May Our Joy Endure here!

Media Hits: THE PASSENGER SEAT, DARK LIKE UNDER, ON BOOK BANNING, and more!

IN THE NEWS!

THE PASSENGER SEAT

The Passenger Seat by Vijay Khurana was reviewed in the New York Times! The review was published online on March 2, and can be read here.

Reviewer Teddy Wayne calls it,

“Unsettling and powerful . . . If the inciting episode reads as an overdetermined proof of male one-upmanship, Khurana’s execution of it is nevertheless gripping.”

Vijay Khurana was also interviewed on the ABA’s Indies Introduce podcast interview series, which spotlights debut authors. The episode was posted on Mar 4, and can be listened to here.

Grab The Passenger Seat here!

ON BOOK BANNING

On Book Banning by Ira Wells was excerpted in The Walrus on March 2, which can be read here.

On Book Banning was also reviewed in the Winnipeg Free Press. The review was posted on March 1, and can be read here.

Matt Henderson writes,

“A concise, exquisite, and tidy inquiry into our common desire to protect against the other. Wells serves up a masterful and provocative treatise about the nature of free speech and the power of the written word.”

Get On Book Banning here!

DARK LIKE UNDER

Dark Like Under by Alice Chadwick was reviewed in the Observer on March 2. The review is available to read online here.

Miriam Balanescu writes,

“Chadwick’s cast of children, on the precipice of adulthood, are caught in the crosshairs of adult politics . . . In the refraction of their various viewpoints, Chadwick is adept at finding the lesser tragedies bursting at the seams, amounting to a clever and compassionate debut.”

Preorder Dark Like Under here!

HEAVEN AND HELL

Jón Kalman Stefánsson, author of Heaven and Hell, was interviewed on the Across the Pond podcast about the book. The episode was posted on March 4, and you can listen to it in full here.

Grab Heaven and Hell here!

Media Hits: COMRADE PAPA, NEAR DISTANCE, A CASE OF MATRICIDE, and more!

IN THE NEWS!

COMRADE PAPA

Comrade Papa by GauZ’, translated by Frank Wynne (Oct 8, 2024), was reviewed in the Wall Street Journal! The review was published online on November 14, and is available to read here.

Critic Sam Sacks writes,

“GauZ’ avoids moralizing and is always alive to the humor and peculiarity of his stories. There are very funny scenes of the young Marxist speechifying to his unimpressed elders about the class struggle and the ‘retching of the earth.’ (Frank Wynne’s translation from the French shows a deft touch with Anouman’s malapropisms.)”

Comrade Papa was also a bookseller choice in Electric Literature’s article “The Best Books of the Fall, According to Indie Booksellers”! The list was published November 1, and you can check it out here.

Josh Cook (Porter Square Books) wrote,

“A funhouse mirror version of the colonial adventure story, Comrade Papa pokes, prods, & mocks a whole suite of ideologies & assumptions. GauZ’ has an exuberant, nimble style & an off-center imagination that will keep readers on their toes.”

Get Comrade Papa here!

A WAY TO BE HAPPY

Caroline Adderson, author of A Way to Be Happy (Sep 10, 2024), was interviewed on CBC’s The Next Chapter! The interview with Antonio Michael Downing was posted November 15, and you can read it here.

A Way to Be Happy was also reviewed in FreeFall! The review was posted online on November 3, and you can read it here.

Lori Hahnel writes,

“As the author of many books of fiction and non-fiction, the breadth of Adderson’s writing experience is evident in her craft. This clever and meticulously crafted collection from a writer who has mastered her art is a pleasure to read.”

Get A Way to Be Happy here!

A CASE OF MATRICIDE

A Case of Matricide by Graeme Macrae Burnet (Nov 12, 2024)was reviewed in the Times Literary Supplement on November 15. You can read it in full here.

Critic Nicolas Cree writes,

“A remarkable crime trilogy of doublings and disappearance . . . These are crime novels in which identities are unstable, evidence is slippery and solutions are obscure.”

A Case of Matricide was also reviewed in the Miramichi Reader on November 14, which you can check out here.

Luke Francis Beirne writes,

“The story in A Case of Matricide is intricately woven, with layers of significance throughout . . . Graeme Macrae Burnet has elevated the detective novel to incredible heights.”

Get A Case of Matricide here!

NEAR DISTANCE

Near Distance by Hanna Stoltenberg, translated by Wendy H Gabrielsen (Jan 14, 2025), was reviewed in Kirkus Reviews. The review was published in their November 15 print issue and is available to read online here.

