Articles
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FeaturesShort-story collection picks up where Annie Muktuk left off
Norma Dunning’s latest short story collection, Tainna (The Unseen Ones), continues the powerful work she began with Annie Muktuk and Other Stories, for which she won the Danuta Gleed Literary Award in 2018. The same year she won the Writers’ Guild of Alberta’s Howard O’Hagan Award for the short story “Elipsee,” and was a finalist for the City of Edmonton Book Award. -
FeaturesMedicine Wheel teachings from workshops, business come together into a book
Carrie Armstrong, a Cree entrepreneur and now author, presents her grandmother’s teachings related to the Medicine Wheel in Mother Earth Plants for Health and Beauty: Indigenous Plants, Traditions and Recipes. -
FeaturesCree language book a resource for both teachers, parents to learn syllabics
Teaching a language to children is a way of transmitting culture to the next generation. Cam Robertson’s book Nîpin, which means “It is summer,” introduces Cree phrases about summer to children from ages five to 10. -
Non-FictionHistorian challenges the dominant settler-colonial narrative of heritage sites
In Authorized Heritage: Place, Memory, and Historic Sites in Prairie Canada, Winnipeg-based Robert Coutts presents a detailed examination of Prairie heritage sites and how governments are the mediators and arbitrators of what is – and isn’t – considered heritage. The book also discusses how class, gender, and sexuality are distanced from the heritage discourse. -
Non-FictionTrailblazer in male-dominated trades shares lessons learned from working life
Winnipeg author Louella Lester has been working since she was five years old. From selling onions door to door, to cleaning pianos, to busy days writing and taking photographs after she retired from her teaching career, she has always worked at something. “I don’t feel right if I’m not learning or doing,” she says. -
Non-FictionWeaving together the threads of writing and gender
Keith Maillard grew up knowing nothing about his father. On his father’s death, Maillard was given his scrapbooks, and set out to capture everything he remembered or knew about him, writing a first memoir, Fatherless, published in 2019. Maillard had generated a lot of text, not all about the senior Maillard. -
Non-FictionRefugees tell their own stories in collection edited for ‘depth, diversity, and drama’
Canada, both now and throughout history, has usually been regarded as a welcoming country to refugees fleeing war, persecution, and famine. But what kinds of reception have refugees really encountered here? -
FeaturesTurnstone Press turns 45, stays true to its roots
The year 2021 marks the 45th anniversary of Turnstone Press. As the story goes, Turnstone sprang from a get-together at a local Winnipeg pub. There, Robert Enright, Dennis Cooley, John Beaver, David Arnason, Wayne Tefs, and Daniel Lenoski discussed creating a collection of poetry books to bring light to a huge wellspring of Manitoba writing that was being overlooked by the mainstream. -
Young Adult/ChildrenTortoises support transition to middle school in tale about maturity
Calgary-based author Patti Edgar “wanted to write a novel about a close childhood friendship at a crossroads.” The result is Anna Analyst, which follows Anna, who narrates and is always open about her foibles, and her best friend, Lana, as they make the transition from elementary to middle school. -
Young Adult/ChildrenNelson stretches into two genres new to her with pair of releases
The best writers are always stretching themselves, looking for challenges. Some do this by trying different genres. After nine books of realistic fiction (and two of futuristic sci-fi) for middle years and YA readers, Winnipeg-based Colleen Nelson has, within a year, published books in two genres new to her – a picture book, Teaching Mrs. Muddle, and a YA fantasy novel, The Life and Deaths of Frankie D.
