In My World

Happy publication to Long Exposure by Governor General and the Gerald Lampert Award winner, Stephanie Bolster, published by Palimpsest Press. ✨ After Hurricane Katrina, the photographer Robert Polidori flew to New Orleans to document the devastation. In the wreckage he witnessed, and in her questions about what she saw in what he saw, Stephanie Bolster found the beginnings of a long poem. Those questions led to unexpected places; meanwhile, life kept pouring in. The ensuing book, Long Exposure, is Bolster’s fifth, a roaming, associative exploration of disasters and their ongoing aftermaths, sufferings large and small, and the vulnerability and value of our own lives. Incremental, unsettling, Long Exposure rushes to and through us. Stephanie Bolster has published four books of poetry, the most recent of which, A Page from the Wonders of Life on Earth, appeared with Brick Books in 2011 and was a finalist for the Pat Lowther Award. Her first book, White Stone: The Alice...

  Happy Publication Day to Starry Starry Night by Shani Mootoo and published by Book*hug Press. Out of the frayed filaments of the yarn of memory, a cohesive tale is spun. In Starry Starry Night, Shani Mootoo gives us the singular voice of Anju Goshal, a young girl living in 1960s Trinidad. Spanning her life between the ages of four and twelve, we experience the world just as Anju does, coming to understand she has evolved into a keen observer because her safety depends on it. Through her clear-eyed perspective, the reader is fully transported and becomes both a witness to and participant in Anju’s negotiations of an unexpectedly new and complex life. Starry Starry Night illuminates the experiences of a well-off and socially advancing family during the turn of a country's fortunes. Thoughtfully articulated via the innocent commentary of a child, the book tackles larger issues of family, loss, and trauma. It relays the story of a British colony just before and after its independence...

  Happy publication to Under the Full and Crescent Moon by Aamir Hussain, published by Dundurn Press! In a battle of words and beliefs, a young woman must defend her city against zealotry during the Islamic Golden Age. After his long-time scribe retires, Khadija’s father, the city’s leading jurist, offers his introverted daughter the opportunity to take on the role of his assistant. By doing so Khadija is thrust into her community, the medieval hilltop city of Medina’tul-Agham, where she, as a motherless young woman, has spent little time. Led by Imam Fatima and guided by the Circle of Mothers, it is a matriarchy — the only one in the empire. Though forced to set aside her quiet life among the books and parchments of her family home, Khadija thrives, finding her power and place in the world with the support of her new friends and strong female mentors. Yet Khadija’s idyllic new life is shattered when fanatical forces weaponize Sharia law to threaten the very fabric of the society. ...

  Happy publication to Walking with Beth: Conversations with My Hundred-Year-Old Friend by celebrated Canadian author and Governor General Award finalist, Merilyn Simonds (Penguin Random House Canada, September 23, 2025). In the spring of 2021, worn down by pandemic isolation, Merilyn Simonds asked her friend Beth Robinson if she’d like to go for a walk. Simonds had just turned 70, which struck her as mysterious, even frightening stage of life. Yet she was still active, still writing and felt as strong as ever. Beth had just hit her centenary, a smart, vibrant woman who'd held a job until she was 99, still lived alone, and was as awake to the world as a person half her age. Who better to ask what might come next? During three years of weekly walks, the conversation between the two women deepened, as they opened up about their heart-felt passions, the lingering influence of their pasts, and their hopes and fears for the future. Walking with Beth is available wherever books are boug...

Today's Prompt: Cruel or Offensive What's the most offensive thing you've ever heard anyone say? Any time I hear "If the ____ (enter any non-British nationality here) don't want to follow our Canadian traditions they should pack up and move back to ____ (wherever they lived before moving to Canada)" it takes every bit of willpower I have not to offer to help the annoying speaker pack his or her bags. One of our "traditions" is the Canadian Bill of Rights. Hey, annoying speaker, have you ever read it? Here's just a little piece of it: Recognition and declaration of rights and freedoms 1. It is hereby recognized and declared that in Canada there have existed and shall continue to exist without discrimination by reason of race, national origin, colour, religion or sex, the following human rights and fundamental freedoms, namely, (a) the right of the individual to life, liberty, security of the person and enjoyment of property, and the ...

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2014 Today's Writing Prompt: Romance What is the most romantic thing you have ever done for someone or someone has ever done for you? Hal is generally (not always though) a good sport when I suggest some new goofy thing to do.  This was my way to get him dressed up for dinner with friends for a surprise birthday party . . . telling him he had to look nice for a photo shoot.  I'm so glad we did this photo shoot because I really treasure these photos of us.  He was surprised by the birthday dinner at a local restaurant.  I managed to surprise him a third time that day because I had to drop something off to a friend's house on the way home . . . and surprised again when another group of friends were waiting with cake. How's that for romantic?