Quill and Quire

By Kim Echlin

The ancient kingdom of Sumer, located in what is now Iraq, gave the world its first form of written language. Sumerian cuneiform was used to record the world’s first written poem, The Epic of Gilgamesh. ... Read More »

November 20, 2003 | Filed under: Art, Music & Pop Culture

By Michael Hennessey

Mention orphans and Prince Edward Island, and Anne Shirley immediately springs to mind. As Anne of Green Gables, Lucy Maud Montgomery’s creation has become an island industry. Mickey Casey – the nasty, drunken, murderous narrator ... Read More »

November 19, 2003 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

By Ron Hotz

Ron Hotz distinguishes his first novel, The Animal Sciences, from other Canadian stories of dysfunctional characters and difficult loves by presenting it as a kind of scientific case study rather than as a deeply felt ... Read More »

November 19, 2003 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

By John Terpstra

The bleak, hopeful town of Hamilton, Ontario – with its steel mills and slowly resurgent parklands – finds an apt poet laureate in John Terpstra. His seventh collection, Disarmament, focuses mainly on the city’s landscapes ... Read More »

November 19, 2003 | Filed under: Poetry

By Nancy Huston

Already a bestseller in France, Nancy Huston’s latest novel is both an affecting portrait of real and sympathetic characters and literary high art. Taking the form of the direct testimony of witnesses at a murder ... Read More »

November 19, 2003 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels