ArticlesBev Sandell Greenberg
Bev Sandell Greenberg is a Winnipeg writer and editor.
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FictionSurreal tale of professor and disembodied head a call to embrace the mess
“I have always liked surreal stories and ones that are just beyond my own understanding,” says Edmonton author Robyn Braun. In fact, her penchant for these types of stories served as the inspiration for her new novella, The Head. Suspenseful, urgent, and thought-provoking, the tale centres on Trish, a 30-year-old math professor who finds a live disembodied head crying in her apartment. -
FictionEntrepreneurial Igbo family drama contends with inner demons, societal forces
According to Nigerian writer Ifeoma Chinwuba, two areas of interest led her to write her new novel Sons of the East. “I wanted to chronicle a smidgen of the crosscurrents and issues churning inside us as a people,” she states. “As well, I’d interacted and interfaced with Igbo industrialists and entrepreneurs, whose lifestyle fascinated me and spurred me on to document the same for posterity.” -
FictionComplicated desire for family foregrounds tale set in early 1900s Mennonite town
The creative fodder for Winnipeg author Sarah Klassen’s second novel, The Russian Daughter, came from a story told by her mother about a childless couple who made two attempts at adoption, both ending sadly. -
FictionWriter chronicles his life’s downward spiral in tale examining commitment, friendship
“The opening pages came to me in a waking dream one morning. I arose and wrote about five pages, trying to get stuff down without thinking about it very much,” says Vancouver-based author Paul Headrick about Losing Shepherd, his riveting new novel about relationships, the writing life, and betrayal. -
FeaturesStrong-willed characters navigate multigenerational family dynamics, investigate disappearance
Where do writers find their ideas? In the case of dee Hobsbawn-Smith, a family story provided the inspiration for her absorbing debut novel, Danceland Diary. -
FictionFormer research scientist blends crime and climate research in latest novel
“As a novelist, my focus is to create remarkable fictional characters,” says Calgary author Jaspreet Singh. “In Face [: A Novel of the Anthropocene], I was interested in the voice of a concerned science journalist.” Part mystery and part ghost story, his third novel is a thought-provoking tale about science, duplicity, climate research, and narrative. -
FictionA family on the verge of collapse comes to life in Barbara Langhorst’s new novel
An unusual type of sapling inspired Barbara Langhorst’s latest novel, The Winter-Blooming Tree. “We really did have a winter-blooming tree, although without an orchard or any of the conflict that ensues in the novel,” she says. -
FictionTwo timelines blend together in novel written as sequel to another writer’s 1941 tale
“The best thing about writing is the process itself,” says author Lee Gowan about his fourth novel, The Beautiful Place. It’s a contemporary story about a man who loses his job, wife, and home, and then tries to rescue his grandfather’s frozen body from a high-security cryonics facility – the titular Beautiful Place, named after the place where ancient Egyptian pharaohs were prepared for the afterlife. -
FictionTrouble ‘haunts everyday lives’ in Umezurike’s new short fiction collection
Double Wahala, Double Trouble, Nigerian author Uchechukwu Peter Umezurike’s new short fiction collection of 11 urgent and thought-provoking tales set in his homeland, is being published by Griots Lounge, a relatively new press based in Winnipeg. -
FictionMaster’s thesis spins into 70 stories of Jewishness
“I love flash fiction!” says author Sarah Mintz about the genre of her debut short fiction collection, handwringers. “In my mind, flash fiction operates like comic books or graffiti, sitcoms or pop songs – little indulgent pieces of pop culture, memes maybe.”
