

American author Harry Crews has died. The New York Times reports the hard-living, adventure-seeking novelist, memoirist, journalist, retired university professor, and icon in Southern American literature, died in Gainesville, Florida, from complications of neuropathy. He ... Read More »

Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore delivered on last week's promise that there would be some good news for the Canada Council for the Arts in the federal budget, which dropped this afternoon. Arts organizations breathed ... Read More »
March 29, 2012 | Filed under: Book news

On March 28, a crowd of more than 70 letterpress and literary enthusiasts gathered at University of Toronto's Massey College for "Get the Lead Out: a Symposium of Letterpress Printers." Moderated by typographer Rod McDonald, ... Read More »
March 29, 2012 | Filed under: Book news

Bloody Words, Canada's largest convention of mystery fiction, has revealed the shortlist for its first annual Bony Blithe Light Mystery Award, a prize recognizing mystery novels that soften the gore, violence, and sex typical of ... Read More »

Last week, Don McKay's The Shell of the Tortoise (Gaspereau Press) became the first ever essay collection to win the $10,000 BMO Winterset Award. On March 22, the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council presented the ... Read More »

One week after the death of Canadian poet Jay Macpherson, the Los Angeles Times is reporting the death of yet another important and influential poet. Adrienne Rich, the American writer, feminist, and essayist, is dead ... Read More »
March 28, 2012 | Filed under: Book news

(Illustration: Pascal Girard) An early summer rain pounds the Montreal sidewalks, but the Librairie Drawn & Quarterly bookstore, with its exposed brick walls and rustic wood shelves, is a cozy respite from the storm. Drawn ... Read More »
March 27, 2012 | Filed under: Book news, Industry news

Sunday marked one week that Toronto Public Library workers have been on strike. To recognize the occasion, The Writers' Union of Canada hosted a rally and read-in to support CUPE Local 4948 (the Toronto Public ... Read More »

One of Canada's finest “ and arguably most underappreciated “ poets has died. Jay Macpherson, a professor at the University of Toronto who won the Governor General's Literary Award for her 1957 collection, The Boatman, ... Read More »
March 26, 2012 | Filed under: Book news

White Castle executives must be bummed that U.S. federal agents intercepted two shipments of marijuana, worth $70,000 U.S., en route to St. Martin's Press in New York City. First reported (appropriately) on the website The ... Read More »
March 22, 2012 | Filed under: Book news