Kirkus writes,

“Grimly fascinating . . . infused with a sense of dread, and observed in microscopic detail from a bemused and calculated remove. Page after page leaves the reader anxiously waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

Preorder Near Distance here!

HEAVEN AND HELL

Heaven and Hell by Jón Kalman Stefánsson, translated by Philip Roughton (Feb 4, 2025), was given a starred review in Kirkus Reviews! The review was posted online on November 9, and will appear in their December 15 print issue. Read it here.

Kirkus writes,

“A moving story of loss and courage told in prose as crisp and clear as the Icelandic landscape where it takes place. . . Stefánsson writes like an epic poet of old about the price the natural world exacts on humans, but he’s not without sympathy or an ability to find affirming qualities in difficult situations.”

Preorder Heaven and Hell here!

SETH’S CHRISTMAS GHOST STORIES

The 2024 Seth’s Christmas Ghost Stories were featured on So Many Damn Books podcast for the Holiday Gift Guide episode! Listen to the full episode here.

Host Christopher Hamelin says,

“Awesome pocket editions of forgotten horror stories, or mystery stories, from the past, in this perfect set . . . This ‘Ghost Story for Christmas’ series is some of the most delightful reading that I do all year.”

Get all three 2024 Christmas Ghost Stories here!

THE PAGES OF THE SEA

The Pages of the Sea by Anne Hawk (Sep 17, 2024) was reviewed in the Ottawa Review of Books. The review was published online, and is available to read here.

Timothy Niedermann writes,

“A moving portrayal of a young girl’s efforts to grow out of a state of melancholy and confusion and acquire self-confidence and assertiveness, despite her young age.”

Get The Pages of the Sea here!

OLD ROMANTICS

Old Romantics by Maggie Armstrong (Apr 1, 2025) was reviewed in The Stinging Fly on November 15, which you can check out here.

Sarah Gilmartin writes,

“Readers of Old Romantics will be swept up in the verve of Armstrong’s storytelling, but the deeper purpose of the humour, as with all good comedic writing, is that of connection, of recognition: this crazy thing called life, tell me you feel it too? The more we laugh, the closer we are to tears. Old Romantics is a collection big on feeling, on living, romanticism with a capital R.”

Preorder Old Romantics here!

Media Hits: THE NOTEBOOK, A WAY TO BE HAPPY, THE PAGES OF THE SEA, and more!

IN THE NEWS

THE NOTEBOOK

The Notebook by Roland Allen (Sep 3, 2024) was reviewed in the New York Times on November 2! The review is available to read online here.

Wilson Wong writes,

“The book is a revealing document of a relationship so intimate as to be sacred: that of the writer and the page. It’s a reminder that note-taking is an act of noticing, of being present and showing up to the blank paper, again and again, and discovering what may arise there.”

Get The Notebook here.

A WAY TO BE HAPPY

A Way to Be Happy by Caroline Adderson (Sep 10, 2024) was reviewed on The Longest Chapter on October 31, and you can read it in full here.

NPR’s Kassie Rose writes,

“It’s difficult to make happiness interesting. Caroline Adderson, however, succeeds with stylish skill. She creates sympathetic characters struggling with inner complexities—what it feels like to be a disappointment, or to not be believed, or to lead a passionless life; always offering, though, an encounter providing a respite from loneliness or isolation.”

Grab A Way to Be Happy here!

THE PAGES OF THE SEA

Anne Hawk, author of The Pages of the Sea (Sep 17, 2024), was interviewed on The Conversation podcast (here) on October 21, and also talked about her debut novel on the Bookspo podcast (here) on October 16.

Grab The Pages of the Sea here!

MAY OUR JOY ENDURE

Kev Lambert, author of May Our Joy Endure (trans. Donald Winkler, Sep 3, 2024), was profiled in the Globe and Mail by Emily Donaldson on October 25! You can read the full feature here.

Donaldson calls Lambert,

“[A] literary wunderkind.”

May Our Joy Endure was also reviewed in the Montreal Review of Books on October 30. Check out the full review here.

Marisa Grizenko writes,

“Like Bruegel and Blais, Lambert uses a large cast of characters to depict society’s complexities. His gaze is oceanic, homing in on individuals and zooming out to the systems within which they operate.”

Get May Our Joy Endure here!

QUESTION AUTHORITY

Mark Kingwell, author of Question Authority (Nov 5, 2024), was interviewed on the Canadaland podcast on October 28. Listen to the full episode here.

Grab Question Authority here!

A CASE OF MATRICIDE

A Case of Matricide by Graeme Macrae Burnet (Nov 12, 2024) was reviewed in the Los Angeles Times as part of their list of “10 books to add to your reading list in November.” The article was published online on November 1, and you can read it here.

