In My World

  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...