ArticlesIssue 77, Fall/Winter 2020/21
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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. -
Non-FictionPart exploration, part memoir, David Elias’s latest book answers the riddle of why barns are often red
Manitoba author David Elias has had plenty of barn time in his life. In his new book, The Truth About The Barn: A Voyage of Discovery and Contemplation, he tells how as a teen, he toiled one long summer with his grandfather, an older brother, and a hired man dismantling a turkey barn – a colossal structure, almost 300 feet long and wide as a football field – board by board, nail by nail. -
Non-FictionOral history of Madeeha Hafez Albatta ‘communicates the collective Palestinian story’
Through first-hand accounts of Palestinian women, the Women’s Voices from Gaza series presents the lives of ordinary people from the late 1920s until the early 2000s, forging an understanding of the history, culture, and traditions of Palestine. -
FeaturesMagpie a metaphor for NeWest’s publishing ethos of collecting genres
Sometimes, a publisher needs a bird’s-eye view. For Edmonton’s NeWest Press, there’s a specific one that fits.