Bethanne Patrick writes,

“Burnet’s trilogy concludes with a mystery about what we put up with in mystery narratives . . . It’s smart, quirky and fun.”

Grab A Case of Matricide here!

SETH’S CHRISTMAS GHOST STORIES 2024

Seth’s Christmas Ghost Stories (Oct 29, 2024) were featured on the Total Christmas Podcast on October 26, and you can listed to the segment (starting at 16:00) here.

Host Jack Ford calls the trio,

“Delightful little books . . . it’s something that people that love Christmas might enjoy, reviving that old tradition of Christmas ghost stories.”

Podolo, one of this year’s three stories, was read in full on the Christmas Past Podcast by Brian Earl. You can listen to the full episode here.

Grab all three Seth’s Christmas Ghost Stories here!

Media Hits: COMRADE PAPA, THE NOTEBOOK, A WAY TO BE HAPPY, and more!

COMRADE PAPA

Comrade Papa by GauZ’, translated by Frank Wynne (Oct 8, 2024), was reviewed in the New York Times! The review was published online on Oct 8, and you can check it out here.

Nadifa Mohamed writes,

Comrade Papa incorporates many small shards of history and storytelling into an overall gleaming mosaic.”

Grab Comrade Papa here!

THE NOTEBOOK

The Notebook by Roland Allen (Sep 3, 2024) was reviewed in the New Yorker! The review was published online on Oct 14, and in their Oct 21 print edition. You can read it here.

The New Yorker writes,

“Allen’s narrative moves fluidly as he recounts the evolution of the notebook’s use.”

Get The Notebook here!

A CASE OF MATRICIDE

A Case of Matricide by Graeme Macrae Burnet (Nov 10, 2024) was reviewed in the Guardian. The review was published online on Oct 18, and you can read it here.

Laura Wilson writes,

“This quirky blend of psychological thriller and smalltown life is both thought-provoking and entirely convincing.”

A Case of Matricide was reviewed in the Times on October 15, and you can check out the full article here.

James Walton calls it,

“A perfect conclusion to the trilogy.”

A Case of Matricide was also reviewed in the Spectator on October 12. You can check out the review here.

Andrew Rosenheim writes,

A Case of Matricide demonstrates literary talent of the highest order.”

Grab A Case of Matricide here!

A WAY TO BE HAPPY

A Way to Be Happy by Caroline Adderson (Sep 10, 2024) was reviewed in Scout Magazine’s Book Club Vol. 17! Caroline was also interviewed on Oct 23. You can check out their review here and the full interview here.

Thalia Stopa writes,

“This well-seasoned author has managed to steer clear of the hazards of kitsch or gratuitousness to produce a near-perfect collection about a bunch of very imperfect yet entirely plausible characters and scenarios.”

A Way to Be Happy was also reviewed in the Winnipeg Free Press! The review was published online on Oct 19, and you can read it here.

Carrie Hatland writes,

“When seeking happiness, there is always a cost. The journey is never simplistic, and when it comes to complexity, Adderson is a master.”

Grab A Way to Be Happy here!

MAY OUR JOY ENDURE

May Our Joy Endure by Kev Lambert, translated by Donald Winkler (Sep 3, 2024) was featured in Lavender Magazine. The feature was published online on Oct 17, and you can check it out here.

E.B. Boatner writes,

“Lambert, whose Querelle of Roberval won the Marquis de Sade Prize, knows instinctively how not to pull a punch . . . worth the ride.”

Grab May Our Joy Endure here!

Media Hits: MAY OUR JOY ENDURE, ON COMMUNITY, A CASE OF MATRICIDE, and more!

IN THE NEWS!

MAY OUR JOY ENDURE

May Our Joy Endure by Kev Lambert, translated by Donald Winkler (Sep 3, 2024) was featured in Lit Hub‘s list of “The 16 Best Book Covers of September.” The article was published online on September 26, and you can check it out here.

Grab May Our Joy Endure here!

A CASE OF MATRICIDE

A Case of Matricide by Graeme Macrae Burnet (Nov 12, 2024) was reviewed in the Sunday Post! The review was published in print on September 29.

The Post writes,

“The most ‘action-packed’ of the trio, it [A Case of Matricide] is a master class in characterisation. Unnervingly dark—and at times, surprisingly humorous—it took its toll on the author.”

Get A Case of Matricide here!

ON COMMUNITY

On Community by Casey Plett was reviewed in Geist, in their Fall 2024 print issue.

Reviewer Kristina Rothstein writes,

“A spiral of thoughts and anecdotes organized around questions concerning what it means to be part of the queer and trans communities, On Community . . . is a heartfelt, funny, wistful read—just conceptually rigorous enough to provoke thought, but without difficult theory or jargon.”

