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