Quill and Quire

Reviews

Desecrations

By Matt Rader

“Discomfort / enthralls me,” writes Michael Prior, a poet who has published, seemingly, everywhere, and whose list of accolades is monumental. His first full-length collection, Model Disciple, concerns itself with the cycles of family history ... Read More »

April 13, 2016 | Filed under: Poetry

Let the Empire Down

By Alexandra Oliver

Ashley-Elizabeth Best’s debut collection, Slow States of Collapse, comprises mostly short, confessional, free-verse lyrics. The book is divided into five sections, some held more tightly together than others by a thematic or referential constant. The ... Read More »

April 13, 2016 | Filed under: Poetry

The Waking Comes Late

By Steven Heighton

Many Canadian fiction writers started out as poets. Rarer are people like Michael Crummey and Steven Heighton, who write poetry and prose in tandem. A grim warning: only a few of the greatest writers (Thomas ... Read More »

April 13, 2016 | Filed under: Poetry

The Memento

By Christy Ann Conlin

Fourteen years have passed since Christy Ann Conlin wowed readers and critics alike with Heave, her debut novel about an independent, hard-drinking woman on the Bay of Fundy coast. Conlin returns to this setting with ... Read More »

April 11, 2016 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

★ The Black Coat

By Neamat Imam

It is a testament to the relatively placid temperament of the Canadian state that political fiction in this country tends to tilt either in the direction of Wayne Johnston’s myth-making or Terry Fallis’s broad comedy. ... Read More »

April 11, 2016 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

★ Metanoia

By Sharon McCartney

The word “metanoia” means a change of heart resulting from a spiritual conversion. It’s an act of transformation through penitence. In Sharon McCartney’s latest volume of poetry, that transformation feels both reluctant and unharnessed. Written ... Read More »

April 4, 2016 | Filed under: Poetry