.Trivial Philistine spoke with Colm Toibin about LONG ISLAND, his sequel to BROOKLYN, out now from McClelland & Stewart: thestar.com/entertainment/…

Kagiso Lesego Molope was escorted out of last night’s Politics and the Pen event after impromptu comments from the stage decrying the death toll in Gaza. shakespeareanrag.com/kagiso-lesego-…

A pair of recent incidents at two Toronto independent bookstores sheds light on the importation of American-style transphobic and homophobic hate crimes to Canada. shakespeareanrag.com/recent-inciden…

The first post for short story month centres on a subtle and affecting debut collection by Ottawa writer Sara Power. shakespeareanrag.com/short-story-mo…

“It is a strange way to live one’s life, and only a person who had no choice in the matter would choose it as a calling.” RIP Paul Auster, “the patron saint of literary Brooklyn.” shakespeareanrag.com/paul-auster-br…

Born in Canada and raised in Chile, Avik Jain Chatlani has written a powerful debut novel about Peru’s uneasy history of Maoist insurgency. shakespeareanrag.com/unpopular-upri…

“Art is not a luxury. It stands at the essence of our humanity, and it asks for no special protection except the right to exist.” In a terse new memoir, Salman Rushdie examines the 2022 knife attack that almost claimed his life. shakespeareanrag.com/salman-rushdie…

The federal Liberals' 'modest' increase to the Canada Book Fund is characterized alternately as 'a start' and a 'net loss' for the country's publishing and writing communities. TWUC ACP shakespeareanrag.com/federal-libera…

And then there was one. With George McWhirter the only Canadian name on this year's Griffin Poetry Prize shortlist, it's worth asking whether the new structure really does appear to benefit Canadian poets. shakespeareanrag.com/george-mcwhirt…

The pen people are quite unhappy with one of the political choices for this year's Politics and the Pen event.

The Writers' Trust of Canada is facing online backlash for its choice of former Alberta premier Jason Kenney as co-host of its annual Politics and the Pen gala. shakespeareanrag.com/writers-trust-…

This month marks the fiftieth anniversary of one of the most important and enduring American novels of the 20th century. shakespeareanrag.com/fifty-years-on…

My piece on Antanas Sileika and his new memoir, The Death of Tony, is up Toronto Star, for anyone who might be interested. thestar.com/entertainment/…

Robert Plunket's debut comic novel (New Directions), long out of print, features one of the most venal, amoral, shallowest protagonists in recent American literature. shakespeareanrag.com/laugh-lines-ro…

“In a world of absolute equality, there would be no place left for derangements of disproportion.” Washington Post columnist Becca Rothfeld extols the virtues of excess in an uneven collection of essays. shakespeareanrag.com/more-more-more…

So, for anyone who might be wondering what I've been up to for the past eight months, this is forthcoming in fall 2024.

Indigo Books and Music inches closer to becoming a privately owned company. shakespeareanrag.com/special-commit…

My profile of poet and Bronwen Wallace finalist Chuqiao Yang is up quillandquire, for anyone who might be interested. (@goose_lane) quillandquire.com/authors/not-re…

A modest proposal: Instead of complaining about the lack of books coverage in Canada, why not support what does exist? shakespeareanrag.com/the-crisis-in-…

'It was a pitiful little life, but it was his.' My review of Colin Barrett's debut novel, Wild Houses, is up Toronto Star, for anyone who might be interested. thestar.com/entertainment/…