Content about Abdou's Litpicks

We're Angie's LitPick!

Angie reviews the book of poetry Far and Against - "Rather than hiding behind clever postmodern tricks, McCartney takes personal risks and delivers meaty poems with emotional heft."

"If you read one new book this summer, make it Monoceros..." find out why Suzette Mayr has made it onto Angie's list of favourite Canadian writers with her latest review.

Angie reviews Marina Endicott's Open Arms.

"The wonderful thing about Canadian Literature is its diversity—there’s something for everyone. However, Canada Reads gave everyone a chance to voice an opinion, and here’s mine: Unless is the most important and essential book on the Canada Reads’ list."

Angie reviews Harvor's An Open Door in the Landscape - "I was already a big fan of her fiction, and I grew to become just as big a fan of her teaching. Now, I’m also a fan of her poetry."

This month Angie Abdou reviews a collection of poems about fly fishing, and learns that in actuality "death and life are everywhere in these poems."

As we head into the new school year, I thought I’d recommend a funny novel. Funny’s good. Nothing wrong with funny. Or, as Jessica Grant’s protagonist would say, I would not say no to funny.

Steven Heighton is coming to Fernie! I know at least a few literary ladies in Fernie whose feet haven’t touched ground since they heard the news. Plus, it’s not only Fernie’s writing community who thinks Heighton is hot stuff – lately, I can’t seem to open a national newspaper without seeing him and his words splayed across the book section. And soon he will be here in Fernie, with nothing to do but talk writing with us.

Summer is coming, and that means it’s time for the Fernie Writers’ Conference (along with biking, fishing, cliff-jumping and a few other cool Fernie pastimes). This year the Conference organizers have stepped this annual event up a notch, building a presenter/instructor list that rivals those of the best literary festivals in the country. Watch for workshops and public presentations from the likes of Alison Calder, Steven Heighton, Sid Marty, and W.H. New. Most exciting of all, the keynote reading (July 23) will be given by Robert Kroetsch, “the Father of Canadian Postmodernism.”

Short stories are an under-appreciated art form. Agents encourage their writers to craft novels instead. Novels sell better. Publishers will even slap “A NOVEL” across the cover of a collection of connected short stories in an attempt to increase the book’s chances in a competitive market. The preference baffles me. In this age of overfull day-timers and compromised attention spans, in a society that insists upon immediate gratification, shouldn’t short stories be the genre of choice? The best of short fiction delivers the same impact as a novel – but gives it to readers in a single sitting.

In December, I had the privilege of reading a pre-publication version of Jon Turk’s The Raven’s Gift in manuscript form. This month, we all get the privilege of having Jon launch the real thing right here in Fernie. On January 22, you can hear Jon speak about the trials and tribulations that led to his startling and revelatory third book – a memoir that questions some of Western culture’s primary modes of thought and being.