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National Animal, Derek Webster's second book of poetry, inhabits a wider public space than his acclaimed debut Mockingbird. In poems that extend beyond the biographical toward the political, Webster's quiet, sharp-eyed narrator-- a man " tripping / my way forward, trying to lead my own life" -- watches history being erased in favour of more socially palatable ideas and comforting self-portraits. Uncompromising and substantial, National Animal explores our " civic moment" where "birds sing oblivion / estranged from all things," and meditates, in a final image-rich sequence, on our place in a science-based cosmos.

" If I can impart one final message, beyond the usual declarative to read poetry and buy poetry books," writes Evan Jones in his introduction to The Civilizing Discourse, " it is to listen to poets. The real ones offer wisdom and a perspective at odds with prevalent visions." In a series of passionate, enlightening, frank, engaging, and sometimes astonishing conversations, thirteen poets-- many acknowledged masters-- open up about their writing processes, their childhoods and marriages, their regrets, as well as their hopes for and frustration with poetry. From Norm Sibum describing his affinity with a waitresses and cabbies to Nyla Matuk's wrenching investigations into the Palestinian side of her family; from Don Coles's obsession with alternative universes to Robyn Sarah's praise for discarded things; from Elise Partridge describing her shift in priorities after a cancer diagnosis to Steven Heighton's interest in remaining childlike, The Civilizing Discourse is not only a highly readable record of the literary scene today, but, in its celebration of language, will appeal to poetry readers and poets alike.

There are parades and then there is Montreal's St. Patrick's parade, which has marched through the streets of the city and into Canadian history for 200 years. The street carnival has outlived the Patriote Rebellion of 1837, Fenian infiltration, Orange animosity, strained relationships among Roman Catholic priests who wanted it cancelled, two world wars, two Quebec independence referendums, and two centuries of howling March winds and chilling sub zero temperatures. With One Long Line of Marvel veteran journalist Alan Hustak has dug up untold nuggets about the parade and nested them with historical certainty and an imaginative flourish in the setting of a Montreal that he knows. Although the author is not a son of Erin, he is considered an honorary Irishman and in 2006 walked the parade route as Chief Reviewing Officer. With this book he continues to honour Montreal's Irish community by celebrating its personalities and by telling its stories. One Long Line of Marvel enlightens, entertains, amuses and perhaps above all superbly chronicles a long and worthwhile tradition in Montreal's history.

Talking to Strangers is a book of bracing encounters. Throughout her four decades as poet, Rhea Tregebov has displayed an uncommon eye for the mysteries of ordinary life-- moments where, as she writes, " [t]he simplest things / elude me." This gift is brought to brilliant effect in her eighth book of poetry and most charged to date. In gorgeous arias of recollection and evocation, of elegy and heartbreak, Tregebov mourns, praises, prays, regrets, summons, celebrates, and bears witness with formidable artistry and tenderness (" You wouldn't think the inanimate would get tired /but it does." ) Direct, never forced, keenly observant, and marked by scrupulous craft, these new poems unfold in beguiling, often breathtaking ways. They confirm Tregebov's place among the most significant poets of her generation.

Featuring an introduction by Kaie Kellough and a new afterword by the author. First published in Canada in 1993, Spirits in the Dark is a pioneering intersectional novel of the LGBTQ+ and Caribbean-Canadian experience that was far ahead of its times. In his powerful debut novel, H. Nigel Thomas writes with compelling honesty about the confusing maze of societal pressures that paralyze Jerome Quashee while growing up in the Caribbean, and later on in his adult life. Jerome's intelligence at first promises him a gateway out of the poverty his parents have known, but he must compete with privileged White boys for scholarships in a racist, classist culture. He represses his emerging homosexuality, fearing that it will bring his family disgrace, as he wrestles with the guilt of knowing so little about his African heritage and the pressure to let go his ties to Black culture. Under the spiritual guidance of Pointer Francis, he undergoes a religious ritual to block all sensory links to the outside world in order to see clearly into his past and face his demons.

Blackmail and murder in Old Quebec! Quebec City crime reporter Mary Roberts is about to leave her desk for the day when she receives word that a woman has been struck down in the centre of town. The victim is René e Brancourt. A former pin-up, she' d once been a big star, treading the boards at the Comé die-Franç aise, until her lover, Robert Marchand, plunged over Montmorency Falls. René e's inability to accept his death led her to be institutionalized. Now on her deathbed at the Hô tel-Dieu Hospital, the faded vedette tells Mary that Robert's death was no accident. She points an accusing finger at Albert Fré dé ric, the most respected lawyer in the city, thus setting the young reporter on a trail that will ultimately imperil her own life. Whispering City began as a 1947 Canadian feature shot in both English and French (La Forteresse). Predating Alfred Hitchcock's I Confess by six years, it is the earliest film noir set in Canada. In his novelization, Horace Brown improves upon the film, altering the dialogue, shedding its weaknesses, providing backstory, and giving flesh to its characters. The result brings tension and is a much darker noir.

