news | Friday October 10, 2025

CBC Books Features Stigmata

Wonderful to see Stigmata by Scott Jackshaw on CBC Books’ fall 2025 reading list. Stigmata draws inspiration from a broad archive of texts and practices – apophatic theology, body horror, gardening, queer theory, classic films, poststructuralism, and bad sex. This collection takes the confessional mode and weaponizes it. Peruse CBC Books’ full list here to see all of their stellar recommendations.

news | Friday October 10, 2025

Hot Off the Press! Stigmata Has Arrived!

Hot off the press! The debut poetry collection Stigmata by Scott Jackshaw has arrived! Drawing inspiration from a broad archive of texts and practices – apophatic theology, body horror, queer theory, classic films, poststructuralism, and bad sex – Stigmata is an experiment in fractured memoir and misplaced anatomy that weaponizes the confessional mode.⁠

An excerpt from “Contrition:”

“I scatter polities with my strange toe
a latent mystic sits on my thighs
home is a technology of baptism
god has become everything or nothing

I withhold myself
where is the portal to desire
his abyss face lingers or not
I leave thinly and draped in blankets”
⁠
Stigmata fuses the “high” to the “low” – the “sacred” of theory and theology to the “profane” of leaking and lust. The result is a treacherous adventure through the cross-currents of sexual deviancy and religion, helped along by a bitter sense of humour, to the limits of faith and body.⁠ Available now from your favourite local bookstore, or pick up your copy here.

news | Thursday October 9, 2025

cop city swagger in C Magazine

Emily Guerrero pens a heartfelt review of City of Vancouver Book Award–finalist cop city swagger by Mercedes Eng in C Magazine.

Guerrero writes, “Enraging and clarifying in equal measure. I am holding it close as a text to help me make sense of the wild present we are moving through—a possible map to all the love for the world that surges up after an unwavering refusal of the police.”

Read the complete piece here.

news | Wednesday October 8, 2025

Phyllis Webstad Recommends They Called Me Number One

In her interview with Antonio Michael downing on CBC’s The Next Chapter, Phyllis Webstad recommended They Called Me Number One by Bev Sellars as a book to pair with her new book Decolonization and Me: Conversations About Healing a Nation and Ourselves.

Be sure to check out both books! Listen to the episode of The Next Chapter here: https://app.magellan.ai/listen_links/YRovXY

news | Tuesday October 7, 2025

bill bissett X Toronto Lit Up

th book uv lost passwords 1 by bill bissett is one of the books in Toronto Lit Up’s fall lineup! We can’t wait to show you what we’re cooking up to celebrate the launch of bissett’s latest collection.

Check out all of the amazing titles in the Toronto Lit Up autumn roster here

news | Monday October 6, 2025

Talon Titles Featured on Read Local BC

Read Local BC included ᑭᐢᑭᓱᒥᑐᐠ kiskisomitok: ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐤ to remind each and one another, the new work of nonfiction by ᑳᐯᓵᑳᐢᑌᐠ reuben quinn and the forthcoming comedic play White Noise by Taran Kootenhayoo on their list of Indigenous-authored titles to check out for this past Truth and Reconciliation Day. See all of their recommendations here.

news | Sunday October 5, 2025

Conversations with the Kagawong River in EVENT

Kathryn MacDonald reviews Conversations with the Kagawong River, the debut book by sophie anne edwards in EVENT 54/2.

From MacDonald’s piece: “Conversations with the Kagawong River crosses disciplines and genres. It includes poetry, prose, historical documents, sketches, photography, and cut-out alphabet letters dropped into the landscape. Readers are treated to the words of today’s Indigenous Elders and storytellers, to flora and fauna across seasons, and to the ever-changing rhythms of the Kagawong River itself.”

Order a copy of the fall issue of EVENT here.

news | Saturday October 4, 2025

The Nelson Star Notes Fred Wah's Win

The Nelson Star writes about Fred Wah Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence win at the BC and Yukon Book Prizes Gala in September. The Lieutenant Governor’s Award is given each year to an outstanding community members who has “written a substantial body of literary work throughout their career and contributed significantly to the literary community/industry of the Province of British Columbia.” Wah is the author of Breathin’ My Name with a Sigh, Scree, and much more. Read the article here.

news | Friday October 3, 2025

Reviews of Three Talonbooks Titles in Some Magazine

The latest issue of Some Magazine is out and we are so pleased to find three in-depth reviews of recent Talonbooks titles in its pages! In the summer 2025 issue’s pages, Jamie Hilder writes about Future Works by Jeff Derksen, Scott Innis shares his thoughts about Tiziana La Melia lettuce lettuce please go bad, and Clint Burnham reviews 2025 City of Vancouver Book Award–finalist cop city swagger by Mercedes Eng.

Of Future Works Hilder pens: “‘How do seeds know how to tree?’ is … a good question …Figuring out how to see a tree’s constant and sustained activity … is the work Derksen invites us to take up. We all need to learn how to tree.”

From Innis’ review of lettuce lettuce please go bad: Creatively and abundantly multiform … wildly germinal … full of endless budding, flowering, and cross-pollinating.”

Clint Burnham calls cop city swagger “powerful and convincing.”

To read all of these reviews and more, pick up a copy of Some Magazine here.

news | Thursday October 2, 2025

Three Talonbooks Titles Featured on CBC Books

Great to see Stigmata by Scott Jackshaw, th book uv lost passwords 1 by bill bissett, and tours, variously by Drew McEwan featured on CBC Books! Be sure to check out these three outstanding books. To see all of the fall poetry collections they’re looking forward to reading here.