Grab On Community here!

THE NOTEBOOK & A WAY TO BE HAPPY & HELLO, HORSE

The Notebook by Roland Allen (Sep 3, 2024), A Way to Be Happy by Caroline Adderson (Sep 10, 2024), and Hello, Horse by Richard Kelly Kemick (Aug 10,2024) were all featured in the Windsor Star! The article highlighted the books and their upcoming launches at Biblioasis Bookshop on September 30 and October 2. Check out the article here.

Grab The Notebook here!

Get A Way to Be Happy here!

Get Hello, Horse here!

Media Hits: THE NOTEBOOK, A WAY TO BE HAPPY, MAY OUR JOY ENDURE, and more!

IN THE NEWS!

THE NOTEBOOK

The Notebook by Roland Allen (Sep 3, 2024) was excerpted in Lit Hub on September 9. You can check out the excerpt, “Paper Trail: On the Cross-Cultural Evolution of the Notebook” here.

Roland Allen was interviewed by Piya Chattopadhyay for CBC Sunday Magazine. The interview was posted on September 8, and you can check it out in full here.

Grab The Notebook here!

A WAY TO BE HAPPY

A Way to Be Happy by Caroline Adderson (Sep 10, 2024) has been longlisted for the Giller Prize, and is showing up on a number of lists! Publishers Weekly (Sep 5), CBC Books (Sep 4), and Quill & Quire (Sep 4) have all posted about the longlist.

A Way to Be Happy was also highlighted in the Georgia Straight as one of the five books on the Giller longlist by BC authors. You can check out that article here.

A Way to Be Happy was reviewed in the BC Review on September 4. You can read the full review online here.

Reviewer Bill Paul writes,

“For each story, Adderson expertly develops a detailed setting . . . [and] the author carefully constructs vivid characters from every walk of life. Each one of them making their way to some undetermined fate.”

Grab A Way to Be Happy here!

MAY OUR JOY ENDURE

May Our Joy Endure by Kev Lambert, translated by Donald Winkler (Sep 3, 2024), was mentioned in the New York Times in an interview with writer Garth Greenwell. The article was published online on September 5, and you can read the it here.

Kev Lambert was interviewed by Steven W. Beattie about May Our Joy Endure for Quill and Quire, published online on September 5, 2024. You can read the full interview here.

Lambert says in the interview,

“I wanted to challenge the idea that humanizing the person you critique is giving them credit. We hear this sometimes in political or media circles. But I think it’s a fake or a wrong idea . . . I’m starting to think that we should try to have empathy. Which doesn’t mean stop criticizing or saying everything’s fine because we have empathy. But I think it gives you an understanding of humans that is more accurate and more useful for political engagement.”

May Our Joy Endure was listed as one of The Walrus‘s “Best Books of Fall 2024.” The article was published online on September 4, 2024, and you can read it here.

Contributor Michelle Cyca writes,

“Who hasn’t wished a little divine retribution upon the ultrarich for all their sins? Kevin Lambert’s third novel, nimbly translated by Donald Winkler, is an icy, cerebral social novel . . . showcasing Lambert’s gimlet eye for the delusions and designer preferences of the 1 percent.”

May Our Joy Endure also appeared on the Daily Kos‘s list of “Contemporary Fiction Views: A new book season is about to begin,” posted online September 3. You can check out the full article here.

Grab May Our Joy Endure here!

THE PAGES OF THE SEA

The Pages of the Sea by Anne Hawk (Sep 17, 2024) was included in the Toronto Star‘s list of “25 books worthy of a place at the top of your to-read pile.” The list was published on September 1, 2024, and you can view it here.

Get Pages of the Sea here!

UTOPIAN GENERATION

The Utopian Generation by Pepetela, translated by David Brookshaw (Aug 13, 2024), was reviewed in the Literary Review of Canada. The review will appear in print in their October issue.

The LRC writes,

“A classic post-colonial text . . . This sweeping novel, which moves in roughly ten-year increments from 1961 to 1991, tells the steadily absorbing story of ‘how a generation embarks on a glorious struggle for independence and then destroys itself.'”

Get The Utopian Generation here!

CROSSES IN THE SKY

Crosses in the Sky: Jean de Brébeuf and the Destruction of Huronia by Mark Bourrie (May 21, 2024) was reviewed in The Millstone on August 29. Read the full review here.

Edith Cody-Rice writes,

“[A] fascinating and engrossing tale . . . a meticulously researched book . . . It told me, on nearly every page, something I did not know about the history of this province, of the lives lived here in the 17th century.”

