Holiday Gift Guide November 11, 2019 – Posted in: Gift Guides

Struggling to find the perfect gift? It’s no secret that books are a great choice, but let’s face it…not just any book will do! Supporting diverse Canadian lit this year is just as important (and rewarding!) Imagine helping your friend or family member discover their next favourite author that they wouldn’t have chosen for themselves. You’ll be the holiday lit(erary) hero in no time at all! So before you hit the bookstores, check out our…

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Pride Highlight: Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha June 24, 2019 – Posted in: Book Recs, Highlights

More about Leah: Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha is a queer disabled femme writer and performer of Burgher/Tamil Sri Lankan and Irish/Roma ascent. Her most recent titles are the nonfiction book Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice (2018) and the poetry book Tonguebreaker (2019). Her memoir Dirty River was a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award and a Publishing Triangle Award (Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction). She is also author of the poetry books Bodymap and Love…

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National Indigenous People’s Day: Featuring Joseph A. Dandurand June 20, 2019 – Posted in: Book Recs, Highlights, Holidays & Observances

In celebration of National Indigenous People’s Day, we are celebrating with Joseph A. Dandurand, and his newest book of poetry, SH:LAM (The Doctor), where he lives the experiences of an Aboriginal people brought to the edge of extinction. In the Author’s Note, Joseph says: “The poems in this collection tell the truth of what has happened to my people. The Kwantlen people used to number in the thousands, but 80% of our people were wiped…

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Pride Highlight: Trish Salah June 19, 2019 – Posted in: Book Recs, Highlights

More about Trish: Born in Halifax, Trish Salah is the author of the Lambda award winning Wanting in Arabic, and of Lyric Sexology Vol. 1, and co-editor of a special issue of TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly on Transgender Cultural Production. She has fiction in the science fiction and fantasy anthology, Meanwhile, Elsewhere and poetry in numerous magazines, including Anomaly, Prism International and Supplement. In 2018 she was a finalist for the Dayne Ogilvie prize.…

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Pride Highlight: Kagiso Lesego Molope June 4, 2019 – Posted in: Book Recs, Highlights

More about Kagiso: Kagiso Lesego Molope was born and educated in South Africa. Her first novel, Dancing in the Dust (Mawenzi House) was on the IBBY Honour List for 2006. Her second novel, The Mending Season, was chosen to be on the school curriculum in South Africa. This Book Betrays My Brother was awarded the Percy Fitzpatrick Prize by the English Academy of Southern Africa, where it was first published. The Canadian edition received a…

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Asian Heritage Month Highlight: Fiction Part Two May 29, 2019 – Posted in: Highlights

Today, we’ve got our final highlight for Asian Heritage Month: fiction! Check out these great reads, and don’t forget to click on the titles below to learn more about your next favourite book! The Chinese Knot and Other Stories by Lien Chao: Award-winning author Lien Chao weaves together these emotionally charged short stories focusing on Chinese immigrants in Toronto’s multiracial neighbourhoods. In Chinatown and mixed neighbourhoods, in condos and tenements, in public parks and in…

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Asian Heritage Month: Poetry Part Two May 28, 2019 – Posted in: Highlights

Today, we’ve got some more great poetry titles for Asian Heritage Month to bring to your attention! Don’t forget to click on the titles below to learn more about your next favourite book! “Bodymap” by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha: Finalist for the 2015 Publishing Triangle Audre Lorde Award for Lesbian Poetry, Shortlisted for the ReLit Poetry Award! In this volume, Leah Lakshmi maps hard and vulnerable terrains of queer desire, survivorhood, transformative love, sick and disabled…

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Asian Heritage Month Highlight: Nonfiction May 24, 2019 – Posted in: Highlights

Today, we’re featuring some great nonfcition titles for Asian Heritage Month. From memoirs to essays, you’re bound to discover a new favourite author – perhaps even a new favourite book! Make sure to click the title names below for more information. Beyond Silence: Chinese Canadian Literature in English (Literary Criticism): From unappreciated railway workers facing institutional racism and neglect in the last century to national cultural figures of the present, the Chinese, like other coloured…

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Asian Heritage Month Highlight: Poetry Part One May 21, 2019 – Posted in: Highlights

Today, we’re featuring some interesting poetry titles for Asian Heritage Month. You’ll find that each of these titles, both new and old, catch the essence of what it means and feels like to be of Asian heritage in Canada. “Rouge” by Adrian De Leonis a collection that takes us on a ride through the TTC – except you don’t have to use the transfers, or wait for hours upon hours of delays. Rouge goes deeper…

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Asian Heritage Month Highlight: Fiction Part One May 7, 2019 – Posted in: Highlights

Today, we’re featuring some great fiction titles for Asian Heritage Month. From novels to short stories to anthologies, you’re bound to discover a new favourite author – perhaps even a new favourite book! Make sure to read through to the end for links to your next great read! Don’t forget to catch up on our author highlight with C Fong Hsiung, where we asked her some questions on her latest novel, New Land Same Sky.