literature

In a photo illustration, a bunch of different therapist couches are falling out the pages of an open blue book

Self-Diagnosis Is Making Memoir Too Predictable

September 3, 2024September 3, 2024 - by Tajja Isen

The joy of reading memoir is to watch another mind puzzle through its inner mechanics. If the outcome is already decided, why bother?

A photo illustration of a black-and-white book shop window. Half of the books feature covers with purple, abstract blobs

Books / November 2024

The Hidden Racism of Book Cover Design

August 14, 2024August 19, 2024 - by Tajja Isen

The publishing industry’s troubling reliance on visual stereotypes

A group of women in a salon turn to look at a pigeon sitting on the widow ledge. The workers are in dark clothing with their hair in buns on the top of their heads. The customers are wearing white dresses and their blonde hair is worn down.

Fiction / July/August 2024

Pick a Colour

July 26, 2024July 30, 2024 - by Souvankham Thammavongsa

She hasn’t really looked at me. She knows I am there and what I do

A girl with short pink hair looks across the room at an identical girl sitting and writing in a journal. Silhouettes of trees are seen through the windows.

Fiction / July/August 2024

August 2150

July 26, 2024July 30, 2024 - by Tomas Hachard

The latest rain event had been scheduled for the night before, but something had gone wrong

July/August 2024 / Poetry

Heartwood

July 26, 2024July 30, 2024 - by Bruce Taylor

It’s pleasant work, / I get to see the insides of some trees.

July/August 2024 / Poetry

Love Letter to My Recent Poems

July 26, 2024July 30, 2024 - by Ellie Sawatzky

I was trained to be secretive and lovely. I’m like / any mother, I love and hate you, and I want / to give you everything.

July/August 2024 / Poetry

Prime Location

July 26, 2024July 30, 2024 - by Karen Solie

And the owner will say it’s for the best, / he couldn’t give that place away.

Illustration of a couple camping. In the foreground, the man's worried face is visible in their tent while behind him the woman is swimming in a blue lake.

Fiction / July/August 2024

Heaven on Earth

July 26, 2024July 30, 2024 - by Dimitri Nasrallah

That was no raccoon. They both knew it sounded bigger than that

A photo of Alice Munro against a full red backdrop

Books

Alice Munro Was Bigger than Canada

July 4, 2024July 4, 2024 - by Tajja Isen

Here artists are celebrated by virtue of their nationality. Munro showed me I could escape those tropes

Books

Alice Munro, Nobel-Winning Author, Dies at Ninety-Two

May 14, 2024May 14, 2024 - by Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer

A Canadian master of the contemporary short story passes away

Sections

Explore

Support

Follow

Self-Diagnosis Is Making Memoir Too Predictable

The Hidden Racism of Book Cover Design

Alice Munro Was Bigger than Canada

Fund the journalism that helps you make informed decisions. Fund The Walrus.

Fund the journalism that helps you make informed decisions. Fund The Walrus.

Fund the journalism that helps you make informed decisions. Fund The Walrus.

Fund the journalism that helps you make informed decisions. Fund The Walrus.