Publishers and literary events organizers have been working overtime to adapt to a world ushered into lockdown as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Under an avalanche of cancellation and postponement announcements, I wrote two pieces for the Globe about the impact on the industry:

Canada’s book publishers scramble to cope with the impact of coronavirus >> read it here

While COVID-19 shuts down most book events, FOLD decides the show must go on(line) >> read it here

2020 Holiday Gift Guide CBC

Another year, another holiday gift guide. It wasn’t my intention to choose books whose covers were so matchy-matchy, but it’s a nice bonus if you want to splurge and buy them all together!

Listen to the audio here >> LISTEN

My top picks for 2019 are:

The Innocents by Michael Crummey – my favourite Canadian novel of the year

Night Boat to Tangier by Kevin Barry – my favourite non-Canadian novel of the year

Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow – already a Pulitzer Prize winner and major buzz book, this book about the journalist’s pursuit of the Harvey Weinstein story reads like a le Carré novel

Agnes, Murderess by Sara Leavitt – an awesome Canadian historical graphic novel with a queer subplot and gothic vibe, this will appeal to teens and adults

Just Because by Mac Barnett illus. Isabelle Arsenault and King Mouse by Cary Fagan illus. Dena Seiferling – two picture books for little kids that tell two very different stories, both about kindness, patience, and the magic of imagination.

 

 

The literary “season” is upon us, with award nominations coming thick and fast.

Below, a summary of my coverage for the Globe & Mail.

The Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist was announced Sept. 3, the same day that Margaret Atwood was named to the Booker Prize shortlist in the UK (she was on both). Read my story here.

Then, on Sept. 17, the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction shortlist was announced. For the first time, all five books in contention are written by women. Read my story here.

The Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize shortlist came next, on Sept. 24. No Atwood here, but repeat appearances for André Alexis, Michael Crummey and Alix Ohlin, and a great morning for Canadian independent presses. Read my story here.

On Sept. 30, the Giller Prize longlist was whittled down to a shortlist of six. Past winners Atwood and Alexis failed to make the cut, but Michael Crummey and Alix Ohlin chalked up a second shortlisting each. The shortlisted six  – who hail from across the country – include a majority of writers who are successful in genres beyond fiction (poetry and drama). Read my story here.

I didn’t write about the Governor General’s Literary Awards shortlists this year, but they were announced on Oct. 2, when it became the year of Michael Crummey. He is the only author to appear on all three lists (his novel, The Innocents, is fantastic BTW).

 

On Sept. 10, Margaret Atwood released The Testaments, a sequel to her 1985 novel The Handmaid’s Tale. Thanks to the global attention surrounding Atwood, the book, and the TV show of The Handmaid’s Tale, it’s safe to say this is one of the biggest books of the year, with the publisher enforcing ferocious non-disclosure agreements on prize juries, booksellers and advance juries (though that didn’t quite work out as planned).

Should you read it?

My review for CBC Radio One’s Day 6 is here

 

Nickel Boys

Colson Whitehead’s follow-up to his Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning The Underground Railroad is one of the big-buzz releases of the summer.

Whitehead is on the cover of TIME, heralded as “America’s Storyteller,” and The Nickel Boys tells another dark chapter in American history.

Should you read it? Listen to my review here.