In his third collection of verse, Quicker Than The Eye, Joe Fiorito continues to craft short, sharp poems that define the harder edges of urban life. His principal tools are a photographer's eye for detail, and a musician's ear for the sound of the human voice. Now, in Quicker Than The Eye, Canada's poet of the streets turns his gaze inward, writing about the influences of early love, family tragedy, and the search for meaning in a world where " the desolate things are mine." A master of spare, razor-sharp language, Fiorito manages to strip sentiment from memory in order to find tenderness and enduring truth on the margins of the city. He has never written more austerely or more beautifully.

States of Emergency is a book-length poem about the apocalyptic present, written in a language whose meaning is liquid and full of slippage, always spilling out from its container. In Yoyo Comay' s hands, words roil, churn, and surge. By taking on different mood and modes, from the prophetic to the colloquial, he has created a form that is a constant unravelling-- a leap of faith into intuitive meaning, a letting go into ongoingness. " I am catapulted into where I am," he writes, " and the air concusses around me." Comay sees poetry as a visceral experience: a state of immanence, embodiment, emergence, emergency. This is poetry as diary and seismograph, an infinite scroll for the end of days. It is a debut like no other.

The past decade has seen a rise in documentaries, memoirs and podcasts that revisit the legacies of women wronged by pop culture. With movements like #MeToo and #TimesUp, challenging long-standing narratives around female celebrities, it's no surprise so many believe the representation of women in the media has improved. In her scathingly witty collection of essays, Girls, Interrupted, Lisa Whittington-Hill argues otherwise. Pop culture's treatment of women, writes Whittington-Hill, is still marked by misogyny and misunderstanding. From the gender bias in celebrity memoir coverage to problematic pop culture portrayals of middle-aged women and the sexist pressure on female pop stars to constantly reinvent themselves, Girls, Interrupted critically examines how mainstream media keeps failing women and explores what we can do to fix it. A work of searing relevance, this candid and often cathartic debut marks Whittington-Hill as a cultural critic of the first rank.

The Four-Doored House evokes two key women in Pierre Nepveu's life. First, his granddaughter Lily, who he imagines maturing into a complex world, haunted by her memory of him as he is haunted now by her projected self, navigating an era awash in uncertainty and unease. Imbued with both wonder and disquiet, it is an aging poet's celebration of childhood, as well as a meditation on his own " future absence." There follows his celebration of C, the woman with whom Nepveu shares his nights and days. These are love poems dedicated to a companion who has aided him in finding "new phrases that reformulate the impossible." The culmination of a brilliant career, translated into fluent and thrilling English by Donald Winker, The Four-Doored House is Nepveu's most enduring work yet.

"Lorna Goodison's first poetry collection to be published in Canada in over nine years, Mother Muse heralds the return of a major voice. The poems in Goodison's new book move boldly and range widely; here are praise songs alongside laments; autobiography shares pages with the collective past. In her exquisitely lyrical evocations of Jamaican lore and tradition, Goodison has always shown another side of history. While celebrating a wide cross-section of women--from Mahalia Jackson to Sandra Bland--Mother Muse focuses on two under-regarded "mothers" in Jamaican music: Sister Mary Ignatius, who nurtured many of Jamaica's most gifted musicians, and celebrated dancer Anita "Margarita" Mahfood. These important figures lead a collection of formidable scope and intelligence, one that seamlessly blends the personal and the political."--

Founded in 2010, the Montreal International Poetry Prize has established itself as a major event in contemporary poetry, both in Canada and around the world. The Montreal Prize Anthology 2020 explodes with talent, combining radiant vision with striking invention in form. The loss of a father finds equivalence in a tornado''s blowing an apartment open to the night sky. Sacred and profane images of a mother pile up in couplets, making a heap of gold. Family memory stirs in the dreamy measures of a sestina. Racial injustice is defied and reversed in the unflinching mirror of a palindromic poem. A doctor confesses her life work to be a striving to right the wrong done her father. These poems, a handful of the thousands submitted to the 2020 competition, were chosen for the lone virtue of their speaking directly to the reader, with conviction and with art. In 2019, the founder of the Montreal Prize, Asa Boxer, transferred it to the Department of English at McGill University. A team of dedicated faculty and graduate students recruited a distinguished international jury, headed by Pulitzer-prize-winner Yusef Komunyakaa , to judge the entries. This book is the result.