Articles
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PoetryCollection comes together through staying with poems, letting themes reveal themselves
For Manitoba poet Sarah Klassen, writing poems is an exercise in waiting. The process she went through for her newest collection of poetry, The Tree of Life, was no different. -
PoetrySelf-declared trickster poet now leading quieter life, with more energy for his own work
Over the 40 years of his career, Winnipeg’s Dennis Cooley has been a professor of English at the University of Manitoba and a publisher/editor at Turnstone Press, among many other titles. But the role he most identifies with is trickster poet. -
PoetryDuncan Mercredi’s ‘weird way of looking at life and land’ collected in retrospective
Duncan Mercredi’s biography is straightforward. He’s a Cree/Métis writer and storyteller originally from Misipawistik (Grand Rapids), Manitoba, and the current Poet Laureate of Winnipeg. But these lines, taken from the poetic afterword to Mercredi’s upcoming new and selected, mahikan ka onot: The Poetry of Duncan Mercredi, are a much better introduction ... -
DramaNon-linear memory play explores addiction as a ‘wild-eyed, howling beast’
In her play Pretty Goblins, Edmonton-based playwright and actor Beth Graham explores themes of sisterhood, addiction, and the overwhelming effects of trauma. The play’s title, and her initial inspiration, came from the text of Christina Rossetti’s poem, “Goblin Market,” which also explores sisterly love and addiction. -
FeaturesHomage to Phillis Wheatley casts poet, who was enslaved, as historical role model
A poet, a slave. An ode to freedom. In Alison Clarke’s first poetry collection, Phillis, the award-winning YA author of The Sisterhood series draws from her work as a spoken word artist and member of Alberta’s Stroll of Poets to craft an homage to Phillis Wheatley, the first African-American woman to publish a book of poetry, who, remarkably, did so while enslaved. -
FeaturesWriting across multiple genres no small task – but managing schedules and headspace helps
Winnipeg-based David A. Robertson is a busy guy these days. For starters, he has three new books coming out this fall. There’s The Barren Grounds, Book 1 of The Misewa Saga series, a middle grade fantasy novel; Breakdown, the first graphic novel in his The Reckoner Rises series; and his memoir Black Water: Family, Legacy, and Blood Memory. -
Features50-year-old case of two men disappearing revisited, investigated from Indigenous perspective
Cold Case North: The Search for James Brady and Absolom Halkett by Michael Nest with co-authors Deanna Reder and Eric Bell peels back over five decades of history by revisiting the cold case that has hung like an impenetrable cloud over La Ronge, Saskatchewan, since 1967. -
FeaturesPlay showcasing Viola Desmond’s historical stand grew to span period of four decades
Viola Desmond made history in 1946 when she refused to leave a whites-only area of the Roseland Theatre, a movie house in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. She was then convicted of a minor tax violation for the one-cent tax difference between the seat she paid for and the more expensive seat she used. -
FeaturesStrong sense of Manitoba’s Interlake’s chilly landscapes in new crime novel
Raye Anderson’s crime novel And We Shall Have Snow – the first in her Roxanne Calloway Mystery series – is set in the Manitoba Interlake area, one of the winteriest of locations in a wintery land. “I’ve always liked winter,” says Manitoba-based Anderson. -
Non-FictionInterdisciplinary, holistic approach to Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 6th Call to Action
Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) released 94 Calls to Action in June of 2015, urging reform of policies and programs in order to repair harms caused by residential schools. Call to Action 6 addresses repealing Section 43 of Canada’s Criminal Code, which allows the corporal punishment of children. Editors Valerie E. Michaelson and Joan E. Durrant responded to this call by bringing together diverse voices in Decolonizing Discipline: Children, Corporal Punishment, Christian Theologies, and Reconciliation.