Crosses in the Sky was also mentioned in an interview between actress & director Kaniehtiio Horn and interviewer Jim Slotek in Original Cin, posted on September 5. Check out the article here.

Grab Crosses in the Sky here!

CASE STUDY

Case Study by Graeme Macrae Burnet was included in the Globe and Mail‘s list of “Books we’re reading and loving in September.” The list was published on September 5, and you can check it out here.

Ian Brown writes,

“Graeme Macrae Burnet’s Case Study (longlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize) is the best type of novel: the sharply crafted, deeply intelligent but compulsively readable kind . . . As soon as you stop reading, you’ll want to read it again.”

Get Case Study here!

Preorder Burnet’s forthcoming book, A Case of Matricide, here!

Media Hits & Awards: ON CLASS, MAY OUR JOY ENDURE, THE NOTEBOOK, and more!

IN THE NEWS!

MAY OUR JOY ENDURE

May Our Joy Endure by Kevin Lambert, translated by Donald Winkler (Sep 3, 2024), appeared on Lit Hub‘s list of “27 new books out today.” The list was published on September 3, and you can check it out here.

The list features Heather O’Neill’s blurb:

“Baroque and philosophical, May Our Joy Endure captures the sensibilities and excesses of the elite. A novel about the housing crisis told from the perspective of those causing it . . . Lambert’s writing is lyrical and rapturous. In this book, he proves himself a satirical and whimsical Robespierre, hailing from small town Quebec.”

May Our Joy Endure also featured on All Lit Up‘s list of “Book Recommendations to follow The Rage Letters.” The article was posted on August 28, and you can read it here.

Grab May Our Joy Endure here!

THE NOTEBOOK

The Notebook by Roland Allen (Sep 3, 2024) was excerpted in The Walrus. The excerpt, titled “Moleskine Mania: How a Notebook Conquered the Digital Era,” was published online on August 30, and you can read it in full here.

Roland Allen contributed a feature to the Globe and Mail, which published online on August 30. You can check out the article, “In a world of screens, the humble notebook remains the best way to learn,” here.

The Notebook was also reviewed in Angelus News on August 30. You can read the full review here.

Reviewer Heather King writes,

“[The Notebook] celebrates the age-old practice of writing things down—numbers, images, thoughts, dreams—and charts the evolution of this handy, humble little item that many of us consider indispensable.”

Grab The Notebook here!

THE FUTURE

The Future by Catherine Leroux, translated by Susan Ouriou (Sep 5, 2023) was featured on CBC Books’ list, “These 14 writers recently won some of Canada’s biggest literary awards.” The list, which highlighted The Future‘s 2024 Canada Reads win and Carol Shields Prize longlisting, was posted on August 30, and you can read it here.

Grab The Future here!

THE PAGES OF THE SEA

The Pages of the Sea by Anne Hawk (Sep 17, 2024) appeared on Toronto.com’s list of “25 books worthy of a place at the top of your to-read pile.” The list was posted on September 1, and you can read it in full here.

Grab The Pages of the Sea here!

CROSSES IN THE SKY

Crosses in the Sky: Jean de Brébeuf and the Destruction of Huronia by Mark Bourrie (May 21, 2024) was featured on 49th Shelf‘s list of recommendations, “Grappling With History.” The article was posted on August 26, and you can check it out here.

Marianne K. Miller writes,

“Mark Bourrie tackles the mythology around the Jesuit missionary priest, Jean de Brebeuf. It is a different story than the one you thought you knew.”

Get Crosses in the Sky here!

HELLO, HORSE

Hello, Horse by Richard Kelly Kemick (Aug 6, 2024) was reviewed in Everything Zoomer! The review was posted online on August 15, and you can read it here.

Everything Zoomer writes,

“The year 2024 has Richard Kelly Kemick, whose wild imagination and fresh insights cast a spell in Hello, Horse; every entrancing story casts off in a different direction, with a genuine ‘wait? what?!’ moment you did not see coming . . . Kemick, a poet and playwright and National Magazine Award gold medal-winner, is one to watch.”

Grab Hello, Horse here!

AWARDS NEWS!

ON CLASS

We’re thrilled to share that On Class by Deborah Dundas is a nominee for the 2024 Heritage Toronto Book Award. The nominees were announced on September 3, 2024, and you can check out the full list here.

The Heritage Toronto Book Award highlights the breadth and depth of Toronto’s heritage, covering topics from music history, to public infrastructure, to immigration and multiculturalism. The award ceremony will take place on Monday, October 28, 2024 at The Carlu (444 Yonge Street).

Grab a copy of On Class here!